An Intriguing Article About Civ3 Modders From 2010

[Ozymandias]

Modding the History of Science: Values at Play in Modder Discussions of Sid Meier’s Civilization (III)

"This article explores the complex issues involved in interpreting a game through analysis of the ways modders (gamers who modify the game) have approached the history of science, technology, and knowledge embodied in the game. [...] The study offers initial findings that Civilization modders value a variety of positive discursive practices for developing historical models. Community members value a form of historical authenticity, they prize subtlety and nuance in models for science in the game, and they communicate through civil consensus building. Game theorists, players, and scholars, as well as those interested in modeling the history, sociology, and philosophy of science, will be interested to see the ways in which Civilization III cultivates an audience of modders who spend their time reimagining how science and technology could work in the game."

- z

 

[Mithadan]

Modding the History of Science: Values at Play in Modder Discussions of Sid Meier’s Civilization (III)

"This article explores the complex issues involved in interpreting a game through analysis of the ways modders (gamers who modify the game) have approached the history of science, technology, and knowledge embodied in the game. [...] The study offers initial findings that Civilization modders value a variety of positive discursive practices for developing historical models. Community members value a form of historical authenticity, they prize subtlety and nuance in models for science in the game, and they communicate through civil consensus building. Game theorists, players, and scholars, as well as those interested in modeling the history, sociology, and philosophy of science, will be interested to see the ways in which Civilization III cultivates an audience of modders who spend their time reimagining how science and technology could work in the game."

- z

Written by you, perhaps?

 

[Ozymandias]

Written by you, perhaps?

;

 

[Mithadan]

;

Ha ha ha! I wonder how many of us on here are academics?

 

[Ozymandias]

Not being formally credentialed, I, "Cannot pretend to scholarship."

That being said, I often call myself a, "Hedonic Intellectual." Aside from the myriad interplays of history, economics, et al., my "amateur passions" include:

• Evolutionary biology.
  
• Quantum & "Einsteinian" physics ("philosophical," as, from a proper physics POV, I am, essentially, innumerate.)
• The catastrophic interplay of smartphones, high speed internet, "Big Data," and "VAI" (Very Artificial Intelligence) although I've yet to do a "proper" deep dive on Bayesian logic.

I'm also currently working on a software patent, a novel – and trying to help get a "new" Civ 3 up and running ...

Other than that ...

 

[Mithadan]

Not being formally credentialed, I, "Cannot pretend to scholarship."

Well dang, that's too bad! I assumed you had some kind of credentials, as it looked like (on a very cursory glance) that you were a librarian!

Anyway, if you wanted to, you could always try to publish your work in a journal and just call yourself an "independent scholar." If your work passed peer review, it wouldn't matter what your formal credentials were. The quality of your work would be all the credentials you'd need, I daresay! Unless you submitted it to one of those superstar journals that only publishes works by scholars with a certain reputation, something which I think is ridiculous anyway.

 

[Ozymandias]

Anyway, if you wanted to, you could always try to publish your work in a journal and just call yourself an "independent scholar." If your work passed peer review, it wouldn't matter what your formal credentials were. The quality of your work would be all the credentials you'd need, I daresay! Unless you submitted it to one of those superstar journals that only publishes works by scholars with a certain reputation, something which I think is ridiculous anyway.

Dear God, I didn't even think that was possible (even though I did manage to "sneak" onto Academia.edu.)

There are matters which actually gnaw at me. Here are the top 2 ATM:

• That defining "entropy" as the "proof" of the direction ("arrow") of Time is ridiculous: it is (to me, anyway,) a glaring tautology, as entropy is a process which takes place over Time!
• The "Renaissance" has been (academically) defined out of existence. The single rationale for this is that there was a continuity of technology and technological progress (reasonably, I do agree) eliminating any notion of the, "Dark Ages" ...
  • YET, by adopting an unquestioning (and unquestionable) Bible over Herodotus and Plato, critical thinking was tossed out the window until it re-emerged, in so many different (and synergistic) ways during that forsaken "R-Word" era.

- WHEW! I guess my spleen needed some venting

I would very much appreciate any thoughts/help along these lines


- z

 

[Mithadan]

It is possible! I was at a conference a while ago now, and a guy presented a paper that was actually a book manuscript on biodiversity (and why it's a meaningless concept) that he'd been writing on and off in his spare time while he worked some other entirely non-academic job. It was, however, scholarly rigorous and treated very seriously by the commentators assigned to it and the audience (who were all credentialled academics or grad students). I think the same is likely to be the case with most journals? I could be horribly wrong about that, but that's how it is with my little deep ecology journal. Once the editors deem the piece relevant and reasonably well written, it's send to expert peer reviewers who assess its scholarly merits. If it passes that, it gets published regardless of the affiliation of the author.

Ha ha, hooray for venting! I know next to nothing about what the potential reaction to your entropy issue might be, but heck, why not find out? Some journals and some topics like really short punchy papers, and your point about entropy and time might only take a few pages to hash out in full. The other one I imagine would take a lot of background reading on both the elimination of the "Renaissance" as a concept and the relation of critical thinking to the reception of the Bible in the "Dark" or "Middle Ages," but you're a librarian, right? If so, finding and accessing a representative sample of the literature on those topics should be within reach. After that, you can see if you've still got an argument to make, and if you do, you make it and see if holds water. Heck, you could even submit it to a conference somewhere and get some feedback there before you try to get it published.

 

[Ozymandias]

... - I'd very much like to know more about this; please do check your PMs ...

And what do you do with those evidently mighty frontal lobes of yours?

 

[Mithadan]

... - I'd very much like to know more about this; please do check your PMs ...

And what do you do with those evidently mighty frontal lobes of yours?

I've checked my PMs and have responded as well!

Right now, my mighty frontal lobes are looking forward to some caffeine to alleviate this early morning slight headache. For pay, though, I teach philosophy to undergraduate students at university!

 

[Ozymandias]

I've checked my PMs and have responded as well!

Ditto! ...

Right now, my mighty frontal lobes are looking forward to some caffeine to alleviate this early morning slight headache. For pay, though, I teach philosophy to undergraduate students at university!

I'm also curios about this, for many reasons.

- Thus endeth the O/T!

 

[Mithadan]

Ditto! ...



I'm also curios about this, for many reasons.

- Thus endeth the O/T!

Alright! The O/T is now off forum!