Considering that the United States is a relatively new country (I mean, not just the Independance, but the whole present area as one nation with a common culture), it doesn't have a place in a game like Civilisation. A civilisation is suppose to be a more or less homogenous group (ethicity, culture, language, history...) that has lived and grown in a defined area and made it its homeland.@But the USA is just a mix of numerous European, African, Asian and, even if they tend to be forgotten in today's society, "native" Americans ! On the ethnical point of view, it is one of the least homogenous country in the world. Look at China, India or Russia. These are huge countries, but at least they have something in common in their origins, what make of them a civ.
Even if Europe is a little more mixed up, it makes more than 1 and half millenium that the Romans have withdrawn from France or Britain and more than a thousand years than Germanic tribes or Vikings have mixed with Latin and Celtic people. You can't tell you is from Viking descend in Spain or France nowadays. Everybody is a little bit. That's also why we don't speak of Gauls, Iberians, Romans, etc but of new Civs - the French, Spanish, Italian... The English are the late comers in Europe and it took about 500 years before the Anglo-saxons, Celts, Vikings and Normands form a more homogenous English civilisation (though, difference in origins can still be seen).
Americans are not a Civ. It's just because most of the people who buy the game are Americans that it is in the Game since Civ1. Please, don't be fooled. Sorry to say that to all the Americans who'll read me, but as powerful and developped as the USA can be, it will only be an extension of the mainly British civ, as it was an almost 100% British country at the time of independance and it has remained the very first official language. Language and culture are so tightly bound to each others that you can almost consider it as one same thing. I guess if French had become the official language of the US, the mentality of the people would be radically different now. It would be a second France, as it is a second England now. Think about Latin America ; why are Spanish speaking countries so apparented with Spain, even though a much smaller proportion is from European descent (5% in Cuba, 20% in Colombia, but 90% in Argentina) than in the US. The only thing give Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Peru or Argentina the feeling of being in the same group is the language/culture factor, not the ethnicity.
The United States are a cosmolpolitan nation, but so become the UK (and with people of the same diversity). This allow the bridge between both countries not to be broken. But I will not say that the US is a mere replica of the UK as it is not true. The land is different and both are sovereign nations with their own laws. That's what will differentiate them the most in the future, and who knows, America could well create a real Civilisation quicker than one expects. We won't be there to see it anyway.
Just make me a favour, don't play the Americans if you start a game in 4000BC. Please, please...
Even if Europe is a little more mixed up, it makes more than 1 and half millenium that the Romans have withdrawn from France or Britain and more than a thousand years than Germanic tribes or Vikings have mixed with Latin and Celtic people. You can't tell you is from Viking descend in Spain or France nowadays. Everybody is a little bit. That's also why we don't speak of Gauls, Iberians, Romans, etc but of new Civs - the French, Spanish, Italian... The English are the late comers in Europe and it took about 500 years before the Anglo-saxons, Celts, Vikings and Normands form a more homogenous English civilisation (though, difference in origins can still be seen).
Americans are not a Civ. It's just because most of the people who buy the game are Americans that it is in the Game since Civ1. Please, don't be fooled. Sorry to say that to all the Americans who'll read me, but as powerful and developped as the USA can be, it will only be an extension of the mainly British civ, as it was an almost 100% British country at the time of independance and it has remained the very first official language. Language and culture are so tightly bound to each others that you can almost consider it as one same thing. I guess if French had become the official language of the US, the mentality of the people would be radically different now. It would be a second France, as it is a second England now. Think about Latin America ; why are Spanish speaking countries so apparented with Spain, even though a much smaller proportion is from European descent (5% in Cuba, 20% in Colombia, but 90% in Argentina) than in the US. The only thing give Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Peru or Argentina the feeling of being in the same group is the language/culture factor, not the ethnicity.
The United States are a cosmolpolitan nation, but so become the UK (and with people of the same diversity). This allow the bridge between both countries not to be broken. But I will not say that the US is a mere replica of the UK as it is not true. The land is different and both are sovereign nations with their own laws. That's what will differentiate them the most in the future, and who knows, America could well create a real Civilisation quicker than one expects. We won't be there to see it anyway.
Just make me a favour, don't play the Americans if you start a game in 4000BC. Please, please...
