The Settler

[Evie]

Actually, isn't Moses one of the religious GLs?

And no, God (or any other deity) is not mentioned in the opening speech, ever. Neither are the seven days, nor the notion of anybody creating anything.

 

[Charles 22]

On the contrary. Religion is basically a mechanism that the developers had chosen that would add conflict in diplomacy, and add happiness and some small bonus research. That's basically it. All the religions in the game behaves similiarly, because the game developers have said specifically, in the manual, that they're game developers, not theologicians.
Is the intro story thing sound bible like, maybe, but it can be the case that both the game developers and the Bible wants to be theatrical.
And besides, there's at least 1/4 chance that a couple would have their first 2 children to be boys, 1/4 chance for the first 2 to be girls, and 1/2 to be one boy one girl. Could be the case that the settler family simply had two boys (and frankly game developers aren't going to waste CPU cycle to make sure the two kids are different every time you have a settler).
Is every 4-member family you know that has two boys must be Adam and Eve, with Cain and Able? I doubt that's the case, or I might have to start calling my Polish-Canadian friend Cain.

That's a pretty weak strawman. Also remember that despite all the religions being the same, they 'are' religions, complete with missionaries. I'm not exactly sure what being a theologian (not that I am one) would have to do with making them different. If somebody had conversion charts somewhere, that seems the only way you might want to make them different, such that there would be periods when each were hot or cold. They probably caught enough flak from atheists as it is for putting religion in to such a high degree, much less to then get criticised for making one religion more powerful then the next.

 

[Charles 22]

Perish the thought that a video game doesn't contain a passing reference to the biblical account of the creation of man.

I'm trying to figure out why this is so important to you and I've come to the conclusion that you've somehow discovered that, unless Civ4 contains references to creation in the early game, there is no God. I thought it was Nietzsche who killed Him, but all along it was Sid Meier.

You couldn't be further from the truth on that as I know God exists (but we need not go there - this is about the settler and the possibility of them being the family of Adam afterall). It was with me seeing this particular Civ having an eye towards religion, that I thought the settlers might be another aspect of that. I actually think me even pointing this out was rather silly, but I thought it would be something that might had occurred to someone else.

 

[Charles 22]

The intro narritive explicitly mentions men evolving from apes. Even has pictures.

That's not very religeous.

It treats evolution as fact too, as it states that it happens.

Well I guess that seals the intro then. I saw the whole intro. but many bits of it I forgot about, but I always heard the opening lines, which as I said before doesn't even mention God.

 

[Charles 22]

Actually, isn't Moses one of the religious GLs?

And no, God (or any other deity) is not mentioned in the opening speech, ever. Neither are the seven days, nor the notion of anybody creating anything.

Yes, Moses probably is one of the religious GL's. I guess what I meant to say is that there's no story about Moses in the game, just as there's no mention of the Flood or the Crucifixion. A lot of religious people and religious things, but not just all of them.

 

[Evie]

Probably the flood isn't mentioned because the last generalized flood of any sort (and it came very far short of flooding the entire world) was at the end of the last Ice Age circa ten thousand years ago. Puts it a sizeable bit outside the scope of Civilization.

 

[Willowmound]

I know the sky is red, but let's not go there either.

 

[Kieran]

It can't be Adam and Eve. that would make you the only civ. So if you have a game on standard settings you would have 7 settler families in the year dot - thats 7 adams, 7 eves and 14 kids, all boys.

 

[Charles 22]

It can't be Adam and Eve. that would make you the only civ. So if you have a game on standard settings you would have 7 settler families in the year dot - thats 7 adams, 7 eves and 14 kids, all boys.

Yes I noticed that would make it illogical, but as civ isn't exactly overrun with logic it just might be the case. If, OTOH, you had 'no' enemy civs, it would work just fine. It's only our insistence on playing the game with other civs that causes this anomaly

 

[Kieran]

I agree it hints at being adam and eve, in concept

 

[rabottens]

What are Adam and Eve supposed to look like? I don't recall ever seeing any kind of sketch of the first family. Do they resemble Cromagnon Man or something from the planet of the Apes? Or do they look like something from a painting in the Sistine Chapel? Leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to what the first family looked like? What religion were they or does that come later? What kind of government did they evolve into? Was the name of their first city Paradise by chance?

 

[Roxinante]

See, now, you're all wrong. It doesnt start at the Christian Genisis, not even at the Bob Geldoff Genisis! No.
It starts at the end of a Maya Long Count! Sid Meyers is trying to warn us of the end of the world! See, cause the Long Count ended around 4000 b.c.e, right, ok, and its about to end again in 2012! Which is very close to where CivIV ends! AAaaAgh! DOOOM! We're all gonna die!



AAAAAAAA!





What?

Like its any more whacky than the other crackheaded conspiracy theories that this thread is about.

 

[Gato Loco]

If they were Adam and Eve, they'd probably be depicted dressed in fig leaves or animal skins. I'd sususpect the game begins right after the flood, with several tribes having survived and beginning to rebuild civilization, so your first settler represents Noah and his family. Also, I've noticed other hints in various places that the game was made by evangelical Christians, particularly the rosy, nonsectarian view of religion, the concept of an inherited group identity, the general acceptance of progress, science, and democracy, and the way that the modern scientific method (assumption of naturalism) actually slows down your research rate by obsoleting monestaries, and the view that religious buildings aren't that important.

 

[salty]

See, now, you're all wrong. It doesnt start at the Christian Genisis, not even at the Bob Geldoff Genisis! No.
It starts at the end of a Maya Long Count! Sid Meyers is trying to warn us of the end of the world! See, cause the Long Count ended around 4000 b.c.e, right, ok, and its about to end again in 2012! Which is very close to where CivIV ends! AAaaAgh! DOOOM! We're all gonna die!



AAAAAAAA!





What?

Like its any more whacky than the other crackheaded conspiracy theories that this thread is about.

Flying Spaghetti Monster is not amused.

 

[Roxinante]

Ah, so you've heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Will Rise in 2012 theory too, huh?

Not to worry, not to worry.
I've been hoarding Parmegian cheese for years.....

 

[m15a]

The intro narritive explicitly mentions men evolving from apes. Even has pictures.

That's not very religeous.

It treats evolution as fact too, as it states that it happens.

don't mean to nitpick*. but evolution isn't inherently non-religious. it's non-christian or non-any number of other religions or sets of religions.

* well, maybe i do mean to "nitpick" in a way. but just because i think those nits that i'm picking are important to think about once.

 

[Kieran]

I doubt these settlers are meant to be Biblical in anyway. Adam and Eve became nomads when they left Eden.
According to the Bible, found beginning in Genesis 4, Cain, the first murderer, is the founder of the first city .

 

[sherrick13]

I magnified the graphics and I think it's a homosexual couple (the "woman" is actually a crossdresser) with two adopted orphans. That's what I like about the game - it's really avant-garde and open-minded.

I don't think your civilization would last very long.

 

[Yushal]

I have once or twice. I was thinking he was reading Genesis, but apparently he isn't if he doesn't even mention God by name.

Thats only because it is blasphemy to pronounce God's name. You can bet he really wanted to tho (I can hear the yearning in his voice).

You know, all the other graphics have only THREE people attached to them. Why does The Settler have FOUR?!?!?!?

<scary music here>

 

[MosquitoE]

They probably caught enough flak from atheists as it is for putting religion in to such a high degree, much less to then get criticised for making one religion more powerful then the next.

Why would an atheist be upset that a game that in some ways models human civilization includes religions? Do you think that atheists deny that people believe in religions, or that religions have had a significant effect on our civilization?