What do you LEARN

[JeebusGreen]

I mean honestly, most of us play Civ too much.

What do you learn from it? What's something you take away from the many long hours of planning and managing that makes you say, No honey, I'm putting my spare time to good use. ?

Me? Foresight, planning and the inevitable bad consequences of delaying decision making.
And pigs make me happy.

 

[lampshade]

learn: nothing
get: a degree of control over tiny computer generated people to replace the lack of control of my own life

 

[ParadigmShifter]

People like to watch the X-factor and soap operas. The question is, what do they learn?

 

[bestbrian]

I've learned that if I don't have a rule about "No Civ until done with your workout at the gym", I will probably quite quickly turn into a morbidly obese, couch-bound, albino.

Also, that snacks are good in moderation.

 

[artificialj]

ok, not sure that i actually learn all that much about history, but civ has made me learn a serious amount of city names, which nationality they belong to, and some basic "famous" leaders for various nationalities, which is sort of a huge thing.

i had a german friend, a while back, and he contested that americans really know almost nothing about the rest of the world, down to major city names of european nations, and when asked to name, say, 5 cities in spain, most people would be absolutely clueless. thanks to civ, i am able to do that for every nationality listed... for what its worth.

 

[soverkun]

Well, I haven't learned much from Civ per se, but it has given me inspiration to learn about some of the leaders and civs I didn't know much about.
And inspiration counts for a lot (although it is nothing compared to the inspiration I've gotten from EUIII )

People like to watch the X-factor and soap operas. The question is, what do they learn?

Isn't it called "Pop Idol" and "American Idol" in the anglo-saxon world? What kind of brit are you knowing the continental name of this show? You destroy my stereotypes!

 

[ecuizbest]

I've been playing since Civ I when I was 14 and I actually can say I've learned a lot especially when the civilapedia articles used to pop up automatically when you discovered a new tech, some of the posts on this site are pretty educational too.

 

[djvandrake]

I've learned that it doesn't matter what you give Boudica (gold, gems, wheat, technologies, phhht!) she will STILL declare war if she's bottled up and nowhere to expand. She's a very dangerous creature.

Thank god for Praetorians.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Isn't it called "Pop Idol" and "American Idol" in the anglo-saxon world? What kind of brit are you knowing the continental name of this show? You destroy my stereotypes!

It was called Pop Idol but then it changed to X-factor.

 

[Davor]

It's a shame when you can learn more history in a Civ game then through schooling in Canada, what a shame.

At least in Ontario, they pretend nothing bad really happens, Christ we can't even honour our soldiers on November 11. Banks, and Goverments have the day off, but nobody else. What a shame.

Who would have thought Civ was educational?

 

[Mesodius]

learn: nothing
get: a degree of control over tiny computer generated people to replace the lack of control of my own life

Most honest post ever.

 

[JeebusGreen]

The heathen will burn!

Thou shalt not spread insidious lies about the nature of my empire's reality.

 

[whitelaughter]

At least in Ontario, they pretend nothing bad really happens, Christ we can't even honour our soldiers on November 11. Banks, and Governments have the day off, but nobody else. What a shame.

Please tell me you're kidding.....

 

[Airefuego]

From Civ IV you will learn - really- about international relations.

Some people live in a strange land where they think some real life countries are 'good' and some are 'bad' and so on.

Once you start looking at everything in Civ terms, it all makes a lot more sense. Everyone is bad sometimes, everyone is self-interested, everyone is using triangle diplomacy, everyone is a backstabber when it suits the situation, and EVERYONE is spinning PR rubbish about 'morals' and 'doing what's right' when actually, they do what is best for their own country (or a section of it) on that particular day.

 

[whitelaughter]

Except that - they don't.
Countries insist on doing incredibly stupid things, flushing their personal interests down the loo. That's usually short term greed, destroying a country for a dictator's ego; but sometimes it isn't. There wasn't a pragmatic reason to replace slavery with serfdom in Medieval Europe, nor was there a pragmatic reason to abolish slavery at the start of the modern era. Every now and again, people will listen to their consciences. And far more often, people listen to their vices. Enlightened self-interest is a rare bird.

 

[Draknith]

I've learned quite a bit of historical information from the Civ Series, but I would have to say that the most important thing I've learned is...

Don't trust Aztecs!

 

[Mesodius]

Once you start looking at everything in Civ terms, it all makes a lot more sense. Everyone is bad sometimes, everyone is self-interested, everyone is using triangle diplomacy, everyone is a backstabber when it suits the situation, and EVERYONE is spinning PR rubbish about 'morals' and 'doing what's right' when actually, they do what is best for their own country (or a section of it) on that particular day.

Quoted for truth.

Except that - they don't.
Countries insist on doing incredibly stupid things, flushing their personal interests down the loo. That's usually short term greed, destroying a country for a dictator's ego;

Note the bolded part of Airefuego's post. Indeed, leaders will often do things that are bad for the country as a whole, but GOOD for certain elements within that country that they are working for. I'm from the US, so this lesson is fresh in my mind...

but sometimes it isn't. There wasn't a pragmatic reason to replace slavery with serfdom in Medieval Europe,

Slavery wasn't illegal in medieval Europe, there simply weren't enough slaves to do all the work, so they used serfs. Pretty pragmatic.

nor was there a pragmatic reason to abolish slavery at the start of the modern era.

I cannot speak for all countries, but the reason the US abolished slavery was as a propaganda tool against the Confederacy, not for some altruistic reason. There was international pressure on both sides to abolish it. If the Union had believed in abolishing slavery for moral reasons, they would have done so at the beginning of the war, not towards the middle. Keeping other nations out of the war was very pragmatic for the Union at this time. Furthermore, the Union wasn't as agrarian as the south, therefore had really nothing to lose from setting them free to begin with.

Every now and again, people will listen to their consciences. And far more often, people listen to their vices. Enlightened self-interest is a rare bird.

I think this is more true of individual people than of the leadership of nations. Of course, in such a situation nothing is true 100% of the time.

 

[Godwynn]

I mean honestly, most of us play Civ too much.

What do you learn from it? What's something you take away from the many long hours of planning and managing that makes you say, No honey, I'm putting my spare time to good use. ?

Me? Foresight, planning and the inevitable bad consequences of delaying decision making.
And pigs make me happy.

I thought Timbuktu was something made up before playing Civ IV.

 

[Bob the Barbari]

There wasn't a pragmatic reason to replace slavery with serfdom in Medieval Europe

Firs of all slavery was not abolished in Medieval Europe. Up to XI century there were a lot of slaves in the eastern Europe and Balkans. Secondly there was a pragmatic reason behind the decrease in the number of slaves. Christians spreaded the word of the freedom from slavery in order to gain more followers. It was a way of converting people to Christianity. Also keep in mind that in some countries serfs were treated like Egyptian paesant during the Old Kingdom.

Oh and I learned from Civ to never fight a land war in Asia, but honestly - I ignored this lesson.

 

[matthewthegreat]

I don't think I have learned a lot from civ itself but I have learned a lot because of civ. What I'm saying is that civ makes me more interested in history so you will watch the show on the history channel about Boudica to find out how she became such a jerk .