Time to talk about perfection, fellow Escapists. One thing I count as perfection in a game is the ability to effect me emotionally, so I'll start off by talking about a game very close to my heart: Civilization V.
I downloaded the demo foe Civ V (the first Civilization game I've played) in December, tried it, and enjoyed it. The demo lets you play for 100 turns, and in those turns, I met a man I quickly developed distaste for. Alexander of Greece. He was young and pretentious, I I decidedly didn't like him. I figured since I was just playing the demo, I didn't need to bother with a UN, world peace, etc, so I went to war with him. I ravaged his armies and claimed his cities as my own, and he turned with his tail between his legs and fled. The demo ended, and I realized it was past midnight. And I realized Civ V would be worth the $50, so I bought it.
Getting into the game, I found Alexander was in this world again, and right off the bad I remembered my dislike for him. I didn't act outright hostile, but I kept him at arm's length. I befriended every other leader except Ceaser (he immediately hated me) and the Iriquois leader (I met him too late in the game to really befriend him), and things went well. With my friendships, I decided I would go for the UN option and become a world leader. Unfortunately, my distaste for Alexander caused us to have a few skirmishes. We went to war twice, and I took every city but his capitol, only ending the war when he offered to give me goods and gold so I would stop killing his men.
Now I think we're all set up to explain why I was emotionally affected by this strategy game.
I had expanded my empire a lot. I controlled most of Asia. Most empires had asked me to stop my expansion, and I had complied (except in the case of Alexander, which had caused more stress between us). One day Ghandi came to me, and asked me to go to war with Alexander. I figured, why not? Might as well get rid of him once and for all. So I declared war. Two or three turns in, though, Ghandi came to me again, telling me that I was a warmonger, and that he was going to tell all of my allies I was. Every ally I had suddenly hated me because Ghandi had asked me to do something, and was now renouncing me for it. I looked at all of them, and the reasoning for such quick betrayal was apparent: every leader coveted lands that I owned. I turned my back to them, thinking I would deal with it after I finished my war with Alexander.
I did just that, and it only made things worse. After capturing his cities, I realized they were all poor. Starving. And I realized why. My war against him, thoughtless war, fought only so he would pay me to leave him alone, had caused his civilians to starve while I took and took from him. I was devastated. Had I done this? I thought to the beginning of the game. Alexander hadn't even done anything to me. I had simply been prejudiced against him because of the demo. I may have tormented an innocent man. I definitely tormented his civilians. With a sigh, and no allies to my name, I turned to a cultural victory. I decided that if that took too long, I was developing science fast enough that I would be able to go to space, but that doesn't matter yet.
I continued upgrading my empire, building walls, castles, wonders. I worked the lands, and quickly found another factor that made Civ V so sad for me. I ran out of land to work. The forests had all turned into farms, mills, factories. The landscape had become hideous. At the beginning of the game, it's all forest and ocean and mountain ranges. The more you learn, though, the more appears. You learn what oil is, and suddenly parts of the ocean are black sludge. You learn what metal is, and suddenly you're turning mountains into mines. Forests into mills. The world into a factory. It's hideous. But maybe I'm making too big a deal out of it.
My science had advanced more quickly than any other empire's. I learned how to make huge churches and museums. Robots and missiles. I refused, however, to make any more military units. My foreign adviser suggested the construction of a nuclear bomb every time I had the opportunity to build, but I refused. The nagging worries gnawed at my mind ("I don't know how strong these bombs are. If another empire builds one, I need something to retaliate with, don't I?"), but I refused. Instead I built museums, and eventually, a spaceship. Every other country hated me, but I was in space, and that was something, right? Except it's a lot of empty space up there, and with everyone behind you scientifically, and no one willing to learn, it's lonely up there too.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought the game was important. Civilization V made me think about myself and the world around me. How I viewed war, and it's effects on both sides. How I viewed leaders and their choices. How I viewed myself as a person. So that, to me, is perfection.
What's perfection to you?
I downloaded the demo foe Civ V (the first Civilization game I've played) in December, tried it, and enjoyed it. The demo lets you play for 100 turns, and in those turns, I met a man I quickly developed distaste for. Alexander of Greece. He was young and pretentious, I I decidedly didn't like him. I figured since I was just playing the demo, I didn't need to bother with a UN, world peace, etc, so I went to war with him. I ravaged his armies and claimed his cities as my own, and he turned with his tail between his legs and fled. The demo ended, and I realized it was past midnight. And I realized Civ V would be worth the $50, so I bought it.
Getting into the game, I found Alexander was in this world again, and right off the bad I remembered my dislike for him. I didn't act outright hostile, but I kept him at arm's length. I befriended every other leader except Ceaser (he immediately hated me) and the Iriquois leader (I met him too late in the game to really befriend him), and things went well. With my friendships, I decided I would go for the UN option and become a world leader. Unfortunately, my distaste for Alexander caused us to have a few skirmishes. We went to war twice, and I took every city but his capitol, only ending the war when he offered to give me goods and gold so I would stop killing his men.
Now I think we're all set up to explain why I was emotionally affected by this strategy game.
I had expanded my empire a lot. I controlled most of Asia. Most empires had asked me to stop my expansion, and I had complied (except in the case of Alexander, which had caused more stress between us). One day Ghandi came to me, and asked me to go to war with Alexander. I figured, why not? Might as well get rid of him once and for all. So I declared war. Two or three turns in, though, Ghandi came to me again, telling me that I was a warmonger, and that he was going to tell all of my allies I was. Every ally I had suddenly hated me because Ghandi had asked me to do something, and was now renouncing me for it. I looked at all of them, and the reasoning for such quick betrayal was apparent: every leader coveted lands that I owned. I turned my back to them, thinking I would deal with it after I finished my war with Alexander.
I did just that, and it only made things worse. After capturing his cities, I realized they were all poor. Starving. And I realized why. My war against him, thoughtless war, fought only so he would pay me to leave him alone, had caused his civilians to starve while I took and took from him. I was devastated. Had I done this? I thought to the beginning of the game. Alexander hadn't even done anything to me. I had simply been prejudiced against him because of the demo. I may have tormented an innocent man. I definitely tormented his civilians. With a sigh, and no allies to my name, I turned to a cultural victory. I decided that if that took too long, I was developing science fast enough that I would be able to go to space, but that doesn't matter yet.
I continued upgrading my empire, building walls, castles, wonders. I worked the lands, and quickly found another factor that made Civ V so sad for me. I ran out of land to work. The forests had all turned into farms, mills, factories. The landscape had become hideous. At the beginning of the game, it's all forest and ocean and mountain ranges. The more you learn, though, the more appears. You learn what oil is, and suddenly parts of the ocean are black sludge. You learn what metal is, and suddenly you're turning mountains into mines. Forests into mills. The world into a factory. It's hideous. But maybe I'm making too big a deal out of it.
My science had advanced more quickly than any other empire's. I learned how to make huge churches and museums. Robots and missiles. I refused, however, to make any more military units. My foreign adviser suggested the construction of a nuclear bomb every time I had the opportunity to build, but I refused. The nagging worries gnawed at my mind ("I don't know how strong these bombs are. If another empire builds one, I need something to retaliate with, don't I?"), but I refused. Instead I built museums, and eventually, a spaceship. Every other country hated me, but I was in space, and that was something, right? Except it's a lot of empty space up there, and with everyone behind you scientifically, and no one willing to learn, it's lonely up there too.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought the game was important. Civilization V made me think about myself and the world around me. How I viewed war, and it's effects on both sides. How I viewed leaders and their choices. How I viewed myself as a person. So that, to me, is perfection.
What's perfection to you?
