progressive involvement

How to play like a Christian and still win at Civilization 4

I've been playing the Sid Meier Civilization series ever since it first came out in the early 90's.  In all versions of the game, you take a civilization beginning with one city in 4000 BC and go to victory or defeat.  

It's a game where you say to yourself "just a few more turns" and, the next time you look at the clock, it's four in the morning.

You can win a variety of ways.  Conquering the world, the choice of barbarians, is one possibility.  Another way to win is diplomatically, defined as getting elected Secretary General of the United Nations, or scientifically and technologically, defined as leaving earth to colonize another planet, or culturally, defined by superior performance in art/engineering/great achievements.

It was a big jump from Civilization 3 to Civilization 4.  For the first time in the series, the new version of the game was a significantly different game than its predecessor.  Among many differences, Civilization 3 is more epic in scope, but Civ 4 goes quicker.  The jury is still out as to which one I prefer.

It seems to me that a Christian should want to "rule the world" by setting an example of being a good neighbor, in which case one might pursue a diplomatic strategy.  Or perhaps the Christian would want to "win" by making the world a better place--hence, a cultural strategy--or performing an heroic public service, in which case a science and technology strategy would be best.  

Grandiose, you say?  Uncharacteristically pious?  Fuzzy-headed liberal protestantism run amok?  Nay, nay, and nay.  I view the contest very much as the Qumran community viewed the world in the first century.  This is a battle between "the sons of light and the sons of darkness," baby.  Hey, the AI cheats.  Need I say more?

The other day, I happened across an internet article on how to win militarily.  Basically, all you do is discover iron, build all the swordsmen you can, and send them out to conquer.  Yes, you have to do it right, but, as sheer strategy, it takes no genius to do it.  You could probably train a monkey to win that way.

In dozens of games of Civ 4, I have won, playing as a Christian, exactly twice--once by bringing peace to the world diplomatically, ushering in a permanent Golden Age, and once by leading a brave band of colonists to a Bright New Day on a new planet.  This proves that, just like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, it can be done.  

 

 

So far, the Kia ad has been the best, and it wasn't great

A car gets swiped by aliens, goes to another planet, but then goes through a black hole and winds up sliding down an Aztec ziggurat to the cheers of the crowd--a nice technical display, and a smidgen of a story, which makes it the only Super Bowl ad so far that isn't completely unintelligible or lame beyond words.

In fact, through the first quarter, there seemed to be an uninspired over-reliance on the old tried-and-true, which means somebody getting unexpectedly whacked and set on his can, like the Doritos ad, or inexplicably shooting a can of Pepsi at a someone minding their own business, or, Pepsi again, shooting a can of Pepsi into someone's "groin area," as they euphemistically say in the sports business.

I'm not normally very interested in the ads, nor any of the pre-game hoopla.  I don't want to see any exploding scoreboards, or rock bands, or fireworks, or celebrities urging us toward this or that saccharine sentiment.  I just want to watch a football game.

That said, even the average football game is full of commercials, and even more so in the Super Bowl.  You can't avoid them entirely.  Therefore, to look at it philosophically, you tell yourself that you are about to see the new products of the best-and-brightest marketing minds on Madison Avenue.  So far, looks like they're in about the same league as the brainiacs on Wall Street.

Oh yeah, and the movie trailer for something called "Cowboys and Aliens"?  Believe I'll pass.