it is really disconcerting how trivial the civilization series makes things kind ideology or literal nuclear weapons feel in game. like you might just casually adopt a fascist government if you’re pursuing a midgame war-based strategy because that would just be Optimal for that strat
@aescling it's ... it's definitely a choice, that they made, there
probably by thinking about zero of the implications
- 🎒💧
@packbat they’ve made the game over six times at this point, there’s no way they haven’t ever thought of the implications, they just obviously don’t really care
@aescling yeah
yeah, at this point, it's probably transitioned from "never thought about it" to "annoyed at the idea of thinking about it and refusing out of principle", which /is/ worse
- 🎒
@aescling @packbat the whole genre relies on a fundamentally colonial-imperialist conceit that there are certain nations exploring, expanding, and exploiting a mostly untamed wilderness (almost like those are the first 3 X's), with indigenous folks either abstracted away to goodie huts and early-game combat challenges (to divert resources from building up your economic engine and give a bit of variety in gameplay) or forced to fit the same model
i don't think know how much it's possible to reckon with the implications of the game mechanics without completely deconstructing the whole genre
game’s fun and i love watching videos about it and i will have no shame being ruthless in multiplayer but goddamn is it something to, like, rush nukes because they’re overwhelmingly powerful