Civilization III Binge: Bang or Bust?

Jimmy Hall, Keenan Blough, Daniel Finn, Allison DeBusk and Paul Norwood

When it came time for our video game binge our group selected and played Civilization III: Complete. We had three days to binge play the game. Our first day consisted of us playing individually for two hours. The second and third days consisted of two hours of group play and five hours of individual play. To say whether the video game binge was a success, one may want to define success since there were mixed feelings across the board regarding user satisfaction.

Civilization III: Complete is a game that gives the user a fair amount of control over the narrative. While there is a heuristic approach to gameplay, the narrative teleology is such that short gameplay is out of the question. A game will take hours to finish. The gameplay has a sharp learning curve and can be very simple or complicated depending on the difficulty setting and what you want to achieve. You can destroy those that oppose you and wipe them from the face of the earth or you can be a man of peace. Beginning gamers may need some research and background to understand the mechanics and goal of Civilization III.

Once the user has a handle on the mechanics of the game, playing it will consume their time. During individual times, most of the group found themselves playing beyond the required time. We did not experience much community during our group play because of a lack of communication. Perhaps the time required for the game and the need to focus on strategy hindered these communications. Civilization is a game that allows the user to be completely immersed one second and swearing and arguing with yourself the next. With emotions all over the place, it can be hard to get a grasp on whether you love or hate the game. It is not an easy task to decide if you just wasted five hours playing or whether you feel that you have conquered the world through your genius, strategic gameplay.

The way that Civilization plays on your emotions is enough to accidentally find yourself addicted to its gameplay. While you may hate that you just wasted the biggest part of your day trying to invade the Incas, there is nothing like the excitement you get when you conquer their tribe and take all of their gold.

While it may not be for all gamers, or even those that never played, you do have to give Civilization III respect. The game can steal all the hours away in the day. Non-gamers in the group even found a hard time completely hating the game. While they complained about it being a waste of time, there was a hidden joy when they completed any number of goals.

To sum up our binge of Civilization III, our group would have to say it was a success overall. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it, it definitely can and will consume the entirety of your days once you start playing. Beginner and expert gamers should be ready to be immersed into a world where you can achieve multiple kinds of victory, all of which require strategy and planning.