Civilization 6 — Female World Changers in Firaxis’ World Conquest Series
This month heralded the release of Firaxis’ latest installation into the Civilization strategy game series, Civilization VI. In addition to some terrific looking new graphics and major game-play changes, this one also boasts the best ratio of female leaders of any Civilization game (outside of II, which had female and male leaders for every culture).
If you’ve never played, here’s a quick overview: Civilization is a turn-based strategy game centered around building a… well, a civilization. You program your cities to generate anything from structures to improve your people’s general welfare, units to defend it, and great works to benefit their cultural growth. Over the past 25 years, Civilization has evolved from a relatively straightforward “build your army and take over the world” game to a complex balance of diplomacy, military might, scientific endeavors, and cultural assimilation, and religious conversion.
Civ 6 features 5 female leaders (out of 20 total leaders) - Victoria (English), Cleopatra (Egyptian), Gorgo (Greek), Catherine de Medici (French), and Tomyris (Scythia). In the past games have featured other prominent women figures (Boudica, Indira Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sacagawea, and Wu Zetian to name a few.) The personality (in this case, gameplay style) of the AI controlling the leaders is loosely based on what we know about the history of the leader. In Tomyris’ case she tends to be aggressive, while de Medici depends more on diplomacy.
While the series as a whole has been improving insofar as the inclusion of women over the years, there were a few notable stumbles early on. The first game had only one female leader (Elizabeth I). The second featured a female leader for every male one but none of these could be optimized for an aggressive or militaristic campaign. Additionally, some of the women included were mythological (Hippolyta, Scheherazade). The argument frequently seen against the inclusion of more women is usually that there were so few women political leaders historically, but that falls flat in the face of the inclusion of many male leaders who were not, in fact, actual leaders of a county but cultural and religious figureheads (most notably, Mohandas Ghandi, who has been included in every version of the series, but never actually led a country or empire.) And arguments towards the ‘historic realism’ of the series are moot — Teddy Roosevelt didn’t found America with a warrior and pre-stone age tribe, and Ghandi was opposed to violence (unlike his game AI which, as a result of a programming error, caused him to be the most violent leader AI in the earlier games.)
With expansions, the previous entry into the franchise featured 43 separate civilizations, nine of which where helmed by women. Some suggestions for female leaders in expansions for VI (or future games):
- Jadwiga of Poland — Crowned King in 1384, skilled mediator, arts patron, and donated much of her personal wealth to establish hospital care for every one of her subjects.
- Nzinga Mbande of Ndongo and Matamba — remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic acumen (in particular, keeping European slave traders and colonialists at bay), as well as her brilliant military tactics.
- Jigonhasasee of the Iroquois — Co-founder of the Iroquois confederacy and leader of the Haudenosaunee.
- Taytu Betul of Ethiopia — Diplomat and fighter against European Imperialism, founder of Addis Ababa.
- Shammuramat of Assyria — First known women ruler of an empire.
The game gives a solid nod to the change in historical roles and history makers with the opening, which starts with a father talking to his daughter in ancient Greece, and flashes through the ages wars and accomplishments, finishing with the daughter launching into the stars as an astronaut.
Firaxis is definitely headed in a great direction with this game — in addition to better gender representation, gameplay is terrifically balanced, there are no notable glitches, and the change in a few mechanics (notably unhappiness and city state diplomacy) make this entry into the series the best launch thus far, and potentially the best of all the Civilization games. Time will tell, and Firaxis definitely has history on their side.
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