A little bit of sarcasm...

I’ve been putting off this first post in an effort to win a game—or at least prevail. I’ve failed miserably. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV is frustrating for me, yet extremely addicting at the same time. The farthest I’ve gotten is the foundation four cities under the Egyptian leader. I built a strong military, but it was overshadowed by the fact that I’m always reluctant to allow open borders with the other leaders in the game. There’s so much going on during every specific game, it’s hard to keep track of my own people, let alone anyone else’s. In the beginning, I would get distracted and opt to construct a lot of pretty buildings, rather than a significant military. I’ve since learned better from the hours I’ve played. (There’s the addiction kicking in.) Once I lose one game, I start anew, remaining conscientious of the mistakes I made in the prior game, only to make a different (usually more monumental) one later. It’s a terribly perpetual cycle. The first time I played, I lost in about thirty minutes. It was a good learning experience, to say the least. I got demolished by war elephants and chariots before those were even options for me. (This is coming from the player who, in an early game, still hadn’t had the option of building an aircraft by the year 2011 due to an apparently atrocious strategy—or lack thereof.) I thought I was getting shafted. Later, I got a little farther and I realized that I, too, could build chariots and train war elephants. Oh, how excited I was… until I saw war crafts flying overhead my neighbor’s civilizations. I, luckily, didn’t get bombed, but I got so frustrated, I quit the game and started a new one. I was determined to build war crafts. Good news… Eventually I did!! I lost (a time game?) to Julius Caesar and again, in another game, to Roosevelt. But at least I kept all my men, and I even killed some of the enemies. I didn’t quit after the time loss. I wanted to see how far I could progress. I entered the space race, which I lost, but it was fun seeing the technological advances the game offers. I’ve accepted the fact that I most likely won’t win the game, because I’m always playing against computers, which are set up to win anyway. My main problem is not having a legitimate strategy that can apply to all games. I’ve started to set up strong militaries right from the beginning and that has helped a lot. I’ve taken advantage of the settlers early as well. I establish multiple cities and mostly choose what the game recommends—though not always, because I’m convinced some options serve as distractions (which I fell for in the beginning, but am training myself not to do again). The way this is written, as I reread it, I see that I’m extremely competitive, but obviously only with myself. I take it especially seriously, which is odd, because I usually take very little seriously. Overall, however, regardless of competition, I enjoy the challenge, and I even sometimes look forward to seeing what I can do in each game. I’d like to think of myself as a relatively creative person, and I always hope my creativity reflects in the construction of my empire. (It usually doesn’t.) With the lessons I’ve inevitably taught myself, I’m excited to see what will happen with the empires I build this semester…