Learning Academic Theories through GamingReport – Realpolitik and Imperialism

Done by: Yao Sheng Jie (3A)Joseph Lee (3I)Yang Yang (3K)

Qian Dong Heng (3L)

Introduction

Gaming. The first thing that comes into one’s mind when one hears the word is probably something like fun or play time. However, what if someone tells you that one can use games to teach? Perhaps you might not be surprised, but perhaps you would. In this age where information technology plays increasingly important roles in our lives, it is perhaps no longer so surprising that games would be adapted for educational purposes.

In this report, we will be examining three commercial computer strategy games and their ability to reflect how Imperialism and Realpolitik would shape a player’s decisions, and as such allow the player to gain firsthand experience regarding how they might be applied in real life.

We believe that since games are models of the real world, they may be adapted for educational purposes. However, the commercial motive for it creation and the fact that games are designed for an immersive and entertaining experience means that historical accuracy and aspects of realism are sacrificed in return for a more entertaining experience.

This report consists of a literature review of the two academic theories, Imperialism and Realpolitik, and an analysis of the role of these theories within the games. We will be focusing on how accurately the theory is portrayed within the games, and will also attempt to point out limitations within the game’s ability to portray the academic theories. From there, we will show why the game, indeed, is suitable for educational purposes in the Conclusion section.

Literature Review

Realpolitik

The definition of realpolitik is as follows: Policies which are based on practical considerations rather than ideological notions.

The concept behind realpolitik first came about in the 17th century when Niccolo Machiavelli published a book, The Prince, which argued that people were self-serving, malevolent and untrustworthy by nature. Machiavellianism, as it came to be known, became the basis of realpolitik.

The term was coined by Ludwig von Rochau in the 19th century, to be applied to the situation which balance of power could be achieved in European empires after Napoleonic Wars. In the Concert of Europe1, the leaders of each country would meet to discuss on actions to take after events upsetting the peace between the empires occurred, and would eventually come to a consensus which would give the most benefits to every nation within the conference. Thereafter, the term “realpolitik” would refer to the idea that the policies of a country would be based on practical considerations of the empire rather than the ideological notions.

A particular case study would be that of the United States during the Cold War. President Nixon often decided the policies of the US through realpolitik considerations rather than base them on their ideological ideas of capitalism, freedom etc. This could be seen from the exchange between the US and China, which was a communist country. In addition, Nixon and even Reagan often supported authoritarian regimes to promote greater regional stability, which would be essential to promote economic growth. Even when these actions were clearly seen to have gone against the American ideals, Nixon and Reagan still did that due to practical considerations. As such, we see the practicality and power that this theory can bring.

The most obvious benefit which realpolitik policies can bring to a country is a greater chance of survival. They are focused on gathering power, which will help them in their fight for survival. A balance of power, which is usually made when alliances are formed, ensures that allies get equal power. This makes it highly likely that both sides will cooperate to gather power and achieve their similar goals, and ties into the realistic world of politics.

Realpolitik policies also suffer from some problems. First of all, long-term goals cannot be achieved through realpolitik policies as the country usually sacrifices principles for power. In addition, countries which adopt realpolitik policies have a history of being seen as untrustworthy, which can potentially increase tension between countries, threatening the very “survival” it had wanted to bring.

The most realistic approach for countries to adopt in forming their policies nowadays is through a combination of realpolitik and ideological practices. This would diminish the effect of the cons that realpolitik policies bring while still giving many of the benefits that the policies can bring as well.

Imperialism

Imperialism is the economic and political dominance of "monopolistic finance capital" in the most advanced countries and its acquisition — and enforcement through the state — of control of the means (and hence the returns) of production in less developed regions. The term was frequently used by Marxists to exploit the fact that capitalist countries were exploiting poorer countries for personal gain.

Imperialism has been seen throughout history. It had been created repeatedly and independently throughout many parts of the world, like China, Assyria, England, France and many others. This is a testament to the various benefits that Imperialism provides, including access to a large amount of resources, the ability to prevent outside threats and the ability to spread ideology.

For example, the Roman Empire lasted from 27BC to 476/1453AD. It was the largest European empire in ancient times and often recognized as one of the most successful empires in history in terms of size and endurance. The empire has created an impact that can still be felt today as it was a highly advanced civilization in its time.

However, Imperialism does have its cons. Governance is problematic due to imperial overreach, potential political problems where some countries may bear resentment for such dominance, cultural clashes, high administrative costs, long borders and logistical problems. While temporary solutions such as allowing local autonomy, material compensation or assimilation with the local

populace have been adopted by empires, it is undeniable that the problems of imperialism are rather serious.

Rome solved the problems of their empire in their own ways. Rome’s policies tend to allow local populations to assimilate and adopt a “Roman” identity. They also had a strong and efficient military system to guard the borders. The soldiers are well paid and gain plenty of benefits, to prevent them from desertion or betrayal. They were also organized in a simple manner. They also had a strong central government which keeps a firm grip on conquered territories, while an efficient network of stone-paved roads throughout the empire solves problems regarding communications and transportation.

Footnotes:

1Concert of Europe: The balance of power between the empires of Europe (Russia, Prussia, England, Austria, France) after the fall of Napoleon. Conferences were held by the leaders of these five empires whenever events threatening peace between European nations emerged.

Analysis of Academic Theories in Games

Spore

The objective of the civilization stage is spore is to own all the cities on the globe through various means - economic, military or religious means. A player could establish a trade route by communicating with a civilization leader and if the leader agrees, economic vehicles travel between a player's city and the Non-Player Character's (NPC) country, exchanging spices, the only resource available in the game. When enough trade has occurred, the player has the option of using SporeBucks, the currency in Spore, to purchase an NPC's city. This is a form of economic imperialism where the player uses his economic influence to buy over and city and effectively over take the city. The NPC's lose control over their city and the player has absolute control over the new city. Instead of that, a player could also start off by creating military vehicles instead of economic vehicles and use military force to take over a country. The effects are these are less desirable as the rival civilization will retaliate by sending his own units to attack a player's city and vehicle casualties result in a player having to purchase more units. However, use of military to overtake a civilization is the most direct form of imperialism and fastest to accomplish if one has the resources and money. A player could also use his cultural and religious influence to convert a city through the use of missionary vehicles, and this is a form of cultural imperialism. The player in Spore has absolute control over all his cities, including placement of buildings, such as houses, factories and entertainment buildings. The citizens of a city have no say over what the player does and other than their happiness, which plays only a minor role in the game, the citizens of a city are not taken into account in Spore. The cities can have an economic, military or religious speciality, allowing a player to build the respective vehicles but after conquering a city, the player can instantly convert a city without any resistance. The player is also unconsciously driven into being an imperialist as the only way to win is to take over all of the opponent's cities, also, the need for resources and money to build vehicles motivates a player to quickly conquer territory to claim spice geysers which will increase a player's income. In addition to that, a unit cap where a maximum number of units are allowed to

be built encourages a player to actively take over a city once his or her city cannot support enough units and expanding is necessary. The problems with imperialism is not demonstrated in the game as the vehicles travel quickly from one city to another and a player can command any city and any point in the game, so there is no long communication chain. Higher administrative costs and logistical problems do not appear in the game as managing a civilization is simplified in this game. However, as can be seen when communicating with other civilizations, their opinion of you does deprove if they see that both civilizations have close borders and if the player is becoming too powerful. Therefore, Spore does demonstrate the autocratic nature of imperialism and reflects the reasons and problems with imperialism in the real word. It also deals with the player's economic, cultural and military influence and his or her territorial policies.

In the space stage, your spaceship seems to be about the only unit in this stage capable of making an impactful change in the events, it becomes the key to completing a mission. Therefore, your empire’s army is essentially comprised of one unit. This is not realistic of empires as they usually have a large number of armies on standby to quell internal strife/external threats. Realpolitik is also another academic theory demonstrated in the game. There are limited spice geysers in the game and spice is very important in generating income. These geysers are very quickly claimed by the NPCs and to have sufficient SporeBucks to operate smoothly, the player is forced by circumstances to adopt certain policies, such as military policies, to expand the city so as to get more spice. This necessity of going to war and not being able to carry out the ideal diplomatic or peaceful solutions is an example of realpolitik. The easiest method to pass the civilization stage would be to conduct trade and eventually buy a city. However, there are civilizations who are naturally hostile towards you. An attempt to improve relations by offering a tribute would most of the time waste your SporeBucks and vehicles. If the player is using religious means to convert a city, their units can be harmed and destroyed if the city resists the players cultural influence. The only reliable and practical solution would be to build military units and go to war, eventually conquering the civilization and getting the player past the civilization stage.

Spore is, however, a platform more focused on the experimental process rather than survival itself for first time players. Subsequently, it bleeds into a scenario where you are acting for your own interests once you get more familiar with the game. Therefore, Spore’s limitation in portraying Realpolitik is that the game’s ultimate objective is not hard-pressed survival/domination but rather as a tool of experimentation.

Furthermore, it delivers a notion that reproduction is a definite way to escape death, as evidenced in the first two stages, whereas reproduction might not even be the best choice of survival in the real world.

Rise of Nations

In Rise of Nations, imperialism is shown most evidently when one nation takes over the other. However, unlike Civilisations 3, there are no multi-national states. After you take over a city, it becomes part of your country. This means that there are no civilisations in Rise of Nations, only countries. For Rise of Nations, you aim is to conquer the world. Therefore, you have to use different tactics to achieve your aim. You will need to research technology and gather more resources than other nations so as to have an upper hand to other nations. It is similar to real life in a sense that the more powerful nation gets to call the shots.

However, unlike in real life, the other nations (computer) will tend to ally with the strongest nation so as to eliminate the threat that the strongest nation is posing and also to receive protection from the strongest nation. In real life, weaker nations tend to stick together to repel an attack from a stronger nation as all of them know that they will be in more danger if they stay alone. Also, it is almost impossible for a weaker nation to ally with the strongest nation as the aim of the strongest nation is to conquer every nation and they will usually ignore you unless they have other plans in mind.

Also, in the game, there are no cultural and economical factors affecting the outcome of the game. Unlike in real life, your citizens never rebel against you; they are completely loyal. However, military units may be bribed by enemy units. Therefore, there is a risk that an inside attack will occur. Also, the economy of other nations does not affect yours, which means that there is only an internal market inside your own country. Empires in the real world often trade with each other to improve their economic power.

Realpolitik in Rise of Nations is much more evident compared to the other two games as it happens all the time. Your mission is to conquer other nations on the map, but you can choose to ally with one first to eliminate its threat and take care of the other nations first although your mission is to conquer both nations. After some have been taken over, you can start your plans on the others by breaking the treaty. You give up your ideology (conquering all nations) for a more practical purpose (taking care of one nation at a time).In Rise of Nations, your task is to conquer the world. Therefore, basically everything you do is for practical purposes such as survival. Since religion and culture does not affect the game in any significant way, you attack for one purpose: more land, more resources, more people, more military prowess, more power.

In Rise of Nations, however, the computer is limited in the sense that they are unable to form strategic alliances according to their needs. They have to wait for the player team to approach him before he can do anything regarding alliances. Therefore, the computer is not realistic in the sense that it is not flexible enough to become a ruler following and creating policies according to realistic appeals.

Civilizations 3

In Civilizations 3, Imperialism is one of the most important parts of the game. Imperialism, used in a general manner, is the urge to peruse the control of greater territorial power and domination over other nation. This is extremely important as a great territory means more available resources and as such, greater military and economic might. Otherwise, the player will be easily conquered by other civilizations.

In Civilizations 3, Military Imperialism is arguable the most important factor affecting the survival of a nation. Two of the end game scenarios involve significant amounts of territorial conquest, one involving the player controlling a certain amount of territory, the other involving the destruction of all other civilizations. These represent the most straight forward way of winning the game. A sufficiently militarily powerful nation may pressurize a weaker one to submit and offer tributes. Control over the behaviour of other nations would mean that needless conflict be avoided and your country will grow in wealth and technological power through the tributes from other nations.

All other methods of victory involve a certain degree of imperialism. The Cultural Victory scenario involves making player’s nation to be sufficiently advanced culturally (Cultural Imperialism). The Space Race scenario requires the player to finish building a shuttle to Alpha Centauri first (A demonstration of economic power, also requires the control of a significant amount of resources). Even the Diplomatic Victory scenario requires the player to be elected the UN secretary general twice in a row, and to be eligible requires the player to control a significant amount of the global land area. As such, it can be clearly seen that Imperialism is absolutely vital in the survival and eventual Victory of the player faction.

However, the problem of communication between cities due to the size of the empire is not portrayed in the game since you are acting God. Cultural clashes do not really happen; instead the citizens in an empire will only rebel against you if you are warring against their previous ruler. However, Civilizations 3 is arguably a rather accurate representation of Imperialism for a turn-based strategy game.

Like in all other Strategy games, practical considerations represent the single most important factor in terms of defining the policy of the player faction. Ideology plays a minimal role and cannot be incorporated into the game play by any means. Fundamentally, every consideration the player takes is shaped by how it would affect the chances of survival on the part of the player and moving down along the path to final victory. The above mentioned Imperialistic policies that the player almost certainly needs to pursue are the product of these realpolitikal considerations.

The balance of power is also necessarily maintained, as any significant imbalance would result in the stronger civilization trying to take advantage of this, resulting in war, which, while potentially giving the victor a greater advantage in the long run, leaves both sides vulnerable as their resources are sapped by the conflict, an undesirable result.

The player needs to gather power and maintain it, and as mentioned before, Imperialism represents the simplest way of doing this. A lack of power means death in the world of Civilizations 3. As such, realpolitik is the ultimate force in shaping player decisions. Anything else and it would mean game over.

In Civilizations 3, the player is not given a chance in spreading ideology amongst the civilisations due to the rather fixed amount of actions one can

take in the course of the game. Therefore, this lack of interactivity prevents the player from learning the differences between realpolitik policies and ideologically-influenced policies, hence leading to them forming an incomplete picture of the theory.

Conclusion

We have seen, in the three games, that academic theories, to an extent, can be realistically portrayed in games. The idea of Imperialism is present in most strategy games as many of them require you to be able to build, conquer and expand in order to succeed. The idea of Realpolitik is also present in most games as you need to amass the power which you would need to use to achieve your ends.

In Spore, as the objective of the game is situated between experimentation and domination, it is not entirely accurate in reflecting Realpolitik policies due to the fact there is space for experimentation, and on accounts of some possibly intended errors paved for the development of strategy. However, as the game is indeed rather focused on survival/domination, realpolitik policies are important in the game and the different features of the game seem to support this. Imperialism is only evident in the fourth and fifth stages. However, Spore seems to be less of an accurate tool in portraying the problems of imperialism due to the oversimplification of the real world.

In Rise of Nations, the interaction between players does not allow for a lot of choices. This limitation is crucial to explaining the limitations this game and how accurately it defines the academic theories.

It has been shown that the computer is not intelligent enough to carry out realpolitik decisions which imitate the real-life decisions made by nations. This severely inhibits the application of realpolitik policies on other nations. Many features of imperialism, and especially their problems, are not evidently shown in Rise of Nations. This simplification of the problems of imperialism is by far the largest limitation of Rise of Nation.

However, nonetheless, Rise of Nations is a strategy game focused on survival, conquest and domination and hence is a rather suitable platform for learning the theories, despite the limitations.

For Civilisations 3, the game is able to accurately portray Realpolitik in action, but players will be unable to contrast that against policies which depend on ideological notions rather than realistic considerations due to the limited ability of the game. It does not show some of the problems faced in

Imperialism, however, due to some simplification of the game system. Although that is being said, we feel that Civilisations 3 has the most accurate portrayal of the theories due to the fact that it is complex and comprehensive in showing the theories and how they function in the real world.

Therefore, in conclusion, we can see that among all three games reviewed, each of them, while carrying some form of limitations, is capable of representing the academic theories of Realpolitik and Imperialism to certain extent. Players can also grasp how these academic theories work in the games and hence make some generalisations on how these theories work in real life. While each game might not give a full picture of each theory due to its limitations, our group certainly feels that each game reviewed above generally has the potential of being taken into the classroom for productive experiential learning, and hence are powerful learning tools.

Bibliography

Websites:

Cambridge Online Dictionary (Definitions)http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Wikipedia (Articles on various case studies)http://en.wikipedia.org/

MSN Encarta (Articles on Imperialism and various case studies)http://encarta.msn.com/

Imperialism Article contributed by Michael Mastanduno, M.A., Ph.D.Assistant Professor of Government, Dartmouth College.

Appendix

Screenshots of Games

Rise of Nations

Use of spies in espionage:

Caption: Spy from Beijing is conducting espionage to find out the level of research that the opposing player has attained. This is useful in making realpolitik decisions.

Strategy for Early-Game:

Caption: Generally, a nation will have to create structures which allow the player to gather resources to create armies to increase power, before he can use Realpolitik strategies or create an empire.

SPORE

Imperial Overreach:

The event is happening at a faraway corner of the galaxy which I have visited and placed a small colony. The Grox (species at the centre of the universe) have been spotted there. Although I wish to get there quickly, the fact that it is so far away really deters me from wasting my time to do so.

Destroy them before they destroy us:

The Flixxel Empire is a very unfriendly empire living right beside us in the solar system. According to Realpolitik view on the matter of their capture of our planet, we decided to fight and eliminate them. However, it seems that they have retaliated too.

Civ 3

Early Game Strategy:

During early game, each civilization will have a different approach to their scientific advances. Taking advantage of this allows you to tech up faster than the others. Realistically, trading of knowledge is the fastest way to tech up.

Spreading Culture:

Having a large culture gives us an ability to possibly gain a neighbouring city. When this happens, cities will be totally alleged to us, and in this picture, we have gained the city of Niagara Falls even though it is separated by a stretch of sea.

Reflections

Through these DMP sessions, we have seen familiar games in a new light. Games have been said to have great teaching and learning potential but we were skeptical of these comments. The important thing about using games to teach is enforcing strict learning objectives and using guided questions with examples from the games itself. This provides a realistic grounding in the lessons, and students will not be lost in the theoretical aspects of these academic theories and can see the theories present themselves in real life. This is how games are useful in teaching, and what I have realized through learning these theories from the games. The games provide a stable and solid foundation which all of us are familiar with and can relate to, this makes learning less abstract and confusing, instead enjoyable and meaningful. Our takeaways from these DMP sessions range from increased knowledge in the field of the academic theories, and linking real life politics and city management with theories through the experiences accumulated in the games throughout the course of the module. Games have let us look at current affairs and history case studies in a different light, and have created a link between History and Geography through their use and application of the subjects in various scenarios. The module has been challenging because the academic theories were tough to comprehend but with the help of our teacher's articles and the step-by-step guidance, we have overcome the learning challenges. This DMP is powerful because it can effectively capture the student's attention and bring the message across. The choice of games could have been improved as Spore's earlier stages are meaningless and is overly-simplified due to its target audience. Other than that, our group is very satisfied with the module and would definitely recommend it to our classmates.