Changing Up my Play Style, Part I
Ask anyone who knows me what kind of player they think I am and they will probably have the same answer: a nice one. Maybe too nice.
Mind you, we’re not talking about Burnout or any other destructive racing game, where my goal in life is to personally destroy every contender several times over. I am not in it to win it; I am in it to murder your car.
Now, you probably don’t believe me to be one of the nicest players to walk the virtual fields of video games. Take this example: when my friends and I were playing a game once, I was given the option of advancing myself forward one space or pulling a player back three spaces. This player, who is also my best friend and is in fact a very mean player, was primed to win. Pulling him back would have meant that I was next in line. Due to the fact that I am such a nice person, I opted out of doing the ultimately beneficial action and instead chose to advance one measly space.
Knowing all this, imagine this scenario: I am playing Civilization V. Every computer player in the game has just finished denouncing me. Shoot, some of them denounced me as soon as they met me, and all I did was trade them my Iron for their Wool! Sure, I may have wiped out Ghandi and Montezuma, but c’mon, CPU dudes. My military advisor told me to!
What’s my next move? Total. Domination. Why the sudden switch from stupidly nice to supreme jerk? Well, let’s see…
It all began when I realized two things:
- I controlled most of the continent I shared with Ghandi and Montezuma and four city-states in the span of about two eras. It’s a pretty large continent to boot.
- My military, when they all stood together, was bigger than Ghandi’s country.
Feeling quite cocky but feeling the need to keep the peace, I asked Ghandi if he wanted to trade. He said no. I asked him what could make this deal work. Apparently, nothing. He wouldn’t take the deal and left me there, sugar-less and dejected. In need of reaffirmation that I’m a cool cat, one powerful leader to another, I went to Montezuma and we signed a Declaration of Friendship. Take that, Ghandi!
I checked up with my advisors, as I am wont to do, and ignored them, as I am also wont to do. That is, until I saw what my military advisor was putting out there for me.
“Ghandi has one weak, malnourished army. Declaring victory will be an easy task!”
And so, my transition began.
I parked my military outside of Ghandi’s border. They formed two rings around his country, it was kind of pathetic. Ghandi, being observant, addressed me, noting that my army was encircling him twofold and I should move. I, the petulant child-leader that I am, declared war.
India was annexed to Egypt, my perhaps too military-centric country, in a matter of turns. I think it took four. Maybe five.
I continued on my merry way after that, only targeting rowdy barbarians. I was the champion of the city-states, and my BFFAE Montezuma lived only a hop, skip, and a jump away. It was only Montezuma and I, on our own little continent, charming the city-states and battling back the barbarians until I finally figured out where in the open seas they were coming from. Montezuma and I were inseparable.
That is, until he refused to sign another Declaration of Friendship with me.
Michelle
