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Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

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Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#41

Post by WorldMaker »

mordymoop wrote: post #18

Does this mean the Galactic Empire and the Imperium of Man are also not empires?

The Galactic Empire as shown in the movies seems to have a very small core, almost all of the movies are set in its periphery rather than its central core. Tatooine is paying taxes to the Empire and subject to its troops, but doesn't seem at risk of being culturally seen as "Imperial". Alderaan wasn't subservient enough as a culture and is subject to genocide. Endor was certainly never truly imperial.

It's almost harder to define what the core of the Galactic Empire even is. We are told Coruscant is core to the Empire, but the glimpses of it in the Old Republic era certainly implied it was a very diverse place and we aren't really shown Coruscant in the films of the height of the Galactic Empire. To some extent the only truly "core worlds" and "core peoples" that we see in the films are the Star Destroyers and Deathstars, the military demanding taxes from every planet they pass.

The Empire may not be taking full advantage of the military power of a diverse people because of the over-reliance on clones and treating draftees as if they were clones when the clones start to run out, but beyond that it certainly seems to resonate like an Empire in the way this article describes an Empire to me.

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#42

Post by [deleted] »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #28
nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #23

A funny quip to be sure. But one could be counter-pedantic and say the title never promises empires. It promises to take place in a time period where empires exist.

I had a similar thought, that a game in AoE could really represent a localised skirmish involving people from different empires, rather than an actual simulation of the development of those empires. Which also fits more with the scale of the map.

[deleted]

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#43

Post by onraglanroad »

complianceowll wrote: post #39
cauch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it's not rare to find people explaining that the roman empire, the roman armies or the roman cities were "all the same". Yet these persons seem to know that in real life population is not limited to 200 or that there is day-night cycles. The article talks about it, and makes the point that people who created AOE may have been biased by the same misconception that is also visible more generally. And it is an i…

[flagged]

Have you ever watched The Gladiator? How many of them were black? They were slaves.

Do you know how many slaves were black in the Roman empire? More than had American accents I assure you.

None of them spoke English either.

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#44

Post by cauch »

onraglanroad wrote: post #40
cauch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it's not rare to find people explaining that the roman empire, the roman armies or the roman cities were "all the same". Yet these persons seem to know that in real life population is not limited to 200 or that there is day-night cycles. The article talks about it, and makes the point that people who created AOE may have been biased by the same misconception that is also visible more generally. And it is an i…

Yes but Musk is really astonishingly ignorant. I realise he didn't have a classical education but he's the kind of person who would complain about Othello casting a black man as the main character.

Sure, but it is just an example, he is not the only one thinking this misconceptions is "historical".

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#45

Post by cauch »

complianceowll wrote: post #39
cauch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it's not rare to find people explaining that the roman empire, the roman armies or the roman cities were "all the same". Yet these persons seem to know that in real life population is not limited to 200 or that there is day-night cycles. The article talks about it, and makes the point that people who created AOE may have been biased by the same misconception that is also visible more generally. And it is an i…

[flagged]

What do you mean "out of context". The initial article is literally explaining that there is a misconception around the diversity of culture during the antiquity. This anecdotal event, that I picked because it was recent (sorry to disappoint you, I don't really care for Musk), was just a concrete example that the exact misconception we are talking about is real and still present today. The fact that the culprit is Musk is just "by chance".

(ps: and the fact that you end up with "and in hollywood, they depicted a roman army that was not entirely Rome-inhabitant-looking, so it is the proof that it's "wokeness" seems to also illustrate that indeed you have assimilated the misconception yourself)

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#46

Post by mbo »

> I will say that I find even in games that do pay some lip-service to the continued existence of subordinated peoples within large empires – I think particularly of Europa Universalis, Stellaris and Imperator – the mechanics and dynamics for managing those populations in a polyethnic, polylinguistic society are often sharply underdeveloped. In many games that don’t simply erase those populations, they are instead represented by a simple malus (e.g. “Non-primary culture, -x% production/stability/manpower/whatever).

Is this addressed in EU5 with its new population/culture system https://eu5.paradoxwikis.com/Population / https://eu5.paradoxwikis.com/Culture? I have not played it yet.

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#47

Post by anyonecancode »

WorldMaker wrote: post #41
mordymoop wrote: post #18

Does this mean the Galactic Empire and the Imperium of Man are also not empires?

The Galactic Empire as shown in the movies seems to have a very small core, almost all of the movies are set in its periphery rather than its central core. Tatooine is paying taxes to the Empire and subject to its troops, but doesn't seem at risk of being culturally seen as "Imperial". Alderaan wasn't subservient enough as a culture and is subject to genocide. Endor was certainly never truly imperial. It's almost har…

Given that each planet seems to have one species, except that humans live everywhere, I always kind of assumed that the Galactic Empire was one with humans at the core.

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#48

Post by angmarsbane »

I married into a family who basically only plays AOE properties. The parents in their 70s have played since the first version and now play AOE2 3-5 hour games every Sunday after family zoom with their son and his wife. Their two daughters are more devoted to AOM (Mythology) but can play AOE2 very well.

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#49

Post by spaceman_2020 »

fylham wrote: post #13

For those who aren’t aware, AOE2 is thriving today with a huge player base, fan base, ongoing development and large international tournaments (recent Red Bull Wololo tournament in London, for example). I play this game regularly with friends and love it.

The most insane part of AOE2 is that I was a young teenager when I first played the game and the dominant players then are STILL the dominant players now - 27 years later

Re: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

#50

Post by jeegsy »

MostlyStable wrote: post #7

I will leave the following since so far all the commenters seem to have either not read the article at all, or to have at least skipped the following two sections: >The third, predictable and annoying argument is “stop overthinking it, it is just a game.” Which is – if you will permit me to paraphrase C.S. Lewis – an unserious ‘boy’s philosophy’ unfit for adults. Video games are cultural products, like books or films…

“stop overthinking it, it is just a game.”

Indeed, you should write about what you wish especially considering the authors usual material. Even so, I didn't have the relationship between distinctively modern ideas of diversity (in a positive light) and traditional empires within a critique of "Age of Empires", a real time strategy game! on my bingo card. These are the sorts of ideas for better or worse that only an "intellectual" will come up with.

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