As we progress through the games, I’m starting to become better acclimated to understanding their mechanics and thinking about how they could be incorporated into the curriculum of my future high school social studies classroom. Total War: Empire is no exception to this. The style of the game is similar to Civilization with both being turn-based simulation games. Both involve massive amounts of strategy and deciding what methods of play will be most effective for you. My previous experience with Civilization did help me understand the basic ideas and concepts of this new game, but I quickly learned of the differences. The differences had aspects that were both positive and negative in comparison to my gameplay experience.
One aspect that I found similarities between the two games and was something I would incorporate into my classroom is that with simulation games, my students can have first-hand experience with the inner workings and events that shaped empires in history. This means they can have better insight into the hardships and mindsets using the video games and “living” through them they would get from reading about it. The games are historically based, which provide ample opportunities to experience struggles and to see how things do not always go according to plan. One example of this in Total War: Empire is experiencing the negotiations between different nations. This was a frustrating experience I personally had as I, playing as Prussia gave copious amounts of money to Poland-Lithuania, only for them to still not form an alliance with me because I didn't think about methods. This experience may have to do with my naïve nature in playing these strategy games since I don’t tend to take the conquering aggressive route until it’s absolutely necessary. I can imagine my students going through similar situations and learning from them all the different factors empires had to consider when making big decisions, like alliances. Through their gameplay and encounters such as this, our class discussions would be more enriching in their understanding of the material.
Pictured above is the Diplomacy Process, players bargain with many different methods in exchange for diplomatic relations such as alliances, military access, etc.
Another way that I would use this in my classroom would be similar to the activity our class partook in which is to look at an actual historical event and try to simulate and see where the student’s gameplay actually goes. This activity is possible because, unlike Civilization, the map is accurate to reality and allows for players to interact with nations that are near them and that in actual history they would have had encounters with. I would use this activity as supplemental within units as we learned about certain historical events, such as wars and or expansions. My students could compare and contrast what actually happened with their gameplay, and we could have a whole group discussion about what differed such as the beginning resources, conquests, alliances, and enemies.
Another aspect of Total War that I enjoyed and helped ground it, in reality, is when you start the game, depending on your chosen nation, you have different goals and resources provided. This would help show students the advantages and disadvantages that each nation had and how nations and different goals led to conflict. During my personal gameplay, I experienced playing as the Maratha Confederacy, The British Empire, and Prussia. In each of these experiences, I had very different starting paths. For instance, The Maratha Confederacy and Prussia did not have any fleets of ships, so I had to start with a land campaign. Whereas with the British Empire, I started working on a naval excursion. This variety of experiences would also be applicable to my students. I could create activities where students research their own nation as a jigsaw learning activity. My students would become “experts in their nation and present both their research and their gameplay experience to their peers so everyone can learn about the different nations and their traits.
These two images show the contrast of resources between the two nations, Great Britain and the Maratha Confederacy. Great Britain at the beginning has an established naval system, whereas the Maratha Confederacy resource-wise is solely land-based.
Though my experience with video games is still quite limited, my students would be able to pick up on the game throughout the school year and find other enriching aspects of the gameplay. This game as they progress would facilitate historical questioning just as McCall talked about. (McCall, 14) This is why I believe that simulation-based games are a valuable resource in classrooms. Total War: Empire allows students to experience first-hand how nation-building went and the struggles that all faced. This format is the closest to reality we could have students partake in. When students have a buy-in to the games that they are personally invested in, they would be eager to discuss their experiences and historically based questions they had. I would use this game throughout the year so students could learn not only the mechanics over a long period of time but have chances to simulate different historical events that would be pertinent to the curriculum.