Why this site?

Sid Meier's Civilization series is one of the most popular PC games of all time. Although it was not designed for education, people around the world report that playing the game has extended their interest in history, and maybe even taught them some advanced terminology, knowledge of geography, or even principles of history. Our goal is to take extend this even further, by collecting and sharing historical scenarios, curricular materials, and case studies by people learning with Civ.

We are an open site. Anyone can join. Many of our best contributors are kids who have taken an interest in Civ. Our hope is that other kids, parents, and teachers will find the site useful (and maybe even contribute!) their own curricular materials for the game. Our community is happy to share what we know, and we want to help others become experts so we can learn from them. To quote our friends (and inspiration) at Apolyton University, we want to create a combination of a bootcamp (something that passes down what we've learned) and a war college (something that helps us all build knew knowledge) through studying and playing Civ.

• Learning History Through Playing Civ?

Learning history through playing Civ is a little different than by reading a book or watching a documentary. Of course, just look at the Civilopedia and chances are you'll pick up some history. Or, play with a realistic map, and maybe you'll learn something about political, cultural or physical geography. But more importantly, advanced players develop a model of how geography, politics, and economics interact to produce historical outcomes.

As a result, we think the best way to help people learn through playing Civilization is to first help them become expert game players. From there, people can go in many directions – playing historical scenarios, choosing a particular civilization to focus on, or maybe even designing their own scenarios.

This site is dedicated to helping people become just those kinds of experts. We have custom scenarios, tutorials, and curricular materials and we encourage you to produce your own. Ultimately, becoming a producer of knowledge is the best way to learn. So please come and join us!

• Does Sid Meier and Firaxis know about this site?

Yes. Firaxis games has been a great friend to us. Of course Sid Meier didn't design the game for learning and Firaxis is in the business of making games for fun. But, the folks at Firaxis seem to appreciate what we're doing with the game.