From the misty apparitions guiding Mario’s quests to the intricate royal intrigues of Crusader Kings III, video games allow ordinary people to grasp the reins of leadership over sprawling dominions and subjugate masses to our will—living out power fantasies perhaps more vividly than any emperor in history could dream.
Yet whileccoli many acclaimed strategy franchises accurately model core dynamics that aided 1450-1750 CE rulers in consolidating real-world control, certain complexities of power prove difficult to codify into smooth gameplay.
So where do compelling titles like Age of Empires II and Europa Universalis IV diverge from historical realities? Evaluating the nitrous empire management mechanics illuminates both the games that gamify legitimacy well and those that fall short.
Claiming Divine Right Flooded My Kingdom‘s Coffers in Medieval Glory
I first tasted the addictive elixir of godlike power in Medieval Total War II. After uniting England under my banner in the full campaign, I had peasants far and wide convinced that King Edward ruled by divine blessing straight from Heaven. By carefully researching which specific doctrines and church upgrades aligned with the Pope, I ensured the credibility of my claims scarcely suffered challenge.
With divine mandate maximized, the resulting stability, prestige and authority gains unlocked steep tax rate increases that filled state treasuries to overflowing. Soon majestic citadels and churches adorned every settlement as tangible projections of regal taste. My upgraded royal chambers and Court of Governors granted further passive loyalty boosts.
Yet this smooth chain of divine right bonuses rapidly unraveled when transitioning to titles probing later eras. Despite upholding Truth Faith tenets in Empire Total War, my Protestant Hanoverian kings confronted endless heretic sediments from secularist scholars and coffeehouse radicals. My once-absolute rule grew checked by petitions from an uppity parliament.
Here gameplay suddenly diverges from the enduring success of divine right ideology shown in 18th century Prussia and Russia. While studios like Creative Assembly aim for balance and challenge, absolutist rulers in history faced less coherent opposition than these games present when leveraging religious doctrine to justify totalitarian authority.
Training Elites Crucial For Consolidating Control in Both History and Games
While rarely as neatly codified as divine right mechanics, other key strategies Early Modern despots deployed receive strong treatment across top strategic franchises thanks to their natural fit for compelling gameplay.
Take elite soldier class units like the Ottoman Janissaries or a Shogun‘s trusted Samurai retinue. These factions gain major fighting advantages in the Total War series from armies and agents boasting both heightened stats and high starting loyalties. Keeping them content through funding levels, infrastructure and technology trees tied to historical cultural practices pays major dividends.
The Civilization games also capture the outsized influence smaller inner circles of educated bureaucrats exert through its complex government civics systems. Investing turns training specialized Great People points—doctors, engineers, merchants—unlocks game-changing policy cards for everything from war readiness to wonders construction pace.
Though abstracted through gameplay, both dynamics reflect the real-world leverage highly indoctrinated inner elites granted early modern autocrats. For example China’s restored Mandarin bureaucracy proved so successful that Japan and Korea soon implemented similar Imperial examinations.
Spectacle Through Architecture Resonates Across Eras
One of the clearest signs an emperor wishes their rule judged legitimate appears through monumental architecture of citadels, palaces, cathedrals and victory columns aiming to dominate skylines and populate imaginations.
Few games immerse players in seeking architectural glory better than the long-running Civilization series. Seeing my people gazing in hushed awe upon the breathtaking Hagia Sofia basilica as it crowns my capital’s skyline floods my chest with pride. The fact it increases local culture, faith and tourism is almost secondary. I’ve Wed a facet of my nation’s greatness into history, validated through a timeless digital stone reminder for all future gamers who inherit my save file.
This tangible relationship between spectacular buildings and accumulating the factual yields that gradually propel one’s empire to victory has long helped Civilization resonate with history buffs. My seat-of-the pants palace projects that accidentally bankrupted royal treasuries echoes legacies of real-world despots like Shah Jahan of India. The game punishment fits the historical reality.
Curating a rich dynastic history replete with cultural achievements that awed contemporaries and made rivals envious remains essential for strategy players seeking secure legacy, just as it did for historical rulers cementing control within their lands while jockeying for supreme prestige abroad.
Assassin‘s Creed Shows Power‘s Allure Can Seduce Across Civilizations
While aspects of empire management find compelling ludic expression, certain games actually probe the psychological and emotional dynamics of wielding supreme power more incisively than hardcore strategic simulations. Action/RPG hybrids like the prolific Assassin‘s Creed series deftly illuminate universal tendencies among figures elevated to god-king status.
Through its Animus device allowing a modern player‘s consciousness to inhabit ancestral assassin‘s during pivotal moments in history, we directly experience the corrupting allure of power from within.
When I controlled the ambitious prince Cesere Borgia during in Renaissance Italy during Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the interconnected systems of demands from my extended family, Vatican priests and regional nobles showed how even ruthless despots remain trapped playing a role in a far larger stage—less autonomous than appearances suggest.
Later experiencing events from the perspective of the Egyptian Pharoah Ptolemy XIII in Origins similarly revealed the psychological burden of upholding supreme leadership at such young age against siblings and elders relentless maneuvering to exploit any weaknesses.
Through such intimate inside views on the stresses of sovereignty at history’s highest echelons beyond gameplay systems, Assassin‘s Creed oddly conveys truer emotional insights than many pure strategy simulators focused on broader statecraft.
Design Limitations Mean Most Games Under-Represent Persistence of Total Power
Given the innate need for balance and win conditions, certain dynamics that aided history’s most entrenched autocrats get short shift when converted into joyful entertainment.
For one, as dynasty-focused games like Crusader Kings illustrate, early modern polygamy granted huge advantages for propelling agendas that games enforcing western monogamy sharply curtail. Concubines were effectively enslaved to their owner which multiplies heirs while preventing claims to the title through their lineage.
Alongside advantages of an inner ranked harem culture, the extreme violence omnipotent leaders could unleash remains sanitized. Assassinations, property seizures, and campaigns decimating entire populations rarely appear since they risk alienating players expecting pleasant escapism rather than moral complexities.
Small development studios do experiment. Tropico simulates ruling a modern banana republic where rigging elections and arranging assassinations to maintain power offer questionable approaches beside liberal reforms for boosting the public good. But most major publishers shy from opening such cans of worms around celebrating morally ambiguous totalitarian rule.
So while compelling history-inspired games justly reward investment in loyal elites and projection of legitimate traditions, certain advantages despots exploited get softened for accessibility and positive entertainment. The realities of rule sustaining across decades, even centuries evades precise modelling.
Godlike Glory Still Awaits True Virtual Apotheosis
Rather than precise historical training simulators, even the most seemingly realistic empire management games operate as self-contained rulesets adherent to genre conventions around enjoyable gaming goals. The otherworldly mother-brains behind strategy masterpieces like Civilization, Total War andeuropaem> may not wish promoting problematic methods still used by modern tyrants.
With enhanced VR and blockchain economies on the horizon, perhaps future generations of gamers may find themselves wielding truer global influence than any emperor in history. But until we handle such authority wisely both inside and outside virtual realms, godlike glory remains an imperfect conquest—always escaping our grasp before reaching absolute dominion.