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Civilization IV: Quality of Life     (0 comments)

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Age Range Ages 14 and up Brief Description

Popular government games view citizens as tools to glorify the governor. Instead, what if we score our quality of life? In this Civilization IV mod, your score is the people's health and happiness. This ethical calculus incentivizes restraint and art. Choose your moral values. Discover the policies you are rewarding.

Release Date May 2009

Developer Ethan Kennerly

Project Lead Ethan Kennerly

Press Coverage

Press Release URL


Full Description

Most popular social management games have neglected utilitarian calculus, often viewing citizens as a means to the governor’s end. To supplement the pedagogy of ethical theory, a social management game’s score of the dominion of a governor can be modified to score the quality of life of the simulated persons. From medical ethics, the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is adapted to become well-informed, subjective, and extended (WISE). Although a complete formalization is inappropriate, an approximate utilitarian calculus is scripted in Civilization IV. An ethical calculus can incentivize a player to adopt a strategy that complies with some intuitive attributes of a humanistic society: restraint, diplomacy, and art. By customizing the scripted moral values, the student may discover which public policies are incentivized. In order to optimize their quality of life score in the modified Civilization IV, the modern student may be motivated to study ethics.



Purpose

Adopt strategies that benefit the simulated persons.  Consider how moral values incentivize policies.

Metrics
 How are you measuring results?
 Observing strategies. Interviewing players.

What outcomes have been measured?
 Players restrain territory, sustainable growth, improve hygiene, propagate plural religions, and prefer liberal civics.

Budget
Overall: 3,000

Social Issues/Channels Economics, Politics Game Tags

Civilization IV, ethical calculus, happiness economics, Python, quality of life, quality-adjusted life year, QALY, serious game, utilitarianism, social management game, welfare economics



Where you can play this game http://finegamedesign.com/quality_of_life Download the mod. Download the free trial of Civilization IV.

Contacts
General Ethan Kennerly, kennerly@finegamedesign.com
Press Ethan Kennerly, kennerly@finegamedesign.com

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