Istanbul under snow, Preparing syllabi for my courses, Playing Civ VII

After 4 or 5 years, Istanbul finally got a good load of snow that immediately broke down the city’s ordinary life. Traffic was overloaded, the roads were not good for many to drive, and schools were closed. We are not in a formal closure, but most lecturers worked at home as the classes will start next week. It was cozy to stay home, but I had to finish up so much work that it was not a rest period.

I worked hard during the day to reward myself for playing the new version of Civilization game. CIV 7

Initial reactions to Civilization 7 have been mixed, reflecting both positive and negative sentiments from players and critics. Here are some key points:

• : Many fans appreciate the game’s ability to maintain the addictive “one more turn” quality that is characteristic of the series2.

• : The introduction of an army leader system and a specialization system for towns are seen as enhancements, offering improved control over military units and strategic city planning2.

: The game’s visual style has received praise, though it is noted that visuals alone cannot carry the entire experience6

• : Some players feel that the game was released in an unfinished state, with issues like poor UI, lack of features compared to previous titles (e.g., fewer map sizes), and unclear instructions for certain units like merchants and migrants35.

• : The lack of engaging dialogues and character animations for leaders has been criticized, making them seem less personalized compared to previous games23.

• : The Legacy Paths feature has been described as feeling too linear or restrictive by some players, who prefer more open-ended gameplay options3.

Firaxis has acknowledged these issues and plans to address them through updates. They are focusing on improving UI interactions, adding community-requested features in free updates, and releasing patches like Patch 1.1.0 for quality-of-life changes5.

I agree with most of the feedback from other players. I still need to figure out some aspects of the new version. After 16 hours of playing, I got my first win, but there is much to play and get. Let’s see.

In the meantime, I am re-opening a PhD course I did not offer for more than five years. Like the return of Civ game, my course “Theories of New Media” is back, and here is the initial outline:

Week 2: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Society

Readings from special issues:

• “Rethinking Communication in the Era of Artificial Intelligence”
• “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research”
• “Exploring Future Imaginaries in the Making and Governing of Digital Technology”

Week 3: Digital Face, Deep Fakes and Synthetic Media

Readings from special issues:

• “Digital Face and Deep Fakes”
• “Visual Politics”
• “The Shifting Temporalities of Journalism”

Week 4: Platform Politics and Digital Governance

Readings from special issues:

• “Platform Politics in Europe”
• “Platformization”
• “Algorithmic Governance in Context”

Week 5: Digital Media Infrastructure and Data Centers

Readings from special issues:

• “Digital Media Infrastructures”
• “Data centers and the infrastructural temporalities of digital media”
• “Methods for datafication, datafication of methods”

Week 6: Digital Culture and Disconnection

Readings from special issues:

• “Digital Culture Meets Data: Critical Perspectives”
• “Digital disconnection”
• “Understanding the Social in a Digital Age”

Week 7: Metaverse and Virtual Worlds

Readings from special issues:

• “Metaverse”
• “Reconsidering Tactility in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing”
• “Virtual Reality for Pro-Social Attitude Change”

Week 8: Digital Democracy and Political Communication

Readings from special issues:

• “Special Issue on Digital Threats to Democracy”
• “Civic Participation in the Datafied Society”
• “Effects of Social Media in Political Campaigns”

Week 9: Digital Labor and Platform Economy

Readings from special issues:

• “Worker Resistance in Digital Capitalism”
• “Technologies of intimate labour”
• “Sharing economy”

Week 10: Digital Media and Crisis Communication

Readings from special issues:

• “Communicating Risk and Uncertainty in the Face of COVID-19”
• “COVID-19, Digital Media, and Health”
• “Innovative Communication Strategies for Current and Future Pandemics”

Week 11: Digital Methods and Research Ethics

Readings from special issues:

• “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research”
• “Mobile Methods: Explorations, Innovations, and Reflections”
• “The Tracked Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches on Online Tracking”

Week 12: Digital Games and Play

Readings from special issues:

• “Esports Research: Critical, Empirical, and Historical Studies of Competitive Videogame Play”
• “Ludic Economies”
• “Politicizing Agency in Digital Play After Humanism”

Week 13: Digital Journalism and News

Readings from special issues:

• “Automated Journalism and Online News Industry”
• “Fact Checking Applications and News Credibility”
• “The emotional turn in journalism studies”

Week 14: Future of Digital Media

Readings from special issues:

• “Caring Media Futures”
• “Telling and Taming Anticipatory Media Visions and Technologies”
• “Reclaiming the Human in Machine Cultures”