- The article defines an empire as a state where a core ruling population extracts resources from a culturally distinct periphery, often by force.
- It criticizes games like Age of Empires and Civilization for portraying empires as monoethnic nation-states that destroy or replace conquered populations, missing the real mechanics of imperial diversity and resource extraction.
- Using the Roman Republic as an example, the author argues that successful empires historically derive strength from managing diverse cultures, languages, and ethnic groups, which games often oversimplify into homogeneous units.
- The piece highlights that the dominant experience of empire is that of subjugated subjects, not conquerors, a perspective games fail to represent.
- It acknowledges exceptions in games like Rise of Nations, Stellaris, and Age of Wonders that better model imperial diversity, but notes barriers like gameplay fun versus historical accuracy.