The series is considered a formative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".

All titles in the series share similar gameplay, centered on building a civilization on a macro-scale from prehistory up to the near future.

These reflect the cultural, intellectual, and technical sophistication of the civilization, and usually allow the player to build new units or to improve their cities with new structures.

After MicroProse was acquired by Spectrum Holobyte, Meier left with other designers to form Firaxis Games in 1996, which has been the principal developer of the series since.

Some issues associated with the Civilization name, due to the 1980 Civilization board game created by Francis Tresham, arose during the late 1990s but have been resolved through agreements, settlements, and publishing company acquisitions; presently Take-Two, the parent company of Firaxis, owns full rights to both the name and intellectual property for the series.

[3] Sid Meier and Bill Stealey co-founded MicroProse in 1982 to develop a number of flight simulators and military strategy software titles.

[4] Meier brainstormed upon his idea of combining global conquest inspired by Risk, city management from the early Empire games, and adding in the concept of a technology tree.

Sid Meier claimed that the board game was not a direct inspiration, however, MicroProse negotiated a license for the name from Avalon Hill.

[5] Despite Meier's initial reservations, Reynolds built modding capabilities into the game for players, a feature that became a staple of the series.

[6] Following on Civilization, Meier was prompted to develop a number of similar simulation titles, a situation that did not sit well with Stealey who wanted MicroProse to continue to develop flight simulators; at this point, Meier did not actually work for MicroProse but served as a contractor, having sold his shares to Stealey.

[7] Stealey had pushed MicroProse to look towards home video consoles and arcade games based on their flight simulator software, but these investments did not pan out, putting the company into debt.

Lacking the rights to the Civilization name, they subsequently produced Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a "space-based Civilization-style game"[10] released in 1999 and published by Electronic Arts.

Games are played on either pre-defined or procedurally generated maps, creating a world with varied terrain including mountains and oceans.

Players start at random locations on the map, and must found their first city, becoming its default capital until changed by the player, and explore the map and lift its fog of war to find out what is nearby, including potential resources that can be used in production, and where other civilizations are located.

These units can gain information normally hidden to other players, steal technology and culture, or create unrest in an opponent's city to make it easier to capture.

The player also manages the tax rate on cities, which helps to collect currency to pay for unit and improvement maintenance.

The conquest victory route requires the player to wipe out or take over all capital cities of the other civilizations on the map while still retaining their own.

[34] In 1996, Next Generation listed the series as number 4 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting that, "[Sid Meier's] goal was to give players the chance to play God.

[45][46] Historian Apostolos Spanos has argued that one reason for the success of the Civilization games is that it allows individual players to see themselves as shapers of history: "Finally, the popularity of the game since its first release and until the present shows, that the global community is still deeply charmed by the historical development of the human being as a form of cognitively valuable entertainment.

This is probably the most encouraging message communicated through Civilization, not only for us historians but for anyone who understands the importance of historical knowledge and consciousness in life.

"[47] Scottish science fiction and mainstream author Iain Banks noted that he spent much time playing the game (appearing to refer to the first version) and that it was one of the inspirations for the concept of the 'Outside Context Problem' central to his Excession novel - the appearance of invaders or travellers who are so advanced that they are totally outside the society's frame of reference.

In an interview, Banks specifically compares this to having a Civilization battleship arrive while the player is still using wooden sailing ships.

Scholar Diane Carr suggests that "games within the Civilization series perpetuate a reductive folk-history that positions Western-style technology oriented progress as 'the only logical development' for humanity.

[50] Indigenous groups that have been represented in the Civilization series have previously criticized the game's approach to adapting their cultures and leaders.

Building on Ian Bogost's idea of procedural rhetoric, Matt King argues that the Civilization series reinforces, both through its game play and aesthetics, explicitly European notions of progress; extending to European definitions of science, statecraft, state growth, and religion.