Hey, kids! Put away those boring old history books. There's a new way to learn about geopolitical conflict. It's a video game!

*Record scratch sound effect*

That's right, it's CivilizationEDU, the new education-focused version of the hit simulation series that will make learning fun! This isn't your daddy's old "Oh no, I died of dysentery" educational gaming, either! Starting next year, The Games for Change Conference and GlassLab Inc. will partner with 2K Games to "provide students with the opportunity to think critically and create historical events, consider and evaluate the geographical ramifications of their economic and technological decisions, and to engage in systems thinking and experiment with the causal/correlative relationships between military, technology, political and socioeconomic development."

Radical!

We know... your teachers probably say games are for losers and that all they do is rot your brain, right? Well, just tell them that CivilizationEDU "will have access to an online dashboard that will provide reports on students’ progress, demonstrating how in-game accomplishments relate to problem solving; developer diaries; gameplay tutorial videos, and instructional resources, including an in-depth gameplay guide, and lesson plans aligned to academic and 21st century standards."

That boring education talk should keep the teachers happy. But you and I both know what it really means. It means we get to play video games in class!

*Awesome electric guitar riff*

Just listen to this guy Sid Meier, who created Civilization and wants to let you play it while you're in school: "For the past 25 years, we’ve found that one of the fun secrets of Civilization is learning while you play. We’ve always focused on entertainment first, but we believe that our players—young and old—enjoy learning, even if they don’t always enjoy education. Civilization players find fun in discovering new civilizations, running into famous historical leaders, and charting their own version of human history. Along the way, players learn valuable lessons from their success and failures and are able to try again, employing different choices and strategies."

Did you catch that? "Entertainment first." Learning valuable lessons... maybe fourth or fifth. Leave your pocket protectors and graphing calculators at home because school just got cool!