A Different Approach to Cultural Conquest

I thought of an idea ago for how to integrate culture into a Civilization-style game without making it seem forced and calculating, something that just sees to take part of the point out of the whole attention to culture in the later versions of Civilization, as well as any other games that might be taking into account such an idea.

Instead of building culture objectively through different actions and then getting a predictable result of borders expanding and other nations subverting to the influence of your own civilization, I suggest creating an emergent-art engine. This is a strange idea, but it basically goes along the lines of algorithmic art and music being created through various algorithms; you (the player) can acquire more of these by means of improving technology, productivity, trade, and openness of information; and of course, art from other countries that reaches your own. Players could then look to buy and collect these works in order to further their own goals. Perhaps one piece of art will allow them to create something that will influence other players of different taste more, or perhaps its more preferable than another one that would lead to complications. Alone, the variations may not mean anything, but if players were trading art from the beginning, strategies will emerge as to which cultures it is worthwhile to trade with, and the art itself will have more validity based on its value relative to the game being played. Also, as the algorithms become increasingly complex, the possibilities will grow as to what can be created.

Some of the preferences with which people trade will probably be based on taste or arbitrary, but a little bit of entropy never hurt a game. There also could be an interesting collection system with a marketplace that varies the benefits of such trade. I probably should have evaluated and developed the idea more before posting, but it's good to see where a discussion should lead.

The general idea however does remain: creating a system of culture linked to diplomacy, technology, trade, and information/openness. The products that emerge from these are basic when they start, but the exchange of these products leads to new avenues in creating better pieces of art, which would then allow a player to focus their time on creating specific schools of thought that generate art that puts them ahead of the game in terms of culture. The art takes on its value based on the choices of the user, leaving it partially random, but mostly based on the strategic choices of players as they try to maximize their own influence.

What does the art do though? That's important. I think one could run with this idea in many directions. The one I had in mind however was that the market-based value of the art affects its influence, and should high-value art from one player be found influential in another player's country, that player will find himself able to push more influence on the people of that player. This is all an oversimplification, but it's the best I have for now.

Now, up for discussion: What's your take on the idea? How would you run with it?