Sim games: Painless fun for kids and adults

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta

Trapped by one of Jakarta's hideously all consuming traffic jams, I decided to pass the time at the office by playing a "sim", short for simulation game, as they are known in the gaming world. They represent a virtual reality for us "users" to master and manipulate via our digital decisions.

Unlike other games that require highly skilled hand-eye coordination and a raging bloodlust (like the highly popular shoot-'em-up CounterStrike), simulation games are relatively tame, easy to learn and painless to use. Perfect for kids who are just learning computers or adults who are just terribly bored. All you need is your mouse and brain, although you can use the keyboard to quickly access the menus.

Instead of destroying and shooting, you are building. The most popular simulator to date (and arguably the best selling computer game of all time) is the SimCity series, perhaps the beginning of all simulator games.

In SimCity, we (the user) act as the city's mayor and must decide the future well being of our digital citizens.

There are so many decisions that must be considered. We must decide on zoning laws (prevent industrial factories springing up in residential areas), taxation levels (too high the citizens will revolt, too low the city goes bankrupt) as well as manage other affairs of city hall.

Starting off with a template town or from a city of your own design, you get to see how your empty municipality blossoms to a full metropolis. The virtual years pass by and you must consider urbanization, trash collection, environmental regulations and traffic control.

This game provides significant insight for city planning and civil engineering. The game also has "disaster" scenarios to further challenge your leadership. These situations include fire, flood (hmmm, sound familiar?), Godzilla-like attacks and UFO invasions. You may not be able to prevent these calamities but how you plan and react is crucial for your virtual citizens.

If city administration is not for you, you can always try the other simulation games. There is the Tycoon series published by different software publishers. There is the Railway Tycoon, where you must run a rail system; Roller Coaster Tycoon, where you must build and manage a theme park; and Casino Tycoon, create and supervise a casino complete with slot machines and card tables.

These are just a few of the simulators available, with other topics in the pipeline.

You can even try your hand at being a benevolent dictator in Tropico. Build sports arenas, establish social services and hand out sweet deals to friends and family. Don't forget those expenses, eh?

Or, perhaps you want to try the ultimate sim? Instead of pretending to be a mayor or manager, try to be someone else in The Sims. Instead of building power plants or placing slot machines for optimal investment returns, you must build a person's life. Arrange the furniture, apply for a job, make friends, date, manage time and much more.

It's not as easy as you think. You can get your sim a high paying nighttime job but his sleep and social life may suffer. He can get a daily low paying job with a high social life yet be strapped for cash. It is interesting to see how our digital characters react to their virtual life problems.

It was once said that a young child, after playing SimCity, asked his mother why was there an electrical power plant so close to home. He wondered about the zoning laws and pollution, things that a regular seven-year-old would never consider. It seems that playing sims helped him reflect on his previous and upcoming decisions.

Simulators help promote logic and critical thinking by placing users in situations that they may never be subjected to ("Sir, there's not enough water for the whole city!"). And the experience from this virtual world can help us in the real world. Too bad we can't put it in our resume!

It may only be a game, but it can teach us a few things about ourselves. At the very least, it will definitely pass time quickly. Now, if I can only raise taxes enough to get me that palace I always wanted.

On the Net: www.maxis.com