Sim games: Painless fun for kids and adults

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