City in a computer
May 6th 2008 02:06
It has come to my attention that there is an unwritten rule that all internet lists of ten (like, say, my list of Ten Games that Changed the World) is supposed to have an “unofficial” eleventh member because we’re too flaky to just cut one, and that my aforementioned list had only ten. It has also come to my attention that SimCity is good and probably should have been on the list. So, I think it’s time to say a few words about it now. Consider it a timeshifted post in the style of Future Sight.
What can you say about a game like SimCity? I know what a couple of friends of mine have said about it: an otherwise very sensible man once told me that it wasn’t a real game “because you can’t win. It’s like watching goldfish.” Well, no. A game is anything you do for fun, and SimCity is so much fun it’s scary. Even the two-dimensional graphics of the original game look enough like a real city that you get a smiley feeling when you see the little buildings springing up and the little electronic citizens walking around.
Why did SimCity catch on? Was it only because of the opportunity to say “I could do so much better than Rudy Giuliani,” and try and prove it? I’m sure that had something to do with it, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that you get to watch your Sims from high above, and imagine them going about their daily lives in an electronic universe so much like our own (but more exciting – when is the last time Elvis visited your town’s Thanksgiving parade?). Their cities always seemed much more interesting and exciting than our own.
In a way, its concept reminds me of World of Warcraft, except that you’re inventing a virtual world on a macro-level rather than an individual level. Instead of creating a character, you create the place that your inner self would want to live (although, SimCity 4 had an option where you could name and track up to eight of your virtual citizens). Like the massive online games, it is really about expressing yourself and the way you want to be, and there's not much not to like about that.
What can you say about a game like SimCity? I know what a couple of friends of mine have said about it: an otherwise very sensible man once told me that it wasn’t a real game “because you can’t win. It’s like watching goldfish.” Well, no. A game is anything you do for fun, and SimCity is so much fun it’s scary. Even the two-dimensional graphics of the original game look enough like a real city that you get a smiley feeling when you see the little buildings springing up and the little electronic citizens walking around.
Why did SimCity catch on? Was it only because of the opportunity to say “I could do so much better than Rudy Giuliani,” and try and prove it? I’m sure that had something to do with it, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that you get to watch your Sims from high above, and imagine them going about their daily lives in an electronic universe so much like our own (but more exciting – when is the last time Elvis visited your town’s Thanksgiving parade?). Their cities always seemed much more interesting and exciting than our own.
Typical suburban suffocation? I think not
In a way, its concept reminds me of World of Warcraft, except that you’re inventing a virtual world on a macro-level rather than an individual level. Instead of creating a character, you create the place that your inner self would want to live (although, SimCity 4 had an option where you could name and track up to eight of your virtual citizens). Like the massive online games, it is really about expressing yourself and the way you want to be, and there's not much not to like about that.
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