Who likes SimCity? by LateBlt SimCity is one of the most famous and acclaimed names in computer gaming. Gamers from all walks of life have praised it as one of the most realistic, engaging, and enjoyable games ever created. And yet, there are some people who find it boring and pointless. "What's the point?" these people ask. "It's just a city, you make buildings and watch cars drive around. Big deal." Clearly there is a difference of opinion on this issue. To answer the question of what makes this rift between different classes of gamers, one needs to discern what each class likes and does not like about the game. Consider some better-known, simpler games. What about chess? Some people love chess. Some play chess every day. Some people actually make a living playing chess. Indeed, chess can be a lifestyle. And yet, some people are bored to death by chess. "What's the point? Where's the excitement? You just slide some pieces around. Big deal." So we see that it requires a particular kind of person to enjoy chess, and that it is not a universally fun game to play. Similarly, SimCity is quite simply not for everyone. There are several reasons for this. One is that for most people, SimCity is not their first computer game, and so they have already formed pre-conceived notions of what a game should be like. For some people, a computer game is not a computer game unless it has a plot, a storyline which unfolds as you play. For others, a game simply must have guns and violence, or it is boring. And so on. It is a similar thing with movies. Almost any regular moviegoer feels that a movie must have a central plot, with a beginning, middle, and end, and that there should be a happy ending in which all problems are resolved. What if somebody made a movie with no real plot theme or conclusion, but which instead was simply a portrayal of events. Such movies do in fact exist (but they don't usually gross millions of dollars worth of tickets, for some reason). Are these movies necessarily boring and pointless? If so, life itself must be boring and pointless, since it has no clearly-defined plot line or conclusion (unless you count death). In truth, a pointless movie might still be enjoyable to some people, but most would be disappointed with it, simply because the movie did not meet their expectations of what a "real" movie should be. SimCity defies many rules about what a computer game should be. For starters, there's no winning or losing. Well, if your city becomes destroyed and you have no money left, you could say you've lost, but otherwise it never ends. You can just keep building your city. SimCity goes on forever, with no victor. As such, it might be better labeled as a fun computer "activity" rather than a "game", per se. The process of "playing" the game itself is also not fun to some. This involves some psychology, but consider computer programming for an analogy: Some people enjoy programming. They find it provides them a mental challenge, or they take excitement in seeing programs take form at their command, or whatever. On the other hand, many people find programming to be incredibly tedious. Poring over line after endless line of cryptic code, trying to find a tiny mistake that is making the program run wrong or crash; It is a task many would quickly trade in favor of hard manual labor. People who like SimCity are people who enjoy the whole microcosm effect of it all. Part of it is playing God; The sense of control. You get to control a whole city (even if it is a virtual one), altering its infrastructure and system as you see fit. Another aspect of it is the inherent life that SimCity possesses: Humans are fascinated with the concept of life, and SimCity enthusiasts are intrigued by the tiny people who inhabit the simulated city, who drive around, who walk around, who work, study, and play in a world you create. SimCity has a life of its own, and it draws these gamers in. People who appreciate that kind of thing are the people who like to play SimCity. The people who don't are the people who don't. In the end, SimCity can be a fun game, but it simply is not for everyone. If you don't like it, don't play it.