Emily Fenger
Game Summary
Micropolis or as it is also known SimCity, was a video game that allowed users to build a virtual city on the computer. It was developed in 1985 for the Commodore 64 but because users could not win or lose the game they were unsure that it would find success and several companies declined to produce it. Finally, it was released in 1989 for Amiga and Macintosh and then later IBM PC and the Commodore 64 by Maxis. Users could do many things to improve their city by adding things such as transportation systems, construct buildings, and power grids and other things that would enhance a real city. Much like a real city they also faced threats such as natural disasters. The games put users into situations that a real city might face (SimCity, 2014).
Idea Behind the Article
Mark Sample the author of the article “Simulating Detroit, A city with Cars and Crime but no Races” discusses using Micropolis to virtually simulate the city. He states that Detroit is one of the options that users have when buildings cities. He further discusses how after a large riot in 1967 the Michigan Governor was forced to call in the National Guard to help the city restore order. The aftermath of the riot was pretty bad and many were dead, arrested and homes and stores had been completely destroyed (Sample, 2012). Detroit was then faced with having to rebuild the city. This is much like what gamers could experience in the game. Sample goes on to state that much like in the real city of Detroit cars are a big emphasis and it is too in the game. Because the city's big industry was threatened that lead to a huge increase in crime. He states that because the car industry was in trouble that is what leads to the increase in crime that Detroit saw. It wasn’t an unemployment or race problem it was simply crime (Sample, 2012). He believes that the game can help to show what is at play in the city of Detroit. While it won’t have the actual people in the city factored into it it has many other relevant things that would help to make it a pretty accurate idea of what the city is facing when having to rebuild. He is showing that the came can be used politically to help give an idea of what could be done for the city of Detroit.
Real World Implications
Moreover when he simulated the city of Detroit in his own virtual Detroit he says that the riots were completely abstract and that because no actual people were involved the computer followed the predetermined algorithm. This means that this computerized riot was a riot without race, class, or other factors that would further create bias. He believes that this game can help to simulate what could actually happen to show the root of the problem: crime. He believes that it can help show what you could do to help the city.
Discussion
Many people in the comment section find this to be a very interesting idea. One person asked if the Detroit scenario was winnable. It would be very interesting to see what happened in the game to dig Detroit out of their predicament. Another commenter writes that while the game is leaving race out of the equation that many people would simply fill that in. Meaning that most people would see it as a race problem. They then go on to question what would happen if you gave this game and situation to someone from another country. They would not have grown up in the same culture and it would be interesting to see how they would react to something of this nature. Would they fill race in and assume that it has something to do with the city’s problem or would they infer something else more relevant to their culture. While this article didn’t generate any real debate per say the people commenting do bring up some interesting points and questions. The city of Detroit is not in a vacuum and things like race and unemployment are going to affect what happens to it as well as how actual people respond. The author is right though in the fact that it can help to shed some light on what the city can do or could have done.
Sources
Sample, Mark. "Simulating Detroit, A City with Cars and Crime but No Races." Play The Past RSS. Play the Past, 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 03 June 2014. <http://www.playthepast.org/?p=2474>.
"SimCity (1989 Video Game)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 03 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropolis_%28video_game%29#Micropolis>.
