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Wiki Article: Seeing Like SimCity

Seeing Like SimCity By: Rob MacDougall[1]

Wikipedia Entry Summary

SimCity was designed by Will Wright as an open-ended city-building game and first published by Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts, in 1989. The objective of SimCity is to develop a sustainable city where its citizens are happy and its budget is balanced. It is a single-player simulation game that allows the player to erect buildings, create a working infrastructure of roads and power supply, and tax its virtual citizens to raise income for the city's budget. The success of SimCity stunned many because the game cannot be won or lost. The user, acting as the city's mayor, must deal with problems that arise with any civilization. There are natural disasters, strikes, crime and other elements the mayor must appropriately deal with.

Seeing Like SimCity Summary

Rob MacDougall details his idea that rules of a game will trump the framing of the game. He discusses how one must combat crime in the game SimCity. The problem of too much crime is remedied by adding more police stations to the user's city. This problem and solution is embedded in the code of the game and the user learns how to accomplish the task within the given set of code. This doesn't mean that high crime rates should be combatted with more police, in reality. In the simulation world however, this is what the user must do in order to accomplish the task at hand. MacDougall sees this as not a learning tool for the user, but more of a conditioning tool to complete the tasks within the given code of the game.

Social Importance

Games like SimCity allow for gamers to indulge in a world they already live in, but without any real-world consequences of the choices and actions they enact. This can lead to a better understanding of the world at-large, or could lead to a conditioned reasoning that may be flawed. MacDougall hints at the latter when he brings up the use of war-game simulations employed during the Vietnam War by the Pentagon. The Pentagon utilized war-game simulations during the Vietnam War with utter failure, as shown by our incredible loss of American lives during the brutal affair. While simulation games such as SimCity opens a door for users to view how a city is planned and properly ran, the game is still constricted by the program itself. Thus, the actions and reactions are constricted by the coding, no matter how sophisticated the algorithms may be.

Cultural Importance

SimCity allowed for the development of other simulation gaming experiences. These games, such as Sid Meier's Civilization and Colonization, have opened new avenues for computer gaming. They have also opened new avenues of learning about history. The importance of these games have not been lost in today's culture. Civilization portrays all sorts of cultures, such as the Aztecs, Mongols and Romans, and how each culture is different. This has led to an outlook on these cultures that are dictated by the characteristics given to them within these games. Gamers playing these simulations are told that these cultures acted this way or that way, and this becomes a part of the history of those cultures. The use of simulation games can increase a user's awareness of cultures they may never have contact with.

Political Importance

SimCity allowed for strikes and social unrest to occur. The mayor then had to deal with these events in real-time. The response of the user then gave way to preconceived reactions of the city. The user then was able to see how their reaction to the crisis would play out and whether it was a good decision for the well-being of the city or not. This allowed for users to play with ideas such as dictatorship and tyranny. They could virtually see how overwhelming power affected a city and its citizens. The use of simulation games gave way to a better understanding of how political decisions affect citizens of a city.

My Reflection

I've played many simulation games, such as The Sims, SimCity and Civilization, and I agree with MacDougall's assessment of such games. The mechanics of gameplay don't necessarily lead to a better understanding of the world or of history. Instead, they lead to a better understanding of how the game works, how I can achieve maximum happiness in a city or deter crime by erecting more police stations. The game may have good intentions to begin with, but they are ultimately forgotten when the user begins to play the game. The user is no longer concerned with urban planning or proper taxation and zoning restrictions. The user is immersed in the programs code and how to achieve an end result that they deem satisfactorily.

Works Cited

MacDougall, Rob. Seeing Like SimCity, PlaythePast (2011): n. page. Web. 5 Jun. 2013 <http://www.playthepast.org/?p=645>

SimCity, Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcity>

Final Wiki Assignment

Anonymous

Some would say Anonymous is an online hacker group. Others will call Anonymous hacktivists or a movement. Biella Coleman, an NYU Professor and Anonymous researcher, akins Anonymous to a trickster god[2], such as Loki or Hermes. Ultimately, Anonymous can be described as a culture. According to the wired.com article, “Anonymous 101: Introduction to the Lulz,”[3] Anonymous can be the helpful hand to a society in turmoil and also the slap in its face, "depending on the mood of the hive mind at the moment."[4] Anonymous can trace its origins to 4chan.org, a Japanese-based forum board, during the year 2003. Within 4chan.org, there is a /b/ board, an anything goes "web forum where posts have no author names and there are no archives and it’s explicitly about anything at all."[5] It's here in this cess pool of primordial ooze, surrounded by profanity, racism, bigotry, cries for help from '/b/tards' and images NSFW (Not Safe For Work), where Anonymous emerged.

SOPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act was a proposed bill that mainly dealt with online piracy. SOPA failed to pass the House of Representatives in 2012. The bill drew many criticisms from civil liberty groups and internet privacy advocates. According to an article on wired.com titled, "MPAA Chief Says SOPA, PIPA ‘Are Dead,’ But ISP Warning Scheme Lives On," SOPA "would have required ISPs to prevent Americans from visiting blacklisted sites by altering the system known as DNS that turns site names like Google.com into IP addresses such as 174.35.23.56. Instead, for the blacklisted sites, ISPs would have had to lie to their customers and tell their browsers that the site doesn’t exist — a feature online security experts said would leave the internet insecure."[6] Due to a high number of protests from various websites, the House Judiciary Committee postponed consideration of the bill on January 18, 2012. [7]

PIPA

The Protect Intellectual Property Act was a proposed bill that mainly dealt with theft of intellectual property. It was proposed in 2011 by Senator Patrick J. Leahy and the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it on May 26, 2011. [8][9] Like SOPA, many online protests were staged against the passing of PIPA. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postponed voting on the bill in light of these protests.[10]PIPA would have authorized the Attorney General to go after websites that engage in copyright infringement.[11]


Advocacy For Online Privacy


Anonymous and other hacker groups can have an immense effect on the public’s perception of legislation that target online activities. Anonymous isn’t afraid to attack and criticize proposed laws and they’re voice can reach a wide audience. When SOPA and PIPA were first introduced, many websites proclaimed them to be a hindrance of online privacy. Anonymous wrote a statement to Sony saying that they will attack Sony’s network for their support of the bill. They also stated that they will attack celebrities who supported SOPA. Anonymous believed that, “this act will halt online businesses and restrict access to many sites for many users. Supporting SOPA is like trying to throw an entire company from off a bridge.”[12] Actions taken by Anonymous didn’t go unnoticed, and many opponents of the bill staged various online protests as well. Anonymous was able to bring attention to the negative effects of SOPA and this helped stop the bill dead in its tracks.

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is a former US contractor for the NSA and CIA. He leaked sensitive information about mass surveillance programs being pursued by the US and British governments. US federal prosecutors filed espionage charges against Snowden. Snowden is currently in limbo at a Russian airport and is seeking asylum in Ecuador. Snowden is just another player in the game of cat and mouse, the mouse squeaks and the cat tries to kill the mouse so that it will never squeak again. Snowden and others like him, such as Bradley Manning, are using the internet to expose government secrets and to alert the common peoples what their government is doing. Snowden’s leaks were “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.”[13] His efforts echo the works of various hacker groups who have shed light on the shady actions of government.

Works Cited

<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/anonymous-101/all/1>

<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/dodd-says-sopa-dead/>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act>

<http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-places-hold-on-protect-ip-act>

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SN00968:@@@L&summ2=m&>

<http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Nintendo-Sony-Stop-Supporting-SOPA-Anonymous-Threats-38195.html>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden>