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Wiki Article #1: Seeing Like SimCity

Sim City’s History:

Sim city is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series was first designed and developed by Will Wright. In 1989 it went on to be published by Maxis now know as a division of Electronic Arts. The beginning of Sim City was sold worldwide in many different editions including spinoffs like The Sims. Within the game you are given the control and power to create a city and manage everything from budgets to bulldozers, taxes to tornadoes - all with more control than ever before.

Seeing Like SimCity Article Summary

In Rob MacDougall’s article “Seeing like Sin City” we are presented with this argument about the game Simcity. It is referenced to as an example of an anti-educational environment type game despite being all the awards it has won. MacDougall’s informs us about the danger in using simulations to teach our model or history. Alan Kay who is a computer scientist believes that the assumptions of the game are what destroy it and ruin it in terms of being an educational lesson. He is quoted saying that, SimCity a “pernicious … black box.” MacDougall does argues that simulation games can be used for educational purposes, but in the right way. Kids should be taught to "open the black box" and to be able to hack the simulation. We then supply them with a far more productive learning experience than any simulation alone. Mark Sample says, “If you open up a simulation, hack it, tweak it, and then recompile it with your own assumptions and algorithms inside, you still end up with a simulation. You’re still engaged in top-down systems thinking, in turning history into code.” Which is completely true, yet still delivers the goal of being an educational type game.

Importance of SimCity

Within the article we are brought through many different outlooks, ideas, and motives people get out of SimCity. Robert MacDougal discusses SimCity and the way we should look at it to be an educational game unlike Alan Kay, the computer scientist, who believes it this “pernicious back box.” Socially we can look at this video game as a tool to deepen certain personal skills that can help enhance ones real life. SimCity is a game where as said before you are given the control and power to create a city and manage everything from budgets to bulldozers, taxes to tornadoes - all with more control than ever before. You are in control of the city and citizens and you have to use certain things in order to stay in your budget and keep your city afloat. This helps players use new ways of thinking and develop new strategies in order to reach a certain outcome. The cultural importance of SimCity in known as the staple of childhoods, as most kids grow up playing video games. Everyone as a youngster plays and interacts with some sort of gaming device or video games in their life. Kids learn different things through different video games and their critical thinking its put to the test. A debate in this article as in the world today is that video games politically speaking can view certain current events in a certain way. This can makes one perception of the world change. In the game they can be taught and they can learn what to do in certain situations making them more prepared for the world we live in today.

SimCity Debate

In reading this article we see that Rob McDougall expresses his opinions about other simulation games and their educational impact with their players. We hear that MacDougall never agreed with Alan Kay and his outlooks on video games. MacDougall has his own thoughts on the educational aspects of the game. In reading through the comments there was not much debate on MacDougalls viewpoints. One of the best comments was, “Well then open the black box!” This explains everything that the article was trying to portray and show. These video games do serve as an educational outlet where kids are learning and becoming more knowledgeable on the “real world.” In my opinion I agree with Rob MacDougall.


Works Cited:

MacDougall, Rob. "Seeing Like SimCity." Play The Past RSS. N.p., 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 June 2015.