Jennifer Kim

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Wiki Article #1 on Seeing like SimCity

Summary of the game

SimCity was first published in 1989 by Maxis, and was originally designed by Will Wright. Since the release of SimCity, there have been many different versions and spin-offs of the “Sim” games. The games rose in popularity and have sold over 100 million units worldwide. The way to play the game is to expand a city with a given budget. The player provides and caters to the citizen’s needs with the likes of services and utilities, while continuously expanding the city. The “Sim” games have a lot of popularity because it appeals to a larger audience. With realistic characters and the need to help them, people become attached to the game as well.

Summary of the article

The article “Seeing Like SimCity” by Rob MacDougall, has an interesting input on the game SimCity. The author of the article’s main argument is that there is a danger of using simulations to teach or model history. Just because someone learned to play a simulation game does not mean that the player will understand the historical content within the game, but it means that the player can now play that specific game. More so, the player interacts more with the game rather than the history. A good example the author portrays is the game of Monopoly. Originally the game was a ‘radical critique of landlords and capitalists’, but now the original context is gone and the idea of how to play the game is left. Specifically now, it is shown that monopolies and wealth are better to have. But all in all, the author states that it would be better to teach kids to hack the simulation and change it to put their own algorithms inside it, but ultimately it is still a simulation. Especially with history, the roots of it are much deeper than the constrictions of a simulation and it is practically impossible to contain it all.

Importance of SimCity

The author demonstrates many important aspects of SimCity in the article. Socially, the game can help the player better understand what goes into building a city and what resources are needed to help maintain it. With the power to control pretty much everything in the city, the players would be able to become more socially aware of their surroundings as well as strategically thinking in different ways. Culturally, the game is important because games are a large part of society and people’s lives (especially the younger generation). The large part of the article was about history and how it is incorporated into games. But the games can still teach and inform players a little about history, and if not the history then how other cities are like and what other people maybe like as well. Politically, games can contain information about the world and the players could develop their own opinions based on the information that they may receive.

Debate on Seeing Like SimCity

There does not seem to be much debate on the article, most of the comments are agreeing with Rob MacDougall with some disagreement on specific portions. I like how a comment pointed out that people interpret experiences differently. Every person is different and they will take the game in a vast amount of perspectives. I agree with the author on what he had to say about the history within video games. It is so difficult to be able to fit that much information and richness that history has into a game because, ultimately, the game is a simulation. The players may focus more on completing tasks for the game instead of focusing on the information and history that maybe behind it. But even so, the games are a way for children to learn and become more knowledge in the history and as the article states it as “opening the black box” to hack the simulation. I have never personally played any form of the “Sims” games. But I have a friend playing it right now, who really enjoys the game, that I know is always wanting to complete tasks, and normally does not play video games which further makes me believe that the “Sim” games do reach out to a larger audience.

Works Cited:

Howson, Greg. "10 years on and The Sims is still going Strong." The Guardian. N.p., 15 Feb 2010. Web. 11 June 2015. MacDougall, Rob. "Seeing Like SimCity." Play the Past Rss. N.p., 26 Jan 2011. Web. 11 June 2015. "SimCity" Wikipedia Web. 11 June 2015.