Sim City Classic Game Review #3 Sim City Classic ? Ron Jones No one has done it yet, so what the heck! Game Information: Name: Sim City Classic Company: EA Games Educational use: simplified civil engineering, development of cities Target Age: seems to be young adolescents Platform: PC Address: http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php This game is an oldie. It looks very DOS, but it contains the basics for play. Later versions, which must be purchased and updated, are state of the art. SimCityscape is 3-D and looks really modern. Game Structure and teaching: The purpose of this game is to teach about the growth of cities from villages to towns, concentrating on economic management, rather than political development. The direct curricular aim is not easy to see. This game could align with US History or with Civics & Economics, although the age range seems to be middle school. Perhaps a magnet elective like Odyssey of the Mind would be a good fit. An indirect aim could be to have the learner make decisions concerning development, and allocation of resources. Instructional uses could be the development of cities during the late Industrial revolution, growth of cities in response to industrialization of the late 1800 to late 1900?s. I think that this game could fort the 21st Century initiative in that it familiarizes the learner with the development of societies in a technological format Game play: The object is to design a city from a bare landscape. There are forests, lakes and rivers, and the city must fit within the confines of the land. (Geography still rules!). The first step is to build a power plant, lay out residential, commercial, and industrial districts, connect them with power transmission lines and roads. The game proceeds through time increasing month by month, from the year 1900. At various times neighborhoods are built, commercial and industrial zones are developed and then abandoned. There are even natural disasters, floods, fires, tornadoes and earthquakes, programmed in that effect the developed areas. All the while the infrastructure must be adjusted, adding newer zones, building roads and power lines. The game tracks population, satisfaction levels with the city and revenues from the tax base. There are budget adjustments that can be made with spending on infrastructure and with the tax rates. Game Critique: In playing this game I found that it was possible to set up the town and watch it grow, adding development zones and spending the budget as needed, all while doing something else. This lack of rapid change is a drawback, as it could be boring to some students. On a libertarian vein, I found that adjusting the tax rate downward did not have the effect of stimulating growth nor, because of growth, stimulate revenue. This leads me to suppose that the game was designed by people who disregard the Laffer Curve?s proven benefits. Posted by rejones ( Oct 01 2007, 03:23:13 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]