4 ms·

If you try really hard, you can find little pieces of evidence of any agenda in any material. It seems like Jeff Braun tried really really hard if he says SimCi

If you try really hard, you can find little pieces of evidence of any agenda in any material. It seems like Jeff Braun tried really really hard if he says SimCity is bad because it pushes the opponents agenda. The evidence quickly disappears once you step back and try to see the big picture. It's just a game. And mass transit actually makes sense.

Lowkeyloki 8y ago
I don't believe Jeff Braun was saying SimCity is bad. As he was the CEO of the company that made it at the time, that would be a very foolish move. I think he was trying to deflect criticism directed towards the game. Keep in mind that the media was presenting SimCity not as just a game, but as a clever teaching tool for children to understand finance and local government. Okay, great. Whatever sells the game, right? Then actual economists and city planners start to comment about how the game isn't realistic at all and fudges the numbers in such a way to incentivize certain play styles without showing the trade-offs that are involved in real life. At that point, Braun has to admit to the biases in the game, but he can't say anything so extreme to lose the free advertising his product is getting from schools and teachers and parenting magazines that are telling parents to buy the game for their children. And although I'm a proponent of mass transit, it's not perfect. I believe SimCity only represents the upfront cost of mass transit and discounts the recurring maintenance costs, while road maintenance costs are inflated. But now were debating specific mechanics of a game other than the one this thread is about. I mentioned Magnasanti in another part of the thread. In Magnasanti, there is only mass transit. No roads at all. I don't think I'd like living in a place like that where government-owned transportation decides where and when I can travel. But that's exactly my point. There are two sides to every coin and I think it's important to represent the pros and cons of the choices the player is presented. There's no such thing as a purely positive or negative decision when it comes to city planning.

Lowkeyloki 8y ago

I don't believe Jeff Braun was saying SimCity is bad. As he was the CEO of the company that made it at the time, that would be a very foolish move. I think he was trying to deflect criticism directed towards the game. Keep in mind that the media was presenting SimCity not as just a game, but as a clever teaching tool for children to understand finance and local government. Okay, great. Whatever sells the game, right? Then actual economists and city planners start to comment about how the game isn't realistic at all and fudges the numbers in such a way to incentivize certain play styles without showing the trade-offs that are involved in real life. At that point, Braun has to admit to the biases in the game, but he can't say anything so extreme to lose the free advertising his product is getting from schools and teachers and parenting magazines that are telling parents to buy the game for their children. And although I'm a proponent of mass transit, it's not perfect. I believe SimCity only represents the upfront cost of mass transit and discounts the recurring maintenance costs, while road maintenance costs are inflated. But now were debating specific mechanics of a game other than the one this thread is about. I mentioned Magnasanti in another part of the thread. In Magnasanti, there is only mass transit. No roads at all. I don't think I'd like living in a place like that where government-owned transportation decides where and when I can travel. But that's exactly my point. There are two sides to every coin and I think it's important to represent the pros and cons of the choices the player is presented. There's no such thing as a purely positive or negative decision when it comes to city planning.