Well, of course, unless a video game company is staffed by macroeconomists, you know that you cannot hope that the modules governing "people and governmental in

Well, of course, unless a video game company is staffed by macroeconomists, you know that you cannot hope that the modules governing "people and governmental institution behavior model" will be coded to some highly accurate level of realism, right? Their job is to make something feel enough like reality to be plausible, not model real world accuracy to 5%. Just like they may cheat on what warped room reflections are rendered in a mirror you see on the wall, they're going to come up with cheats and simplifications to things about how cities, governments, people act and behave to get it "real enough" to be believable. And just like you have to take with a grain of salt that you cannot jump through a portal and land on the other side of a building, or that women in virtual bars are interested in going on a crime spree, or that flying a plane in GTA IV makes you capable of being a pilot in real life, you have to do the same when a game tells you your choice of a property tax has caused your residents to rebel and lower your approval rating by 8 polling points. Maybe the problem is that some game experiences are obviously not from the real physical world, while these are just enough on the edge of believable to be dangerously convincing. Perhaps the people who want to ensure realism could try coding up an engaging game, complete with IRS forms 8960 and 8825 to get people's behavior right...