Imagine you have a magic wand that allows you to build a city from scratch; you can design streets, construct buildings, and even control the lives of the inhabitants. This is the essence of the city-building game “SimCity.” However, beneath this seemingly simple game lies a complex story of technology, design, and creativity, as well as its cultural and social impacts in creating more just, inclusive, and sustainable cities.
In his book Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine, author Chaim Gingold provides an in-depth look at the pioneering simulation game SimCity. He connects it to the history of gaming, simulation, and computing, examining questions, themes, and representative techniques. Gingold uses the game as a way to explore the evolution of city design, starting from programmable computers to miniature cities built from paper and role-playing games, and ultimately to digital virtual cities. The book also presents an unprecedented history of Maxis, the company that launched SimCity, and includes a wealth of visual material that helps bring its wide-ranging topics to life, such as carefully designed diagrams explaining how SimCity works and images of virtual city models.
A Platform for Innovation:
The book delves into the world of computer simulation, going beyond the boundaries of the game to reveal the intricate intersections between technology, art, urban design, and society. Through a detailed analysis of the mechanisms and systems that support SimCity, it explores how the game uses advanced techniques to create dynamic virtual worlds that respond to player input. This analysis goes beyond the technical side, diving into the design philosophies behind the game, making it a valuable tool for understanding how games evolve and influence culture and society.
The book also offers valuable insights into the potential of simulation games as educational and planning tools. The technologies used in SimCity can contribute to solving real-world problems. Thus, the book is not just an analysis of a game, but a call to discuss the role of technology in shaping our world and communities, and how games can be more than just entertainment—they can be powerful tools for learning and creativity.
The game realistically simulates the growth and development of cities, providing players with a rich, multi-faceted experience. In SimCity, players make decisions that directly impact the city’s growth and development, making them feel like real mayors. The game also offers players powerful tools for planning and design, turning it into a valuable educational tool in fields such as architecture and urban planning.
The book compares simulation to building a castle from blocks: each block represents an element, and together they form a larger structure. But instead of physical blocks, simulations use virtual elements to build digital worlds. These elements, like buildings and citizens in a city-building game, interact to create an integrated system. These systems help us understand how things work in the real world, experiment with different scenarios, and solve complex problems. Games like SimCity do not just teach us how to build cities—they shape how individuals think about urban planning and resource management, combining quantitative and qualitative aspects to analyze statistical data and simulate human behavior.
But SimCity doesn’t merely replicate reality; it offers a space for experimentation and innovation. Players can push the boundaries of the real world and test new ideas. This creative freedom, coupled with established rules, encourages critical and analytical thinking, pushing us to view problems from different angles.
Hidden Messages:
Like many video games, SimCity has faced criticism for what is called the “hidden curriculum.” Certain ideas may be presented indirectly, influencing players’ perceptions without them realizing it. Some of these ideas might be undesirable or controversial, raising questions about the transparency of the messages these games convey and their long-term impact on players. Despite these criticisms, there’s no denying that SimCity represents a significant achievement in the video game industry. It combines fun, education, and challenge, opening new horizons for exploring the potential of technology in service to humanity.
Some experts criticize video games like SimCity, suggesting they can influence how individuals think in subtle ways. Players may absorb certain ideas, which may not always be entirely accurate, through hidden concepts that affect gameplay and understanding of the city. These hidden ideas may shape how people think about cities and governments.
The author believes that games should be transparent and clear—they should show us exactly how they work and how decisions are made. This helps individuals think critically about the content they are exposed to in the game. While SimCity offers a thorough explanation of its mechanics, critics argue that it hides unspoken assumptions that could influence players’ perceptions of cities and urban life.
Though the game highlights the difference between reality and fantasy, it imposes fixed rules that cannot be changed, limiting effective player interaction. These restrictions reflect broader challenges in the world of digital simulation, where complex processes are often invisible and not modifiable. This underscores the need for developing critical tools to help us understand and challenge these processes.
The Technological Struggle:
World War II served as a powerful catalyst for unprecedented technological progress, as the urgent need for innovative solutions created a fertile environment for invention and creativity. Scientists and engineers worked tirelessly to develop new technologies capable of changing the course of events. Among these innovations, the computer emerged as one of the most important discoveries that changed the world. It played a pivotal role in decoding complex military codes and demonstrated immense capabilities in processing data and solving intricate problems.
Over time, computers evolved into smaller and faster electronic devices. With this development came the need for more efficient and flexible ways to program these smart machines. The turning point was storing programs inside the computer itself, which allowed tasks to be executed faster and more efficiently, marking the dawn of a new computing era.
The book does not limit itself to the technical aspects of programming languages and codes; it also highlights the interactive relationship between the human mind and the computer. The book views software as a product of human imagination and creativity. Programmers build virtual worlds inside computers, reflecting their visions and aspirations. It also explores the history of these virtual worlds and how they were shaped by changes in social, cultural, and historical factors. The book treats software as more than just a technical tool—it is a means of self-expression, storytelling, and building virtual communities. Video games, for example, are not just entertainment but a way to convey ideas, values, and cultures, shaping our perspectives on the world around us.
Simulating Future Cities:
The book offers a profound analysis of the experience of building virtual cities, transcending the game’s limits as mere entertainment to present a comprehensive analysis of its cultural and social impact. Through SimCity, the experience is not only about building virtual cities; it is about shaping our perceptions of real cities and how we interact with them. The game masterfully taps into humanity’s timeless passion for building and shaping its environment, turning it into a widespread cultural phenomenon.
The impact of SimCity extends beyond the world of digital games into various aspects of our lives. It has inspired numerous creative works, from films and TV shows to novels, demonstrating its profound influence on popular culture. While the book focuses primarily on the game’s impact on Western culture, it encourages us to broaden our scope and study how different cultures have received it, helping us understand its growing global influence.
However, this is not where the impact stops. SimCity offers an open window into the potential of technology in shaping the future of our cities. By simulating the city-building process, the game allows us to experiment with new ideas and innovative solutions to real-world problems before applying them in reality. Through simulation tools, we can design more sustainable cities, anticipate future challenges, and develop strategies to tackle them.
Nevertheless, the book warns us of the importance of using this technology responsibly. The decisions we make in the simulated world can have real consequences on the design of our cities and communities. We must be aware of the ethical and moral implications of these technologies and strive to use them to build more just and inclusive cities, where the principles of sustainability and equality prevail.
In conclusion, the field of computing has seen tremendous advancements over the years, from massive computers to portable devices. Among these developments, complex computational models such as cellular automata have emerged. This evolution reflects the vast diversity in computing applications, showing how simple ideas can lead to complex and surprising outcomes. Simulation is not just something we do—it is also something we talk about, write about, and think about, helping us better understand simulation and share it with others.”
Source:
Chaim Gingold, Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine, The MIT Press, 2024.
