At first, I considered SimCity as nothing more than an amusing way to pass the time. I’ve grown accustomed to the idea of learning as a result of a game; however, SimCity provided the first time I experienced this type of learning in an authentic manner.
Although I had previously experienced many types of games, SimCity was unique in the fact that it reflected my years of experience working in the construction field. As a construction manager, I’ve managed the activities of many construction crews. Construction projects are characterized by the need to meet deadlines, manage resources, allocate funds, ensure that the electrical portion of a project does not disrupt the plumbing aspect of a project, and keep all parties involved satisfied. When my daughter showed me SimCity 2000 in 2011 – and she was trying to encourage me to begin playing video games as I had recently developed a passion for Super Metroid – I saw the isometric view of the city grid and stated, “This is simply a visual representation of project management.”
That initial session of SimCity 2000 continued for nearly three hours. I told myself repeatedly that I would end the session once I resolved a particular issue – the traffic congestion in my city – and then again when I had stabilized the city’s budget. However, I did not end the session, and I continued to make adjustments to my city until Jennifer woke me the following morning surrounded by empty coffee cups, scraps of paper filled with notes regarding zoning, and she asked, “Dad, you know that the game will save automatically, right?” I replied that I did not know – I had played the game for nearly eight hours non-stop and had not paused to take a break.
One of the key advantages of entering the world of SimCity without a nostalgic bias is that you can immediately recognise SimCity for what it truly is – a systems management simulator that is designed to resemble a game. While the various Sims traveling throughout the city may appear to be cute animations, they are in reality data points within a complex economic model. Every road constructed in the game affects traffic flow. The zoning decisions you make in the game also have a direct impact upon property values. In essence, you are simulating the operation of a small business, but when you fail, no one loses their job.
In addition to the game SimCity 2000, I began working backward through the series of SimCity games. I located a copy of the original SimCity game and downloaded it onto an emulator. The SNES version of SimCity was interesting, as Nintendo had incorporated some features that were not present in the original PC version of the game. For example, the SNES version included a Mr. Wright character that would periodically offer advice. Nevertheless, the graphics and user interface of the SNES version seemed limited compared to the more modern versions of the game. The difference was similar to comparing power tools to hand tools – while both are capable of accomplishing a task, why use the inferior tool?
SimCity 3000 became my primary source of entertainment for nearly six months. This version of SimCity introduced the ability to manage trash and waste. While it may seem mundane, this feature added a new level of strategic thinking to the game. You were able to transport waste to neighboring cities for a fee, but if you sent too much trash, they would eventually decline to accept further shipments. Therefore, you had to weigh the cost of establishing landfills (which are cheap upfront, but cause pollution that lasts indefinitely) against the cost of establishing waste-to-energy plants (which are expensive, but produce clean energy).
My first large-scale city in SimCity 3000 was named Riverside. As I am very poor at creating names for cities, I typically select the most obvious name. I built Riverside along a natural river system and attempted to work with the topography of the land, as opposed to working against it. Building Riverside was a slow process, as I would frequently pause to conduct research regarding actual urban planning techniques. I read about zoning laws, traffic engineering, and municipal budgeting. Jennifer laughed at me and stated, “You’re crazy. It’s just a game!” However, I was developing skills that were applicable to my actual profession – skills that involved recognising patterns in project management.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the disaster scenarios in SimCity 3000 (such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and UFO attacks), I recognised that the true enjoyment of the game lay in adapting to the disasters, responding to the problems caused by the disasters, and improving the situation to create a better city than existed prior to the disaster. This represents the fundamental nature of construction work – something will always go wrong, and your responsibility is to find a solution to correct the problem.
SimCity 4 was released in 2003, but I did not purchase the game until approximately 2012. The regional system in SimCity 4 impressed me. You could create multiple, connected cities, and each city could specialize in a specific economy. For example, one city could be dedicated to manufacturing, a second city could focus on education, and a third city could serve as a residential suburb for the surrounding metropolitan area. In many ways, the regional system in SimCity 4 represented a more realistic view of metropolitan regions, and it allowed you to control every aspect of the cities.
The traffic simulation in SimCity 4 was highly detailed. Each Sim in the game had a specific job and a specific route that they used to travel to and from work. You could track the movement of individual vehicles on the roads and see where bottlenecks were forming. I became extremely interested in the design of highway interchanges and spent countless hours creating elaborate patterns using cloverleaves that would likely impress a real traffic engineer. My coworkers would often joke about the fact that I was spending so much time designing roads in SimCity – “Tim’s designing roads in his free time now, folks. We’re pretty sure he’s lost it completely.”
However, my interest in traffic management in SimCity 4 ultimately translated into real-life benefits at work. I began thinking about the flow of materials around jobsites differently. Where I placed the concrete trucks, how workers moved between tasks, and the timing of deliveries to avoid congestion were all influenced by my experience with traffic management in SimCity 4. The principles I learned in SimCity 4 were identical to those I apply in real life, but I was applying them to a larger scale.
The budget management aspects of SimCity 4 were perhaps the most realistic of any game I have ever played. There was never enough money to accomplish all of the objectives I had established for a city. I had to prioritize, and determine whether to invest in schools (which provide long-term economic growth) or transportation (which provides immediate relief from traffic congestion). If I raised taxes too high, businesses and residents would flee the city. If I lowered taxes too far, I would not have sufficient revenue to fund essential services. These concepts sounded eerily familiar to my experiences as a construction manager, although in SimCity 4, I did not risk losing my home due to financial mismanagement.
I experienced numerous catastrophic failures in SimCity 4. I built a massive metropolis called Millfield (again, I am terrible at creating names for cities, and I tend to stick with the obvious choices). I built Millfield along a natural river system, and I attempted to work with the topography of the land. The city was progressing beautifully, and I was attempting to maintain a stable economy, when I determined that I could save money by reducing funding for the fire department. I rationalized my decision by stating, “We haven’t had a fire in months.” Three days later, a massive industrial fire swept through the central business district of Millfield, destroying approximately 50% of the city, and causing the loss of nearly 200,000 citizens. In doing so, my budget went from a surplus to a deficit in a matter of hours. I learned a valuable lesson – emergency preparedness is not optional, it is insurance.
The 2013 release of SimCity was… contentious. The game utilized always-online DRM, and the cities that players could build were significantly smaller than those in previous versions of the game. The launch of the game was plagued by technical issues, which prevented the game from functioning properly for several weeks. Many long-time fans of the series expressed disdain for the new direction of the game, but I personally appreciated certain aspects of the game. The economic specialization in the new version of the game was more detailed, and allowed players to create cities that were focused exclusively on manufacturing electronics or casino tourism. Each specialization presented unique challenges and opportunities, and the graphics in the game were stunning. Watching the tiny Sims in the game as they carried out their daily routines was never dull.
Cities: Skylines has largely supplanted SimCity as the premier city-building game, and it is easy to understand why. Cities: Skylines offers the ability to build larger cities, allows for greater customization via mods, and presents a more realistic simulation of urban economics. I have invested thousands of hours in Cities: Skylines, and I have built many enormous metropolitan areas. However, I occasionally fire up the older SimCity games, particularly SimCity 4. The older games represent a trip down memory lane, and I enjoy the familiarity of the gameplay mechanics.
It is ironic that the hobby of city-building has impacted my perception of actual cities. I can no longer drive through Denver without mentally redesigning the highway system. I see traffic jams and I think, “Those people need better highway interchanges.” I notice how residential areas develop around shopping centres, how industrial zones cluster near transportation hubs. City-building taught me to see cities as systems, rather than simply collections of buildings.
My coworkers continue to tease me about the fact that our foreman enjoys playing city-building games in his free time. “Don’t you have enough of managing construction projects at work?” Perhaps, but there is a satisfaction in creating the perfect city in SimCity, where weather-related disruptions do not occur and permits are granted instantaneously. It is essentially the idealized version of what I do for a living.
Recently, I introduced my neighbour’s child to Cities: Skylines. He is 12 years old, the same age that my daughter was when she encouraged me to start playing video games, and watching him learn the same lessons is enjoyable. He builds roads wherever he pleases without concern for budgetary constraints or efficiency, and then he wonders why his city is bankrupt. His approach reminds me of my own experiences in SimCity – assuming that more roads will always alleviate traffic congestion, and failing to consider the relationships between taxation, services, and economic development.
One of the reasons I remain committed to the hobby of city-building is that it requires long-term thinking. Decisions made in the early stages of development may not manifest themselves in terms of measurable outcomes for hours or even days. Investing in schools and universities may take time to generate increased education levels and attract high-technology industries. Similarly, investing in parks and cultural institutions may take time to increase property values. Long-term thinking is a key component of city-building, and it is a skill that is useful in a variety of contexts.
That is likely one of the reasons why SimCity appealed to me when other game genres did not. SimCity requires the type of long-term thinking and planning that I have come to expect from my role as a construction manager. When coordinating the efforts of multiple trades on a construction site, it is the same type of systems thinking, but with different variables.
I still play city-builder games today, although I have expanded my horizons beyond the SimCity franchise. I enjoy the Anno series for the complexity of the economic models, Tropico for the inclusion of political factors, and I even enjoy playing city-builder games on my phone during lunch breaks. However, SimCity will always remain the gold standard – the series that taught me that it is possible for a game to be both entertaining and educational without being tedious.
On occasion, I ponder what my relationship with gaming would have been like if I had discovered SimCity-type games as a child instead of at age 40. Would I have pursued a career in urban planning instead of construction? Probably not – I grew up in rural Wyoming, and urban planning was not a common career path in my childhood. However, it is intriguing to imagine alternate realities, especially when you are shaping digital landscapes that exist solely in pixels and algorithms.
One of the advantages of discovering games as an adult is that you bring different perspectives to the hobby, and you see connections that may not be apparent to younger gamers. SimCity became more than a form of entertainment for me – it became a framework for understanding systems, budgets, and long-term planning. These skills were directly applicable to my work as a construction manager. Not a bad outcome for a game about building fictional cities.
Samuel’s been gaming since the Atari 2600 and still thinks 16-bit was the golden age. Between accounting gigs and parenting teens, he keeps the CRTs humming in his Minneapolis basement, writing about cartridge quirks, console wars, and why pixel art never stopped being beautiful.
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