SimCity Should Be A Requirement For City Leadership

Photo by Chris Ensminger on Unsplash

When I got my first Mac in 1987, the Mac community was much like a fraternity. There was so much creativity going on, and all of it was being shared rather than commercialized. It was a new world and a community of disc swappers. 

Whether it was on my first Mac or second, one of the discs I received was an interesting "game" called Foxes and Rabbits. It wasn't a real game, but it did teach lessons about the relationship between predators and prey. When you set it in motion you could watch it play out based on the parameters you set. 

You would select a number for how many rabbits you wanted to start with, and another number for the foxes. Suppose you started with four rabbits and ten foxes. In short order the rabbits would be devoured and the game would be over as the foxes starved to death. But if you started with 76 rabbits and five foxes, you would initially see the rabbits multiply (like rabbits) and the foxes devouring them but multiplying at a slower pace. At a certain point when there were lots of foxes the rabbit population would decline and when it was in serious decline some of the foxes would starve, too.

The lesson here was that you could change the variables and visually observe the consequences.

Two years later the game SimCity (Simulated City) was created based on a similar concept. Originally developed by Will Wright, the game player (called the Mayor) would begin with a blank map that he or she would begin to develop. The goal of the game is to create a city that attracts citizens and businesses, then continues to grow.  

The player would soon learn about budgeting, as well as the various tradeoffs that need to be made to create a successful community. For the city to grow, citizens must be provided with utilities (electricity and water) and services like health care, education and parks, as well as relevant infrastructure and transportation.

This blog post was generated by a comment that a friend of mine made recently. He said, "It should be a requirement of everyone on city counsel and in city leadership to excel at SimCity 2000 and or the current version of this game, City Skyline. They need to excel at these games before they’re allowed to be on the council, in order to understand the inter-relatedness of all facets of the big picture involving power, people, and revenue... and most importantly the economics."

Having never played the game, I decided to search online for a few articles about lessons learned from playing. One of these was titled "Obsessively Playing SimCity 2000 Taught Me a Vital Lesson in Money Smarts." (1)

The author wrote, "There are all kinds of tweaks you can make to attract more citizens, from building roads to planning green space into your city to offering an attractive tax rate. But there's one factor that, unless addressed, will mean you attract zero new citizens to your growing town: utilities."

The author begins by noting the importance of understanding cities as systems. In this case he applies it to our personal finances by suggesting we view our whole life as a system.

Another article was titled "Learning with SimCity: Valuable Lessons Kids Can Learn Playing Mayor." (2) This article outlines numerous lessons gained by playing. The relationship of supply and demand, budgeting, urban planning, managing the environment, transport systems, and how utilities and services impact your city. To be successful in the game, children need to learn how to plan ahead. One outcome you don't want is urban decay. Another is bankruptcy.

One of the most powerful lessons kids can learn, this writer says, is how a society works as a whole system. Like the foxes and rabbits in my intro, changing one variable will have an impact in other areas. And, of course, there is always the law of unintended consequences waiting in the wings. 

Here are examples highlighted in the article:

If you provide decent living conditions with good employment and plenty of schools, crime rates drop, so you need fewer police stations. Good education systems also lead to richer Sims that work in high-tech industries, reducing pollution in your city.

If you create a good-quality health care system with plenty of hospitals and clinics then you improve the health of your citizens. This makes them work more effectively and brings more business to your city, which in turn increases tax revenue.

If you’re running short of cash, you can up your tax rates, but this may drive people away from your city. Alternatively you can choose to legalize gambling; however, this can push your city’s crime rate up.

* * * 

All these "ifs" sound great when you're starting with a clean slate. Most city leaders today find themselves inheriting a long history of well-meaning decisions with consequences that are only now coming to roost. Unlike SimCity and other games, you can't scrap it and start over. 

I have concerns about some of what's happening in our town. But that's a topic for another day.

Here are links to the stories cited above.

(1) https://themakingofamillionaire.com/obsessively-playing-simcity-2000-taught-me-a-vital-lesson-in-money-smarts-1c36076e927f

(2) https://www.brightpips.com/learning-simcity-valuable-lessons-kids-learn-playing-mayor/