City Games: Simulators vs. Builders

Now that the year is almost over, can we all just agree that SimCity (2013) was the worst video game of 2013? What garbage that was. Aside from the "always online" requirement, the bugs and the flawed mechanics, what bugged me the most was that it was the latest official entry into a much beloved franchise. It's a disgrace.

Do Not Buy This Game

The SimCity games are some of my favorites. For a time, it was the only game of its kind; a game that let the player build and run his own virtual city. It was also unique in that it was an educational tool as well and achieved popularity without being a violent game. Other games would have you build small towns and villages in ancient Rome or what have you but no other game came close to the greatness of SimCity and its later versions; SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, Simcity 4 and SimCity 4: Rush Hour.

I'm just a little nostalgic. The last SimCity game I played was SimCity 4: Rush Hour. Ever since then, no other game comes close to it. I tried other city simulators like City Life 2008 or Cities XL but it doesn't quite feel the same.

What I realized was that the other simulators could not capture the same magic because they were not simulators so to speak. Rather, they were city builders not simulators. There's a difference that needs elaboration.

A simulator to me, is one that imitates an actual real life city. The player is free to build the city of his dreams but the player must work within the limitations imposed by the simulator. These limitations are the same as or come close to being the same as the limitations a real city would face. Granted, SimCity had a lot of unrealistic parts like buildings being built instantly but for the most part, it runs in a realistic manner. Simulators are complex with different layers and interconnecting systems that provide constant challenges to the player.

A builder on the other hand is straightforward. The player builds the city of his dreams directly. There may be limitations imposed on the player but these limitations are either based on the games own internal mechanics and not based on the limitations of real life cities or are simple and don't have any connection with other mechanics. 

But enough pretentious babble. Let me give you an example.

In SimCity 4, I want to build a city. Any fool can create a basic city but I want a city with some "personality". What I want is my own little suburbia; a bedroom community filled with middle class citizens with their pretty townhouses and freshly-mowed lawns. However, there are challenges. By default, the game produces low income citizens with their trailer parks and ugly pink flamingo  lawn ornaments. To get middle class citizens, I need to attract blue collar industries and a bit of commercial office space too. But in order to get those, I need educated citizens and a stable water supply. Building a water pump is simple enough but to get educated citizens, I need to build a grade school, wait a few years for it to take effect, then build a high school and so on.

An Example Made by Some Other Hardcore Fan

Aside from the goal of building the saccharine, all-white American suburb of my dreams, there's the ever-present problem of electricity, garbage disposal and traffic. There's also the matter or healthcare facilities, police stations and fire departments. Recreational facilities are also important to make the city more attractive to the target class. All of these are demanded by the middle class and are therefore a requirement.. All of these cost money upfront and then must be funded regularly. You must tax the people but if you raise taxes too much, demand for housing will plummet as fewer people will be keen to move into a city with high tax rates. Oh, and they also cannot stand pollution so you need to build the factories far away, perhaps in another city and then THAT'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY.

See the limitations one must work with? Notice that the limitations more or less, reflect problems real cities face and also reflect principles of urban planning like the proper placement of industries and traffic networks. You can build what you want sure, and the peaceful suburb of Bonnie Dell is achievable but the steps you need to take require a lot of planning and micromanagement.

Now then, it pains me to do this but to give you an example of a city "builder", let's use the game, SimCity Societies. I did not include SimCity Societies in the main list of SimCity games for a reason. It is the black sheep of the SimCity family. It was a terrible disappointment. Woe to the man who mentions this game in a SimCity forum.

Anyway, In SimCity Societies, I want to build a farming town. Oh no, problem since the game already provides "farming town" buildings for me to simply drop and place. Same thing with suburbia. There are "suburb" type buildings I can simply drop and place right away. There are prepackaged themes like "industrial", "spooky(?)" and even "authoritarian". It goes without saying but this isn't how real cities operate. No mayor tells his underlings to "give it a Halloween theme" then roll with it.

Drag and Drop Suburbs

There are limitations in Societies but nowhere near as complex as the ones in SimCity 4. You just place a house building then a job building and watch as it produces a set amount of money without consideration of income class. Costs are also set and you can't micromanage funding and service range as much as you could in 4. Traffic is easy to manage. Electricity is easy to manage. It's just too simple.

You know what? I don't think badly of Societies. Both simulators and builders have the same core goal which is to let the player CREATE the city of his dreams but both differ on the "hows". Societies should have just dropped the SimCity from its title. It doesn't simulate anything. It doesn't imitate how a city is run from a real life standpoint. It's just a toy really and I guess the reason why it just didn't click was because it was too easy and didn't offer the "simulation" aspect that longtime fans enjoyed.

It depends on the kind of player you are. If you just want to create the perfect city right away then a builder would suit you. However, if you're the type of player that wants a simulation of running a city and then working with that to create the perfect city, you should give the old SimCity games a try. SimCity 4: Rush Hour is pretty awesome though other SimCity diehards may swear on 2000 as the best. 

All of them are great anyway (except Societies and SimCity 2013).