SimCity, an Exhibit

    SimCity is a game that revolutionized the simulation genre of video games, perfecting many concepts that would be applied to future games for years to come. The game casts you as the mayor of a brand new city or one of several premade cities, giving you a plot of land and a sum of money to work with. From a godlike perspective, you begin building up your city, plotting zones for residential, commercial, and industrial construction. You must also place essential city functions such as power plants, fire and police stations, and transportation options, including roads, railroads, and airports. An approval ratings window showed what the most prominent problem was, such as traffic, crime, or fires and what percentage of the population thinks you‘re doing a good job. Tax ratings and public service funding could be altered to the percentage, offering great flexibility. The game is entirely open ended, presenting no set conditions to win or lose. In theory, a city could grow to encompass the entire game map and the player could still keep managing and improving it as long he stayed interested. This approach gave SimCity an addictive gameplay that would help popularize the genre, bringing it to a wider audience and inspiring future games. SimCity and its later incarnations were very innovative games that progressed the simulation genre of video games.