Things you wish games did

[duke o' york]

So do you just want Sim Arkansas then?
Isn't going to be too much fun for everyone else is it?
If you want to have urban decay in your games, then just bulldoze a load of residential areas every so often, and then close a factory about the same time.
That will at least give you a challenge, and if it's too easy, then get bulldozing every five turns instead of ten or whatever.

[Alex]

I wish games could return to those days when innovation and creativity were highly regarded by the developers.

Now we only see games which are pale rehashes of things that have already been made; an infinite number of sequels where they only update the graphics; and lots and lots of games about the same thing (WWII, anyone?).

[child of Thor]

I wish they would bring about an end to real life wars. With things like 'America's Army' and all the gazillion of simular titles for all aspects of war, it would be a small and progressive step to just get all the mad world leaders into playing these instead of sending real people of to die for their own devious(and no doubt evil) ends

'W' and 'insert evil regime' can then slug it out in cyber reality leaving the world in a much better state

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by child of Thor
I wish they would bring about an end to real life wars.

take a look at my thread on 'starting your own Orange Revolution' some people are using games to study non-violentent revolutionary techniques.

[lord of the mark]

re declining cities.

Last game in that SC series i played was simcity2000. three reasons cities dont decline there.

1. Industries dont decline. At worst some industries slow down, but none go into total tailspins. If there were a random factor for "industry X totally collapses" you could get a nice collapse if you have a specialized small city.

2. Even in a small city, you have lots of individual factories, in your industrially zoned land. If there were some incentive and ability to have all industrial employment from single large factory, and there was random chance of that factory being closed for external reasons, that could create depressions.

3. IIRC there isnt really a "cost" factor effecting demand for your local industry. If theres demand generally, there will be demand for that industry in your city. Taxes impact that I think, but thats all. Instead there could be a factor where if your education level is bad, or your transport infrastructure is poor, you cant attract industry.


Oh, and even if an industry DID collapse, its probably too easy to bounce back. Would need to introduce some idea of specialized training for workers - not just educ level, but if I have experienced textile workers, and textiles goes bust, and i try get an auto plant, they are all unskilled labor as far as the auto industry is concerned. Same for support infrastructure, etc.

Not sure how SC4 handles any of this.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Dissident


Everquest 2 can do half of that.

Yeah, but Jam really wants a pizza.

[Carolus Rex]

Originally posted by Dissident

Everquest 2 can do half of that.

Which half?

Civ 2 is the perfect game. I only wish they had allowed moving units in stacks... That one and some other minor flaws corrected...

Carolus

[Jamski]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Yeah, but Jam really wants a pizza.

I was going to make some comment about Pizza Hut not being real pizza, but I couldn't be arsed.

[DrSpike]

That wasn't what the comment meant.

[Jamski]

[mrmitchell]

duke:
Decline isn't a phenomenon that is specific to Arkansas. It happens almost everywhere west of Nevada. Slums, the Rust Belt, urban decay...

LOTM:
Basically the same things prevent it from happening in SC4. Too many small, individual factories, and the lack of a "cost" factor effecting things.

[Dis]

I think you meant east of Nevada. But some states such as Texas and some southern states are doing quite well for themselves (at least the ones that have gambling ).

Perhaps Arkansas should legalize gambling.

Which brings up a good point. Is there some representation of the lottery in the Sim City games? I actually have Sim City 3000. I tried playing, but I realized I need to find the instruction manual somewhere. I have no idea what I'm doing. No, I didn't steal it. It came as part of the Laptop collection of games (I mainly bought it for SMAX)

Florida is doing quite well for itself. N. Carolina seemed okay. Virginia had plenty of money. I've also been to Chicago. They are doing alright. I've been to Utah- and they are doing quite well for themselves (but they have a different culture).

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


take a look at my thread on 'starting your own Orange Revolution' some people are using games to study non-violentent revolutionary techniques.

ok LotM - i'll go have alook (i thought the thread was something to do with the mobile 'orange' network we have here in the uk!).

Another thing i'd like games to do is introduce smells. I seem to remember it was being tried out by some manufacturers? Don't know what happend to that though.

[Dis]

I'm not sure I want to smell some deep dank dungeon. Or corpses (as every RPG has them).

[Alex]

imagine having to smell the pollution in simcity...