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Simulation Games

 

Disciplines > Game Design > Types of Game > Simulation Games

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

 

Description

Simulation games take a real-life situation and turn it into a game.

In games based on battles, competitions or or established games, the objective is usually to win simulations of real-world win-lose situations. For example war games and video-tennis.

In other games, objectives may be based on survival and growth, which are basic evolutionary drivers. For example urban development or animal husbandry games.

Example

In Fantasy Football, players manage teams and whole leagues across seasons.

War games often recreate real historical battles.

In 'god' simulations, the player has the powers of a deity, making decisions that affect many 'lives'.

Discussion

We all have to make decisions in life that can be very costly and incur significant risks. In simulation games, we can make similar decisions, safe in the knowledge that a wrong decision may upset us but ultimately does no real harm.

There is a deep principle of simulation in learning for real-world problems. When animals play-fight, they are simulating real fighting. When human children play, whether it simulates families or television dramas, it likewise helps prepare the child for the real problems of adult life. Simulation games similarly provide an opportunity to learn in a safe environment.

Simulations can be abstracted, changed and mutated away from the original real-world situation in order to improve game-play. Chess, for example is a highly abstracted war game.

Good simulation games do not replicate every detail but do capture the essence and major variables of the target situation. They provide the player with ways to control variables in order to give an effective sense of what reality may be like.

Life if often humdrum and simulation games can easily be boring. Designers should be careful to include sufficient variation and interest to sustain the player. Good design injects regular excitement, much as TV dramas have more challenging events than reality.

See also

Games as Being, Games as Real-izing

 

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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed