As a citizen that makes my daily commute from one side of the city to the other I personally experience the layout of the urban surroundings. Through my travels I know which paths and routes to take as if I built it myself. These days there are several developments of virtual stimulating types of video games that give one the opportunity to actually construct their own city. To the average person playing a game such as SimCity or Cities in Motion would be viewed as “just as game”, although in more depth reality it really helps acquire skills to identify with real world and how it functions every day. Something as simple as playing with Lego’s as a child turns into how someone grasps the real world as an adult.
Video games have mixed views of whether they are helpful or destructive to one’s mind. What most people who do not engage in these activities do not appreciate what can be taken away from the games in a positive way. As I travel through my daily routes I recognize that Phoenix is planned out the same way as in SimCity or any of the other city construction games. I personally see streets, public transportation, buildings and residential areas. There are several similarities between the virtual city and the actual city in which I live. From seeing the surroundings of Phoenix daily, subconsciously I take what I know and apply it to my own developments as if it was only a game I was designing. The biggest difference between the two worlds is the simple fact that one is the “real world” and one is not. They may be laid out the same but it must be understood that the game does help a person’s value of the actual thing excluding taking the place of it.
Planning out a city in Cities in Motion can help people figure out solutions to the challenges of what goes on in Phoenix itself. The simple realization that you will crash and fail just as many times as you will succeed. It has always been said that “practice makes perfect” and this is no different. A similarity to the building of a city is like organizing a home. You must decide where you would like each piece of furniture placed and where to add the rest of your belongings. The same goes for constructing a town. The developer decides where to put the neighborhoods, the grocery stores, and the building’s in order to make it all function together and make it easily accessible to the residents or fictional characters. Everything you experience is a constant development towards another experience for the future. There is never a manual or directions for how something is to be built. It takes trial and error in both worlds to figure out what is the best way to do something and what is satisfying in the end.
Almost everything is learned from experiences. Looking back many years ago to when the Romans began to assemble their lands it was nothing but guessing. There was no one before to tell them how to do something or if they were making the best decisions or not. As stated in “In Praise of the Urban Sandbox”, it claims “computer games aren’t just games anymore. They are learning experiences.” It may look like just a waste of time and something fun to do save for in the end there is much to be learned from a simple game. Learning to construct a city and the suburbs it contains by way of a computer game is much more than sitting in front of a machine for hours. It is truly an educational growth in promoting the expansion of an individual understands of how cities are made.
As someone who plays video games myself, I never thought about them as being any kind of learning experience. I have always looked at it as something fun to do to pass the time. I’ll admit I can easily take up a better part of my day playing a game not realizing the time I have lost in doing so. However the different ways I now look at it I wonder if I am indeed wasting time and energy or rather actually gaining experience from the game. The article “In Praise of the Urban Sandbox” it mentions the book by Jane McGonigal and the views of games. “McGonigal’s new book, Reality is Broken, makes the case that playing games one of life’s most important activities.” There are many individuals that would instantly disagree with this statement. These are typically the people that are not either familiar with the games or they are negatively influenced by their opinions towards them. Some people may not see the positive impact these particular games can have on the mind and what is learned from taking part in the activity. The most recent game developed by McGonigal has been said that is “a crash course in changing the world.” It gives the scenario that there are communities in Tokyo that go hungry every single day and now through a game you are given the opportunity to find solutions to the problem. Through training and testing you figure out ways to solve the challenges that can be used in the future for this very problem. By thinking outside the box of different scenarios in a game, there is no end to trial and error in order to find a solution.
As these virtual stimulating games keep advancing the growth of our culture many often wonder what is next. Will there really be a game that is exactly like the real world and how will society perceive it? The CEO and developer of the game Cities in Motion, Marinna Hallikainen says “to make Cities in Motion into a real-life transport simulation would require quite a lot of work.” It’s obvious that we take what we know from real life and can easily turn it into parts of a game. However, as far as taking a game and making that part of the real world, which is much more complex. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of video game development, nevertheless when it comes to the actual developing of a city such as Phoenix, there is even more to it.
Growing up playing with Lego’s has become my backbone for construction and development. Hands-on experience is losing its value because of the constant advancing of virtual stimulating games like SimCity and Cities in Motion. These types of games play a huge part in the way people learn except nothing will ever take the place of the actual work shop experience. According to The Los Angeles Time’s California Budget Balance, “It’s inevitable to have little protests breaking out in the streets, other than you have choices, solve problems and learn along the way with little actual cost except your own time investment.” Technology will continue to aid the future of fabricating cities and the world itself, on the contrary the foundation will always come from hands on materials. From Lego’s to video games society has become one giant “Urban Sandbox.”
featuring ALEKSANDAR 