Simulation game
In short A game built on a working model of a real or plausible system, played for the pleasure of running it.
Definition
A simulation game is a game built on a model of a real or plausible system, where the pleasure comes from operating that system and watching it respond. Flying an airliner, running a city, and hauling freight across a continent are the classic subjects. Unlike a bare simulation, it is designed for players: it offers goals, rewards, and a pace that suits play, even when those goals are loose or self-chosen. Unlike most other games, it asks to be judged partly on fidelity, meaning how convincingly its rules behave like the thing they represent. The genre is defined by that promise of a working model, not by any single mechanic.
Not to be confused with
- Simulation
A simulation is any runnable model, including ones with no player or goal; a simulation game is a simulation shaped for play.
- Sandbox
A sandbox is defined by freedom to set your own goals, while a simulation game is defined by modeling a system; many games are both, but neither requires the other.
- Training game
A training game uses simulation to build job skills and is judged by performance afterward, while a simulation game is judged by whether running the model is enjoyable.
Where the game lives
- rules: used
- goals: used
- feedback: used
- uncertainty: used
- choice: used
- play: used
A simulation game keeps every structure, but its goals are often soft or self-set; the rules carry most of the weight, because they are where the model lives.
used dropped · What the six structures are
Examples
Microsoft Flight SimulatorsubLOGIC for Microsoft, 1982
The first release of the longest-running civilian flight simulation series.
SimCityMaxis, 1989
A city-building game with no win condition, played for the behavior of its urban model.
Euro Truck Simulator 2SCS Software, 2012
A freight-driving game whose appeal lies in the routine of an ordinary job rendered with care.
In the essays
Where the game lives
Six structures—rules, goals, feedback, uncertainty, choice, play—map any game-like thing; the missing ones explain why it does or doesn’t feel like a game.
Sources
- ArticleSeductions of Sim: Policy as a Simulation Game. The American Prospect, 1994. An early critique of how SimCity's hidden model shapes what players learn about cities.
- ArticleSimulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology. The Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge), 2003.
- BookRules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, 2004. Reading list