March 5th 2013

This is an historic day for the world's sim mayors.

What Makes Simcity a Great Game Part 2

SimCity 4

As a mayor you'll obtain your revenue from three types of taxes: residential, industrial, and commercial (RCI) We don't yet know what's the highest tax rate that can possibly be imposed within this version of SimCity. We do know SimCity 4 allowed raising taxes up to twenty percent. But don't! This will eventually bankrupt your city.

One of the things you learn in SimCity  is to balance a budget with responsible/reasonable policies. You can have an even 8% tax rate on RCI sectors, or even a 12% (depends on your city's education, land values, desirability) tax rate. Sometimes you might need to raise a buck temporarily to cover your budget costs, but don't push it because you might encounter many abandoned buildings, and your budget will go further on the red. You might as well reduce costs. Your budget  window is the place where you can glance overspending and start making cuts.... Maybe the policemen don't need so much donuts. :)

If you decide to subsidize your residents, reducing their residential tax, you'll have to raise commercial or industrial taxes, or both. If you have an educated workforce, industries won't mind paying a little more in taxes. If your residents have high income, it will still be attractive for commercial or office development.   So your tax policy really depends on what is your goal as a city, and whats your specialization strategy (I would call it like that), but don't go overboard distorting the economy. Overboard policies are never good. Large deficits are unsustainable.

Por Que SimCity es un Buen Juego

No es meramente un juego; es una experiencia. Podes planificar, zonificar, construir, desarrollar, comerciar... , concentrarte o relajarte. Es un juego en el que tenes libertad y muchas posibilidades. Lo mejor de SimCity es que es un juego que hasta te puede ayudar a entender como funciona una economía.

Cuando comenzás a construir una SimCity, como alcalde, lo primero que tenes que hacer es proveer a tu ciudad con los servicios básicos. Construis calles, desarrollas zonas, y les proporcionas agua y electricidad. Al principio estas zonas deben ser residenciales e industriales porque una ciudad tiene que tener sims (la gente de simcity) y los sims necesitan empleos. Albergar mas industrias conlleva proporcionar mas empleos, y tener mas sims implica mas posibilidades para las industrias y para el desarrollo comercial.         

Tenes que recorrer un largo camino antes de que podas ver instaladas las primeras industrias de alta tecnologia. Al comienzo, se van a asentar industrias basicas, contaminantes, y que proveen empleos de poca paga, pero esto solo es un primer paso antes de que la economia se haya diversificado. Para generar salarios cada vez mayores, es necesario educar a los sims. Necesitamos proporcionarles mayores niveles de educacion; construir escuelas, colegios, bibliotecas, museos, y universidades.... Esto podria constituir un reto para el presupuesto de tu ciudad, pero no debe ser demasiado dificil lograrlo si administras los fondos de la ciudad de forma apropiada y responsable.  Puede parecer que estoy hablando de un tema serio, no de un juego, y eso es lo interesante de SimCity. Puede sumergirte dentro de algunas de las complejidades de la administracion de una verdadera ciudad.

What Makes SimCity a Great Game

SimCity 4 

It's not merely a game; it's an experience. It's a time to build, trade, zone, plan, develop, imagine, relax, focus... you name it.   It's a place of freedom and unlimited possibilities. What I like the most about SimCity is that the game even helps you understand how an economy works. 

When you begin to build a SimCity, as a mayor, the first thing you have to do is to provide your city with the basic services. You develop zones and build roads, and you provide the zones with power and water.  These zones at first are residential and industrial because a city needs sims (simcity's people) and sims need jobs. More industries, means more jobs for sims, and more sims means more possibilities for the industries and commercial development.

It's a long road before high tech industries settle in the city.  In the beginning, industries will be basic industries. They will pollute and the jobs they provide will be very low pay, but hey, this is an important first step before the economy diversifies. For ever increasing wages we need to educate sims. We need to provide sims with increasing levels of education; fund schools properly; build colleges, build libraries, museums, and universities; and fund them properly. This is a challenge for the city budget, but it can be done if the city's funds are administered properly and responsively. It's surprising I'm sounding serious talking about a game, but that's the cool part of SimCity. It can submerge you into the intricacies of the administration of a real city. 

How I Started Playing SimCity

SimCity 2000 

Simcity 4

.....started playing very young (between 4th or 5th grade - can't recall)... hadn't bought the game; it was a demo version within other files... and I just started playing. As basic as SC2000 was, I had serious trouble at first; I grew frustrated that, seemingly, there was nothing I could do to start off! What was I doing wrong....  -_-      This was probably what trapped me into the game, because it was a challenge I had to resolve. XD hahaha

No houses would sprout, no commercial or industrial buildings either.... What would do the trick?!

I finally added energy and water to the zoned areas. And KAZABOOM!!!!!!!!....unleashed the game! I KNEW IT!! Yeah, "I'M THE BEST XD" - I said - "But hadn't I done this before"?

Anyway, I couldn't stop playing since then. I had to go to a store and buy the real deal, and then I had to buy SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4.