Business simulation games,
/ref> also known as economic simulation games

/ref> or tycoon games, are games that focus on the management of

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

processes, usually in the form of a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

. Pure business simulations have been described as

construction and management simulation Construction and management simulation (CMS), sometimes also called management sim or building sim, is a subgenre of simulation game in which players build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources. Strategy vid ...

s without a construction element, and can thus be called management simulations. Indeed,

micromanagement In business management, micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes, controls, and/or reminds the work of their subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation, main ...

is often emphasized in these kinds of games. They are essentially numeric, but try to hold the player's attention by using creative graphics. The interest in these games lies in accurate simulation of real-world events using algorithms, as well as the close tying of players' actions to expected or plausible consequences and outcomes. An important facet of economic simulations is the

emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergenc ...

of artificial systems, gameplay and structures. There are many games in this genre which have been designed around numerous different enterprises and different simulations. ''

Theme Park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

'' can be called a business simulation because the goal of the game is to attract customers and make profits, but the game also involves a building aspect that makes it a

. This genre also includes many of the "tycoon" games such as '' Railroad Tycoon'' and ''

Transport Tycoon ''Transport Tycoon'' is a video game designed and programmed by Chris Sawyer, and published by MicroProse on 15 November 1994 for DOS. It is a business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in whic ...

''. Another similar example of a business simulation (that models a startup business) is "SimVenture Classic". Trevor Chan is a notable developer of business simulation games, having developed the 1995 game ''

Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

'' which has been described as the "best business simulation game". A sequel was released entitled '' Capitalism II'' in 2001. An expanded version of ''Capitalism II'', called ''Capitalism Lab'', was released in 2012 and continues to be updated regularly with new features and improvements. Active development of Internet technologies and the growth of the Internet audience in recent years gave a powerful impetus to the development of the industry of online games, and in particular, online business simulations. There are many varieties of online business simulations - browser-based and downloadable, single-player and multiplayer, real-time and turn-based. Some online simulations are aimed primarily at the leisure market while others have real world applications in training, education and modelling.

Real-world applications

Because business simulations simulate real-world systems, they are often used in management, marketing,

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

and hospitality education.Online Business Simulations
/ref> Some benefits of business simulations are that they permit students to experience and test themselves in situations before encountering them in real life, they permit students to experiment and test hypotheses, and that subjects seem more real to them than when taught passively from the blackboard. They are also used extensively in the professional world to train workers in the financial industries,

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...

and management, and to study

economic model In economics, a model is a theoretical construct representing economic processes by a set of variables and a set of logical and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified, often mathematical, framework desi ...

s (an association of professionals
ABSEL
exists for the sole purpose of promoting their use), with some simulations having in excess of 10,000 variables. Economic simulations have even been used in experiments, such as those done by

Donald Broadbent Donald Eric (D. E.) Broadbent CBE, FRS (Birmingham, 6 May 1926 – 10 April 1993) was an influential experimental psychologist from the UK His career and research bridged the gap between the pre-World War II approach of Sir Frederic Bartlett a ...

on learning and cognition that revealed how people often have an aptitude for mastering systems without necessarily comprehending the underlying principles. Other games are used to study the

consumer behavior Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and p ...

History

The Sumerian Game ''The Sumerian Game'' is a text-based strategy video game of land and resource management. It was developed as part of a joint research project between the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Westchester County, New York and IBM in 19 ...

'' (1964), a text-based

early mainframe game Mainframe computers are computers used primarily by businesses and academic institutions for large-scale processes. Before personal computers, first termed microcomputers, became widely available to the general public in the 1970s, the computing ...

Mabel Addis Mabel Addis Mergardt (21 May 1912 – 13 August 2004) was an American writer, teacher and the first female video game designer. She designed ''The Sumerian Game'', programmed by William McKay, for the IBM 7090 in 1964. It inspired similarly-styl ...

, based on the ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of ...

ian city-state of

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

, was the first economic simulation game. An early economic sim by

Danielle Bunten Berry Danielle Bunten Berry (February 19, 1949 – July 3, 1998), formerly known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game ''M.U.L.E.'', one of the first influential multiplayer video games, and 1984's '' T ...

, ''

M.U.L.E. ''M.U.L.E.'' is a 1983 multiplayer video game written for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers by Ozark Softscape. Designer Danielle Bunten Berry (credited as Dan Bunten) took advantage of the four joystick ports of the Atari 400 and 800 to ...

'', released in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, foreshadowed events that would transpire later in video gaming history, especially in the

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...

market, with regard to player cooperation and simulated economies. The game was

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

' most highly awarded game, despite selling only 30,000 copies. That same year, Epyx released the business sim '' Oil Barons''.http://www.mobygames.com/game/oil-barons MobyGames. "Oil Barons," (retrieved on January 25th, 2009).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Business Simulation Game Video game genres

Real-world applications

History

See also

References