[Most American cities began life around some basic means of production, like mining or manufacturing.] People come in to work at the factory, ... and the goods from that factory are sent out to other cities or across the region. But over time, smaller services start building up within the city, like little grocery stores or gas stations, that are servicing needs within the community. The internal infrastructure gets larger and larger, and over time it becomes the biggest part of the city -- the city producing goods and services for itself. |
Actually, many years ago, we had a company-wide vote for our informal company-wide mascot, and the choices came down to the Boston tree fern, beef tape worm and a llama. And somehow the llama won the vote! |
Also, after people play these Sim games, it tends to change their perception of the world around them, so they see their city, house or family in a slightly different way after playing. |
And every now and then people find the bugs, and they interpret those as cool failures in the Sims terms. For them it's like a treasure hunt, you know. |
And so from that, I've always been fascinated with the idea that complexity can come out of such simplicity. |
Because now it's the fans out there that are entertaining us, the developers, with their creations! |
But the themes our games are about, almost everyone brings their own experience to. |
change people's perceptions of reality |
City planning just doesn't sound that interesting, but when you're actually the one making all the decisions and deciding where to put the freeways, all of a sudden it gets extremely interesting, |
Computer and video games represent one of the most important new media developments of this generation. Unlike many other forms of entertainment they offer players the opportunity to explore, be creative, learn through interaction and express themselves to others. It is vitally important that we protect and nurture this new art form so that it can reach its full potential. Like most new forms of artistic expression that have come before (music, novels, movies), the primary critics of video games are the people that do not play them. |
Everybody has a different definition of the good side. |
For me, what's a more important question is how we get at least the option of more diverse experiences in this media. |
I can't believe they took a chance on that (bleep). I don't like his views. I don't think there's any room in sports for that kind of stuff. |
I definitely enjoy the research the most. |
I find it refreshing to unplug from it for a while. You kind of forget how deeply you get embedded in it. |