Simulation video game
Games that simulate real-world activities for training or entertainment.
Simulation video games—often shortened to "sims"—form a broad category of interactive software built around mimicking real-world activities. These games recreate tasks from everyday life for training, analysis, prediction, or entertainment. Typically, they lack rigid objectives, giving players freedom to manage a character or environment as they see fit.
Well-known examples include war games, business games, and role-play simulations. The category draws from three basic types of exercises—strategic, planning, and learning—and can produce hybrids that blend games, simulations, and case studies. Researchers have compared the effectiveness of simulation games against other teaching methods, and several comprehensive reviews of these studies exist.
**Subgenres**
**Construction and management simulation** (CMS) tasks players with building, expanding, or running fictional communities or projects using limited resources. Strategy games sometimes borrow CMS elements for their economies, but pure CMS titles differ: the goal is not to defeat an enemy but to construct something within an ongoing process. These are also called management games.
**Life simulation** games, or artificial life games, let players live as or control one or more simulated lifeforms. They may focus on individuals and relationships or on an entire ecosystem. Social simulation games, such as *The Sims*, are a subcategory.
**Sports** games recreate athletic competition. Most real sports—team sports, athletics, and extreme sports—have been adapted into video games. Some emphasize playing the sport itself (like the *Madden NFL* series), while others focus on strategy and organization (like *Football Manager*). A few, such as *Arch Rivals*, parody sports for humor. The genre has been popular throughout gaming history and remains competitive, mirroring real-world sports. Many series feature real teams and players, with rosters updated to reflect actual changes.
**Other types** include: - **Medical simulation games**, where the player acts as a surgeon (e.g., *Trauma Center*, *LifeSigns*). - **Photography simulation games**, where players take pictures of animals or people (e.g., *Pokémon Snap*, *Afrika*). - **Police simulation games**, placing the player in law enforcement roles (e.g., *LCPDFR*, *LSPDFR*, and the *Cops and Robbers V* server for *FiveM*). - **Military simulation games**, which ar
- field
- Video games
- known_for
- Simulating real-world activities for training, analysis, prediction, or entertainment
- subgenres
- Construction and management simulation, life simulation, sports, vehicle simulation, military simulation, job simulation
Lore & Background
Simulation video games encompass a wide range of subgenres. Construction and management simulation (CMS) involves building or managing fictional communities with limited resources, differing from strategy games in that the goal is not to defeat an enemy but to build something within an ongoing process. Life simulation games let players control artificial lifeforms, with social simulation games like The Sims as a subgenre. Sports games simulate playing sports, emphasizing either direct play or strategy and organization, and some satirize the sport for comic effect. Other types include medical simulation games, photography simulation games, police simulation games, military simulation games, vehicle simulation games (flight, racing, submarine, train, truck), immersive sims, job simulation games, digital card games, and simulations of mechanical or real-world games like pinball or casino games.
Reader's Guide
Simulation games have been used in education to make learning a matter of direct experience, potentially relieving tedium associated with conventional instruction by demanding increased participation. They may increase students' motivation and interest, provide insights into how the world is seen, increase empathy, and help develop awareness of personal and interpersonal values. Many games are designed to develop skills in decision making, problem solving, and critical thinking. Comparisons of the merits of simulation games versus other teaching techniques have been carried out by many researchers, with comprehensive reviews published. The history of simulation games includes early text-based economic simulations like The Sumerian Game (1964), and later titles such as M.U.L.E. (1983). In the 1980s, arcade games began using hydraulic motion simulator cabinets, sparked by Sega's 'taikan' games. The city-building subgenre is closely associated with the 1989 release of SimCity, though earlier titles like Fortune Builder (1984) existed. A study of adolescents who played SimCity 2000 found that those players had a greater appreciation and expectation of their government.
Did You Know?
- The Sumerian Game (1964) was the first economic simulation game.
- Sega's 'taikan' games in the 1980s sparked a trend of hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets.
- SimCity (1989) is closely associated with the introduction of the city-building simulation subgenre.
- A study of adolescents who played SimCity 2000 found they had a greater appreciation and expectation of their government.
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