Can we invent a game, say, where (even if the participants don't realise it) what they produce is a hyper-dense, hyper-efficient CPU? Or RAM? Or parallel architecture?
In terms of making productive output? Maybe not. But there's plenty of games that'll give you a deeper appreciation of how to think and will help you develop your character. Civilization IV will teach you a lot about how the path of technology generally went, historical buildings and achievements, and is good for thinking about constraints and balancing. Darklands (a DOS game from 1992, can be downloaded for free and run on te emulator Dosbox) is a very hard, very enjoyable game that gives a pretty good idea of the superstitions and beliefs of medieval Germany. It's really, really hard too, you're likely to killed a lot and have to learn how to play.
I thought Planescape: Torment was incredibly well written, as well written as most books, and makes you think on some interesting philosophical questions. Very original sort of game.
I play Conquer Club online a little bit, which is a Risk clone. Lots of math and strategy. Also you get some knowledge of geography playing on the different maps.
I try to make my consumption a little productive when possible - reading books, watching movies, and playing games that teach me things in addition to being enjoyable. So I'm not sure if you could make a game that caused people to produce explicitly, but there are a fair few that you'll teach you things of more or less value.
The idea I'd like to see gain traction is for someone, or several someones, to write a game that may only get a small audience, but to get a truly hardcore audience, and to have the results of the game-play to be the benefit.
To quote Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear: How hard can it be?
There's also a game where you fold proteins.
This city is precariously hanging on the edge of destruction. I feel something as simple as a Sim moving to a dinner on the other side of town could upset the careful balance of food supply, but yet the city is 'perfect'.
And that is exactly what the game creator wanted. :D
"Decadence", in the sociopolitical usage, is simply the word which also refers exactly to the concept you have described—perfection that "is precariously hanging on the edge of destruction": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decadence, and specifically http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decadence#Leninism, for the sense in which this city was created while striving to "win" a game like SimCity, which keeps score through profit from taxes.)
He has essentially obtained perfection by building a totally perfect (in the eyes of the game), uniform city.
Obviously the video is pure melodrama though.
"There are a lot of other problems in the city hidden under the illusion of order and greatness: Suffocating air pollution, high unemployment, no fire stations, schools, or hospitals, a regimented lifestyle - this is the price that these sims pay for living in the city with the highest population. It’s a sick and twisted goal to strive towards. The ironic thing about it is the sims in Magnasanti tolerate it. They don’t rebel, or cause revolutions and social chaos. No one considers challenging the system by physical means since a hyper-efficient police state keeps them in line. They have all been successfully dumbed down, sickened with poor health, enslaved and mind-controlled just enough to keep this system going for thousands of years. 50,000 years to be exact. They are all imprisoned in space and time."
edit: I knew I should have refreshed...
From the article: There are a lot of other problems in the city hidden under the illusion of order and greatness: Suffocating air pollution, high unemployment, no fire stations, schools, or hospitals, a regimented lifestyle - this is the price that these sims pay for living in the city with the highest population ... They have all been successfully dumbed down
It routinely amazes me the lengths to which many people go to in their chosen domain. Some people choose physics, or medicine. Some people choose Rubiks cubes, train sets, or Sim City.
I find it hard in my day to day life to decide I will work on something for three years to truly and utterly dominate it. Especially something such as Sim City. I would say that I wish this gentleman had worked on curing cancer, or rubinius, or financial modeling, but I am beginning to think that that level of passion is non-transferable, and not something that can be taught or imbued.
Of course, this guy is an architecture major, so maybe we will see that same level of skill, dedication, and attention to detail come out in the real world.
God help us.
Favorite quote by the creator:
As for The Sims, I enjoyed that too, although sims usually turn insane and die horribly under my hands after a few minutes.
Dx xD
hehe sounds a bit defensive to me ;)
Did anyone else notice them?
BTW: I'm at a bit of a loss as to why my original comment got downvoted so much... would someone care to help me out with explaining what was wrong with what I wrote?
Unless you claim that everyone who has ever revelled in magmaflooding a colony of dwarves is literally a racist/totalitarian/sadist...
