Why so Serious?

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

What happens if you have a strategy game that seems too real? What if some strategies seem "inevitable" as the path of least resistance by fictitious nation states? What if people don't like the strategies as social commentary? What if players learn real skills like advanced spreadsheets? Data analysis? History?

Would people want to play it or would it seem like work?
Would powers object saying anything realistic could be used for nefarious means?
Would real news agencies take notice of how people play as commentary on society?

I can make the core of it fairly fast. I can't make a programmed UI so people would have to use tools like OpenOffice and Maps to play it. Maybe MMO, Maybe historical, maybe future.

[Staggerwing]

Frell it. Just make the game as best you can and let the 'chips' fall where they may.

[LongBlade]

Never underestimate the law of conservation of energy.

People eat foods in high sugar and high fats because we know that's the low-hanging fruit. Millions of years of evolution have taught our bodies to seek the food with the most calories. Just because our minds have eclipsed our bodies' abilities to absorb the additional caloric intake doesn't mean we can instantly ignore millions of years of evolution.

Same thing applies to entertainment. Chat with anyone playing a professional (military) grade sim. Few will describe the experience as "fun." Why? There is a difference between fun and survival. There is also a difference between the economics of providing training to a trillion dollar military bureaucracy and selling a million games to a bunch of gamers on a for-profit basis with maximum competition in the marketplace.

Competition makes a world of difference.

[Staggerwing]

Is that encouragement for K-Socks to go ahead with his game because he might not have direct competition, or a warning that he needs to think about the games's eye-candy so the buyers can get their sugar rush? Or both?

[LongBlade]

Is that encouragement for K-Socks to go ahead with his game because he might not have direct competition, or a warning that he needs to think about the games's eye-candy so the buyers can get their sugar rush? Or both?

Not a warning. Perhaps a cautionary tale.

It's really all-of-the-above. The inputs to a successful business are rarely simple.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

That is valuable input LB. Thx.

Having an educational game may be a very niche market, very true. I might find it in the $3 Steam bin for kids and $100 training sim for professionals. Mostly business circles I would guess.