Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Teaching with Simcity: Using Computer Games to Construct Dynamic Governance Simulations

2013; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.2209488

1556-5068

Matthew Woessner,

Innovative Teaching Methodologies in Social Sciences

One of the key challenges of teaching a college survey course like Introductory American Government, is the lack of interest on the part of students, many of whom take the course to satisfy a general education requirement. Recognizing that young people are fascinated by video games, I devised a governance simulation built on the popular video game SimCity. Although, the video game industry designed these sophisticated simulations to be played by a single participant, rather than a large group of players, I devised a simple set of rules that permit students to run these simulations collectively. The paper examines five factors that an instructor must account for if games like SimCity are to have real educational value. I argue that, if done properly, this in-class exercise provides a fun and interesting way to teach why democratic governance is so difficult.