Games History - Drawing parallels

Games History

Compare a traditional game to a game from the early digital development – explore the designers, gameplay, and development of technology. Draw parallels.(500 words)

In this essay I will compare the similarities and differences between a board game and a Playstation 2 game.  Straight away they do not share many of the same characteristics; for one thing a Playstation 2 game is obviously virtual, whereas a board game is a real life static object. However they do share some of the same elements which I will explore:

The Game of Life is a board game created by Milton Bradley in 1860. It is a game of chance where all the aspects of your life in the game are decided by the roll of a dice. The game simulates real life experiences like going to university, marriage, jobs and children. Two to six players can participate during one game (in the original game) however many re-released versions of the game may vary.

The Playstation 2 game I looked at was the first Sims game. The Sims is a life simulation game, where the player may choose everything about their characters life from their appearance; to the job they have; to the house they live in. I would categorise this game very ludic as the game designer has not put in place any kind of compulsory narrative or task for the player to do. However it blurs over into a sandbox game because literally like a sandbox, the gamer decides everything (under an umbrella of what is available).

I feel that the Sims and the Game of Life are very similar in some ways. For one, they both follow no story arc, what happens is up to the player’s decisions (or technically dice for the Game of Life).  Looking at the most basic story arc (beginning, middle and end) both games generally explore the ‘middle’ of the story arc of real life. They also have the same genres and themes, they are both life simulation but in very different ways, both games obviously need interaction however The Sims is based on decision making and the Game of Life is based on chance.

However at the same time, each game has a very different interactive element. The Game of Life was (and still is) a family board game which someone cannot really play on their own.  It’s for entertainment and family bonding. The Sims on the other hand was a game played by one person at a time. Fairly isolating as you almost recreate a life on your own with no motive other than entertainment, the online elements and multiplayer did not occur until later releases.

Overall I think that the developers of the Sims took inspiration from the Game of life.  Apart from the obvious platform differences they are very similar and share the same elements and themes.