Simulation games are a broad and popular genre of video games that aim to mimic real-world activities and scenarios, from mundane acts like mowing the lawn to obscure ones like roadside maintenance. These games provide players with a virtual sandbox where they can experience these settings and experiment with a set of realistic or semi-realistic rules. Over the past few years, simulation games have steadily grown in popularity due to their relaxing, immersive scenarios, and ability to replicate diverse, unique situations that players would otherwise never get the chance to explore, in a consequence-free environment.
One of the main appeals that simulation games have for players is the often surprising level of control and options they give players over their environments. Unlike most other action-packed games that require quick reactions, simulation games usually only demand a degree of careful planning, decision-making, and patience.
They simulate real-life tasks and settings, enabling players to experience situations they may never encounter in their everyday lives. For example, most players aren’t likely to experience what it might be like to pilot an airplane like you could with Microsoft Flight Simulator. But not every simulator needs to be based on real life, some games simulate more fantastical situations like space combat or colonizing Mars, and others cover hypothetical scenarios like if Earth ran out of resources.
The realistic detail in many simulation games is impressive. Developers often work with experts to ensure that the games reflect real-world conditions accurately, often covering aspects of those scenarios most people wouldn’t expect to have to deal with.
This realism enhances immersion, making players feel as if they’re genuinely involved in a simulated environment. To reflect his level of realism and immersion, many simulators often don’t have win conditions and can be played indefinitely, and some don’t even have fail states which is why some in the gaming community hesitate to define simulators as games.
However, it is this immersion and dedication to realism that makes simulators valuable even outside of just gaming and entertainment, serving as training tools in many industries as a consequence-free learning environment.
Many of the earliest precursors to video games were actually simulators, created with the intent of testing the limits of early computational technology by simulating things like playable chess, checkers, or tennis. Even Pong (1972), the first commercially popular video game, was technically a primitive tennis simulator.
However, the first game that really defined the genre and popularized simulator games as a whole was SimCity (1989), an open-ended city-builder game.
It would go on to spawn a whole host of Sim games, like SimFarm, SimGolf, SimCoaster, and its most popular spinoff, the Sims (2000), the codifier of life simulator games. The Sim games would also inspire other simulator games that would define a generation, like Rollercoaster Tycoon (1999), or Zoo Tycoon (2001).
Simulation games come in many forms, each catering to different interests. Life Simulation games include titles such as The Sims and allow players to do things like build houses, start families, and explore different aspects of virtual life.
Business and Management Simulators such as SimCity or Gas Station Simulator, let players manage businesses or cities.
Vehicle Simulation games like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator, and the Gran Turismo series are examples where players learn to operate vehicles with realistic physics, follow routes, and handle technical challenges.
Today, with advancements in graphics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, simulation games have become more immersive than ever. Games like Microsoft Flight Simulator have reached unprecedented levels of realism, even integrating real-world weather and flight data.
The history of simulation games is a story of technological progress and expanding creativity, proving that the fascination with replicating life and systems in a virtual world remains as compelling as ever, and for as long as there is something interesting to do in the real world, a simulator is bound to recreate it.
