For the past five years, I have been an avid fan of the 'tycoon' style games and have played numerous ones that either contained the big T word in the title or just were simply intended for making virtual money.
There is one over powering phenomenon that I have encountered: no one game really captures the reality of the business world. For example, Capitalism 2 may be one of the best games ever created. Ubisoft and Trevor Chan really out did themselves with this business world masterpiece. There is only one problem: they totally excluded the service side of life. Let me explain. In the game Kapilands, there is a healthy concept of business service such as homeless shelters, kindergartens, and hospitals. In Capitalism 2, products are King. There is basically no option but the option to start a factory and sell its product in retail. This is far from the reality of say starting a luxury restaurant chain. Now, that being said, New York City Tycoon, on the other hand, has an excellent portrayal of the business service sector, with almost everything being about restaurants, movie theaters, storefront appeal, and the plush presentation of decadent decor. Hmm.. hmm.
Now let us look at a tiny checklist of the things that are done right(or wrong) over many different games.
Capitalsm 2, which gets a sold A- for it's efforts, contains:
A realistic stock market
A realistic loan system
A healthy product based business environment
A real estate business system
Technology investment and trade
Missing
Services sector economy (Dang they were so close, so close)
New York City Tycoon, which gets a B, cointains a solid array of:
Services, retail, and storefronts
A mild product based economy
A healthy real estate system
Lacking
Any stock market at all
Any loan system at all
A product creation option
Now that being said, we come to Kapilands ... ah, they almost got it right.
First of all, the game is a deal based system against other players. This is beautiful. The real world at its finest ... deals. So let's break it down into its parts.
Products ... yes. Technology ... yes. Real estate ... somewhat, not entirely. Services ... yes, yes. Stock market ... kind of. Bank ... not really. Real world style business deals ... almost.
They almost, almost had it. They could have been the first game EVER in the history of games, in the history of tycoon-istic gaming, to have ... it ... all: products, services, technology, real estate, stock market, and banking ... and real world style deals all in one. It was too good to be true.
Kapilands in concept is a good idea, but when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, its stock market has a whooping FIVE, yes indeedy sir, FIVE investment options, oh boy. In a game of thousands of real companies, only FIVE things are able to be invested in ... HEAD PALM. And the bank, well, the bank ... it sits there and taunts you, it looks at you with contempt in its eyes, pretending to offer you money, then takes its ball and goes home. The bank in the kapilands game is, well, no bank at all. It's just called a bank. This is a bedeviling creation, considering that when one thinks of capitalsm, one immediately thinks ... bank, money, big, growth, aggressive, interest, wealth. This is what Capitalism 2 got primarily right from the onset. On top of this, all the players seem to be itching for a bank. They talk about it, they want it, they need it. It's the blood lust of a money minded community of players, but the draconian rules of the game administrators kick the real world practices of loaning, interest, and banking right in the teeth. NO, with militant pride, the administrators proclaim. And one can feel the chilling effect. Don't dare cross the King of all Kapilands. Many, many times the players keep reiterating, "I want it but it's against the rules. I want that, I'd love that. But it's against the rules." Who knew that the biggest part of Kapilands was that Big Brother is watching and he hates loans.
Not having loans in a game that starts 'Kapi' is like advertising an 'All nude' strip club, in which the dancers where full body moo-moos. Furthermore, the reality that the game hints at, tries for, wants for a bank and a stock market, makes the frumpy moo moo even more unattractive. This game offers the steak, tells you the sizzle is possible, but serves you a half-cooked steak with only a whisper of sizzle.
Sigh ... off to search for that elusive game, that one true love of capitalism that has all the parts from head to toe ... sigh ... heart-heavy and disappointed. Can the world make just one, one, please, just one REAL capitalistic game.
Game Review: For the Love of Capitalsim
Moderator: moderators
-
Guest
Game Review: For the Love of Capitalsim
Last edited by Guest on 23.04.2009, 16:53, edited 1 time in total.
-
Guest
-
Guest
I would second the need to move this to the General forum. 
I agree we need loans added. (Ok, we may not NEED loans but it won't hurt.) However, I do take into effect this is a "game" and being a game people shouldn't get something for nothing. (I don't think we need a bank that gives interest for investing. I could put 9B cash into the bank and leave for a year to come back to a great profit for doing nothing. It is the day to day play that keeps the game active and allowes the game to make a profit.)
Our stock market doesn't "work" due to the players. I remember one time, over a year ago, we got the stock market going. All it took was 50+ members buying a few million stocks daily to get the numbers up. However, after a week people started selling off their stock and the market crashed again. Why add more options to the stock market when people don't bother using it?
I agree we need loans added. (Ok, we may not NEED loans but it won't hurt.) However, I do take into effect this is a "game" and being a game people shouldn't get something for nothing. (I don't think we need a bank that gives interest for investing. I could put 9B cash into the bank and leave for a year to come back to a great profit for doing nothing. It is the day to day play that keeps the game active and allowes the game to make a profit.)
Our stock market doesn't "work" due to the players. I remember one time, over a year ago, we got the stock market going. All it took was 50+ members buying a few million stocks daily to get the numbers up. However, after a week people started selling off their stock and the market crashed again. Why add more options to the stock market when people don't bother using it?
-
Guest
I don't think you are seeing real economics correctly
when you put money into a bank it doesn't just sit there dormant, it goes to others and they are active. A bank that just artificially gives you 3% not because others paid loan interest is a fake bank.
This is how it works... I put 1 mil in savings. The bank loans out 1 million. The bank collects 10% on the loan, and pays me 3% for having given the bank money. THE ACTIVITY is the people how take out a loan. What you will find then is ... those who are taking out loans even though they are 10% interest are gaining on you. For example, player x takes my mil and turns it into 4 million before he has to pay back the loan. OH, boy. I made 3% for sitting still and he made 300%. Boy oh boy, it looks like my inactivity was met with HUGH activity on the other persons part.
Once again, a fake stock market has money go in then grow articificially and then come out later.... not so in real life. When I buy a stock, I am actually trading that stock for money that the CEO can use for activity. The reason that these things crash is because there is not a real CEO on the other side holding onto his stock. Meaning, if the owner of the company got the money, he would hold his stock not sell his stock because he wants to retain ownership. The only people that would sell all of their stock are those who don't have ownership desires. Thus, the gaminess of the game prevents the authenticity of the game.
In Capitalism 2, you really sold stock for cash. You could issue a mil shares and get cash, but this issuance worked against your percentage ownership and jeopardized your ability to keep control of your company.
These fake computer mechanisms in which one puts money into a system that just sits still is not real. Money in real banks and real stock markets keep circulating and growing and spurring activity.
This is how it works... I put 1 mil in savings. The bank loans out 1 million. The bank collects 10% on the loan, and pays me 3% for having given the bank money. THE ACTIVITY is the people how take out a loan. What you will find then is ... those who are taking out loans even though they are 10% interest are gaining on you. For example, player x takes my mil and turns it into 4 million before he has to pay back the loan. OH, boy. I made 3% for sitting still and he made 300%. Boy oh boy, it looks like my inactivity was met with HUGH activity on the other persons part.
Once again, a fake stock market has money go in then grow articificially and then come out later.... not so in real life. When I buy a stock, I am actually trading that stock for money that the CEO can use for activity. The reason that these things crash is because there is not a real CEO on the other side holding onto his stock. Meaning, if the owner of the company got the money, he would hold his stock not sell his stock because he wants to retain ownership. The only people that would sell all of their stock are those who don't have ownership desires. Thus, the gaminess of the game prevents the authenticity of the game.
In Capitalism 2, you really sold stock for cash. You could issue a mil shares and get cash, but this issuance worked against your percentage ownership and jeopardized your ability to keep control of your company.
These fake computer mechanisms in which one puts money into a system that just sits still is not real. Money in real banks and real stock markets keep circulating and growing and spurring activity.
-
Guest
Re: I don't think you are seeing real economics correctly
Loans.....emprise wrote:when you put money into a bank it doesn't just sit there dormant, it goes to others and they are active. A bank that just artificially gives you 3% not because others paid loan interest is a fake bank.
This is how it works... I put 1 mil in savings. The bank loans out 1 million. The bank collects 10% on the loan, and pays me 3% for having given the bank money. THE ACTIVITY is the people how take out a loan. What you will find then is ... those who are taking out loans even though they are 10% interest are gaining on you. For example, player x takes my mil and turns it into 4 million before he has to pay back the loan. OH, boy. I made 3% for sitting still and he made 300%. Boy oh boy, it looks like my inactivity was met with HUGH activity on the other persons part.
Once again, a fake stock market has money go in then grow articificially and then come out later.... not so in real life. When I buy a stock, I am actually trading that stock for money that the CEO can use for activity. The reason that these things crash is because there is not a real CEO on the other side holding onto his stock. Meaning, if the owner of the company got the money, he would hold his stock not sell his stock because he wants to retain ownership. The only people that would sell all of their stock are those who don't have ownership desires. Thus, the gaminess of the game prevents the authenticity of the game.
In Capitalism 2, you really sold stock for cash. You could issue a mil shares and get cash, but this issuance worked against your percentage ownership and jeopardized your ability to keep control of your company.
These fake computer mechanisms in which one puts money into a system that just sits still is not real. Money in real banks and real stock markets keep circulating and growing and spurring activity.
Only 1 reply necessary: COINS.
You need more cash, buy coins from the system and sell them.
Why does a system have to be perfect in order to play it??
Even RL isn't perfect with all them socialist morons spoiling the system and then accusing capitalism for it when due to their implemented rules the system starts failing.
The owners can't run this game without revenues, so when you want something you buy coins.
Why would they start a bank???
1. so people that don't play can make a profit??
2. so people who need money don't need to buy coins??
There really isn't any good reason to have a bank.
The game works PERFECT without a bank, so why have one??
ps.
When you want to trade shares, start playing a share trading game instead.
Such long posts without actually posting something usefull, now thats sad.
-
Guest
emprise wrote:
About the stock market, the current gameplay of kapilands doesnt allow the stock market system work like in real life. In real life, the stock price will drop because there is a lot of business risk. but in kapilands, there is no risk that company will make loss. the only loss is the missing opportunity to make more money, but still it is not a real loss. So if players trade their shares, do you think they will sell lower price if the company continuous make a lot of money? the price will just raise and never drop.
If we want a realistic stock market, we need a realistic economic system first. otherwise, i still prefer a stock market that will randomly raise / drop the price by the system, not player. This game is to be fun and not to be realistic.
Seriously do you know that they are just status buildings to let you win the points not caps? There are not true service industry.In the game Kapilands, there is a healthy concept of business service such as homeless shelters, kindergartens, and hospitals.
About the stock market, the current gameplay of kapilands doesnt allow the stock market system work like in real life. In real life, the stock price will drop because there is a lot of business risk. but in kapilands, there is no risk that company will make loss. the only loss is the missing opportunity to make more money, but still it is not a real loss. So if players trade their shares, do you think they will sell lower price if the company continuous make a lot of money? the price will just raise and never drop.
If we want a realistic stock market, we need a realistic economic system first. otherwise, i still prefer a stock market that will randomly raise / drop the price by the system, not player. This game is to be fun and not to be realistic.