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Asking for trouble bleg
Let's say, for purely hypothetical purposes, that the perpetually restless, short attention span, technologically inept me wanted to make an initial foray into computer games. Where should I start? How should I start? What mistakes should I avoid?
I await your wisdom in the comments section. Daniel Drezner offers some related links.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on October 17, 2006 at 11:35 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
Tyler - your first good move is to try out computer games AFTER getting tenure.
Play Civilization IV. You start out with one caveman/warrior and one band of settlers on a "dark" (unexplored) map.
You end up (if you're lucky and skilled) with a globe-spanning empire that has a powerfully attractive culture,
cutting-egde science, and launches amphibious invasions of foreign contients. There is a lot of diplomacy, and a LOT
of economics. Anyone who likes economic growth and geographic exploration will love this game. Brad DeLong admits that
at one point he had to decide whether to become an economics professor or Civ addict.
I'm locking up my copy until I get tenure.
Posted by: Patrick Walsh at Oct 17, 2006 11:59:51 AM
I've only played a couple of MMORPGs, but I've tried out a handful.
From an academic standpoint, World of Warcraft (WOW) has the advantage of a large number of participants, has a thriving in game money to real world money market, and has a fairly fluid economy. Buying/selling happens in a lot of ways - it would take too much space to explain it all, but people sell items by yelling it out over chat channels, posting in auction houses, and long term supply arrangements. There are players that do nothing but buy and sell items to make gold, there are guilds that sell their services to run people through high end 40 man dungeons (not everyone can participate in these guilds due to skill/time/whatever, and will pay gold to get the items that are only available in these dungeons). There are crafting professions, limited to two per avatar, that have rare pattern drops which mean we see people selling their crafting services. One of the interesting things I've always wanted to study is the fact that althoug it takes significant effort (time and gold and materials, essentially all time) to level up your crafting skill, only the rare patterns command any fee. Even with the significant investments, people are expected to craft common patterns for free or nominal tips, whereas the monopolists extract rents. But what is even more interesting is the anger that is often directed at the people that charge fees to craft rare patterns. Tons of material for papers there imo.
In addition to all these things, there are now websites that track prices of items across servers, making it possible to do all sorts of data analysis on price changes and curve shifts when technology changes (ie, when Blizzard introduces some new crafted item to the game. There are uncountable gold sellers (in game gold for real money), and there are websites that track gold prices by server. There are also websites that track population by server. And in addition to all that, one can utilize or write add-ons in a language embedded in the game, in order to collect auction house data on your own.
From a fun/accessibility standpoint, WOW is easy to get into, you can play as little or as much as you like, but it's very hard to master. It's also the 800 lb gorilla of the MMORPG world. Many industry professionals view WoW as sucking the oxygen out of the role-playing genre with it's incredibly dominating market share AND it's ability to bring in players that otherwise wouldn't play a MMORPG.
Posted by: Economunculus at Oct 17, 2006 12:10:29 PM
You should not play a computer game. You should pick up Tennis or Golf. If you insist on taking on a new habit that cordons you from your loved ones and interesting conversations, you can try smoking, porn-addiction, heroin or foods that cause persisitent gaseous eruptions. You should also first watch the recent South Park episode where the kids got fat and anti-social while playing Warcraft (which is a sweet game that I very much enjoy).
Posted by: Myreon at Oct 17, 2006 12:11:45 PM
I get a lot more out of simple, small games. Puzzle games, like Zuma, Bejeweled, Lumines. Web based flash games like at orisinal.com and dozens other sites around the internets. Civ IV is an amazingly good game, but be prepared to be sucked in for hours at a time. Sid Meier also has a new game out this week called Railroads. It's a revisit of his initial tycoon games, and no one knows how to rope a person along with "one more carrot" like Mr Meier.
Good luck. You'll probably start blogging a lot less now.
Posted by: Doug at Oct 17, 2006 12:19:26 PM
The question is extremely underdetermined. What sort of time investment are you interested in making? Immersive shared worlds taking thousands of hours? Causual diversions taking no more than a minute? What sorts of skills are you interested in learning ("fun" is mostly the feeling of accomplishment and mastery humans get when they learn a skill)? Complex symbolic puzzles? Manual dexterity? Memory? Rhythm and music? (Sadly, those are pretty much your choices of skills so far, although there are forays being made into team-work and leadership skills.) Do you prefer closed-ended or open-ended experiences? Scripted media or user-generated? Familiar settings or exploration?
Those are just the options off the top of my head, and I'd hesitate to make any recommendations without knowing more. You can find computer games that cover pretty much any point in that space, at quality ranging from dreadful to solid journeyman work, plus a rare few masterpieces.
Asking where to start with computer games is about like asking where to start with television series, if not quite yet like asking where to start with books, music, or even film. Most of it's horrible, some is quite nice, and there's no way of recommending any of it without some way of narrowing down.
Posted by: dave at Oct 17, 2006 12:20:53 PM
For the simple online stuff, Real Arcade is ok.
Crash Bandicoot is fun if you like driving stuff.
SpongeBob's Quest for Biniki Bottom???? is fun, too.
Posted by: Sandy P at Oct 17, 2006 12:27:49 PM
Second the Civilization recommendation. From the first version of the game to the current IV, it's been the best title out there, imo.
Posted by: false_cause at Oct 17, 2006 12:28:38 PM
Capitalism II is the best game for free market economists imo :)
Aside of that I am a fan of all kind of strategic or role-playing games (Civ IV or if your PC is older Civ II are good starts, but also Rome: Total War is interesting). However, your Computer Performance greatly influences the margin of available games.
Flash Games can be found around the net (www.addictinggames.com is a good starts) and they often show off with simple designs but very clever gameplay-rules and tactics.
Posted by: Max at Oct 17, 2006 12:39:40 PM
MMORPGs have some very interesting economic elements that you'd probably dig, but they are not good for people with short attention spans; but if you do want to try one I recommend Kingdom of Loathing because it's free, has a large player base and a well-balanced and interesting economy. Civilization is also a major attention-suck, but give it a try.
Lately I've been enjoying flash games on the web as much as anything. No downloads, no commitment, nothing to force you to play for more than five minutes if you don't want to. Here's Digg's section on Playable Web Games, you can always find a few good things there.
Posted by: neil at Oct 17, 2006 12:41:29 PM
www.jayisgames.com has a great collection of reviews and links to quality casual web-based games, without obnoxious ads and popups
Posted by: noah at Oct 17, 2006 12:41:32 PM
Second the recommendation of online worlds like World of Warcraft and those types -- the economies are fascinating.
Posted by: Dot at Oct 17, 2006 12:41:38 PM
Also, if you want to dip your toes into Civ there's a free implementation called FreeCiv. The graphics are a bit crude but the gameplay is basically the same.
Posted by: neil at Oct 17, 2006 12:49:27 PM
Dave's right, you need to narrow it down a bit. What kind of games do you like? If you don't know, then you need to try a bunch of different games. Try a flight simulator. Also try a shooter, a role-playing game, and a multi-player game. Maybe check out war and strategy games. Until you know what you want, go with older games (two or three years) of good reputation, because they're a lot cheaper now.
Probably the biggest mistake would be playing a modern game on a computer that's too slow. Older games will run fast and smooth on hardware that's newer than the game is. Either pick older games or spend the money to upgrade. Slow, uneven graphics will eat away at your soul.
There's a wide variety of games. First-person shooters tend to be heavily scripted for frenetic action, role-playing games give you more control over how to play, and open-ended simulations practically allow you to make up your own games (you can have a lot of fun in Grand Theft Auto without ever playing "the game"). Some games are puzzles, some games are mysteries, and some games are stories (Max Payne, for example is an atmospheric crime story in which you take over whenever there's killing to be done).
There are two mistakes you can make when it comes to cheating in single-player games (never cheat in multi-player dude): Too much and too little. If you follow a game walkthrough and use cheat codes to turn on all the god-powers and get yourself all the weapons without earning them, then you're not really playing the game any more. On the other hand, if you're stuck at some step of the game and it's starting to go from challenging to frustrating to boring, just cheat your way out of it and get back to the good stuff.
The multi-player games and strategy games like Civilization can be fun, but be sure to try some of the others. I program computers for a living, so when I play a game, I don't want something complicated. I just want to kill badguys. For the same reason, you might not find the economics games relaxing.
For reviews of games, a couple of good sites are gamespy.com and avault.com.
Posted by: Windypundit at Oct 17, 2006 12:52:18 PM
No game experience, huh? Play Tetris. It's just about the finest, simplest introduction to an action game there is. On a computer, it's hard to beat Civilization, but you might (or might not) find The Sims compelling.
My vote for the best starter game system, though, is probably the Nintendo DS: a superb array of games that range from completely original game ideas to re-imaginings of some of the oldest games out there. My 65-year-old mother-in-law, who doesn't even play cards much, has become completely addicted to the deadly duo known as Brain Age and Big Brain Academy (two "brain training" games).
Posted by: Ryan Cousineau at Oct 17, 2006 12:53:51 PM
No. Do not play Civilization. I destroyed all my copies even *after* I got tenure...
Posted by: Bradford DeLong at Oct 17, 2006 1:08:24 PM
Someone here asked me to list some of the "masterpieces" I mentioned. These are all personal opinion, and I'm nowhere near as deep into these as some.
Puzzles: Tetris
Real-time strategy: Starcraft, Civilization
Shoot-em-ups: Doom, Quake, Halo
Stealth: Thief
Rhythm: Guitar Hero (raw fun, distilled)
Posted by: dave at Oct 17, 2006 1:20:57 PM
Civ is a great game, but for gameplay and bloodletting purposes, I'd have to vote for the Half-Life suite
of offerings. Start with the original and work up to Half Life 2. Don't feel bad when/if you try to play
online...those people are the tenured gamers of the world, for what it's worth.
Posted by: Bill at Oct 17, 2006 1:27:40 PM
Civ is a great game, but for gameplay and bloodletting purposes, I'd have to vote for the Half-Life suite
of offerings. Start with the original and work up to Half Life 2. Don't feel bad when/if you try to play
online...those people are the tenured gamers of the world, for what it's worth.
Posted by: Bill at Oct 17, 2006 1:28:04 PM
You don't say what you want out of computer games, so I will advise you to consider board games instead, many of which you can play online:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listid=4239
Most especially Power Grid, which you should definitely play even if you find the perfect computer game.
-Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Postlewaite at Oct 17, 2006 1:29:20 PM
Civ II. Even though there are newer ones, I've played the hell out of that game on and off for years. Quinn (aka Tetris) is always fun for a few minutes here and there too.
Posted by: Randall McElroy at Oct 17, 2006 1:29:38 PM
For a game with a great storyline in a well-developed fictional world, I recommend Planescape Torment or Fallout 1 and 2.
The Myst series is visually beautiful and has really excellent puzzles; in the adventure/puzzle soling genre I also recommend Grim Fandango, which is a Noir mystery set in the Aztec land of the dead. It is very funny.
Posted by: Tiny Mammoth at Oct 17, 2006 1:32:44 PM
Think of games in terms of four categories:
- turn-based strategy
- real-time strategy
- shooters (and scrollers)
- Role playing
- MMRPG
Civ IV is one of the best turn-based strategy games out there. Turn-based means that you have time to think before all your moves. It is a fabulous game, but has little to do with reality. It is mostly a resource allocation and prioritization game. There is also a wargame component in Civ IV, and there are many good pure turn-based wargames as well. There are many others games of similar type to Civ, from space colonization titles to Roman empire themes. Another type of turn based game that has a bit of economics content are the trading games. Many of these are sailing-ship era, or else spaceship based, and have a large element of buy low - ship to a new city - sell high trading. The Patrician series comes to mind.
Most new strategy games are real-time, rather than turn-based. There are many good ones (just search for RTS) but they are as much of a test of how well your brain can multitask in quick time than they are strategy tests. The exception is the "sim" type games, like sim City or Railroad tycoon. I think the old Railroad Tycoon games had more real business and economics content than most any game out there, and they are coming out with a new version in a matter of weeks called Sid Meiers Railroads.
Shooter games, well, are what they sound like. People either like them or they don't. Halflife, Quake and Republic Commando are good franchises.
Role-playing games are like dungeons and dragons - you have a character that improves over time with experience that is gained through exploring and killing stuff. The games vary more by the interface and the graphics paradigm. Oblivion is a great game. Dungeon Siege II or Titan Quest are similar but with a different graphics paradigm (third person view rather than first person).
MMRPG, or massively multi-player role playing games, are probably the most interesting from an academic standpoint. These are role playing games where many players can play simultaneously online. These are games where the game author struggles to control the ultimate experience, because new orders and economies emerge from the large playing populations interacting. Lots of really intersting social dynamics. Everquest is the classic, but World of Warcraft is really the best one today. WoW also has lots of interesting real-world / virtual world interactions, like the myriad of Chinese company startups who make money "farming" virtual gold and magic items in the game and reselling them on eBay.
Posted by: Coyote at Oct 17, 2006 1:33:47 PM
I recently bought Civ 4, and found it dull and repetitive. Medieval Total War has been the most impressive and enjoyable game I have ever played. It has the macro-management that Civ seeks and then some. Unlike Civ your rulers die and are replaced by their heirs. Furthermore, the combat simulation gives you the ability to command armies on the battle field. The engine running this simulation is so good that it was used for a British Documentary series on famous battles. Also unlike Civ, there is enough computer introduced conflict to make each game different then the other. The Back death and Mogul invasion playout differently each time (might want to leave the turks and Russians in the game and let them take the brunt of the hoard)
Posted by: Jason at Oct 17, 2006 1:33:58 PM
It's an older game, but I love Tropico. The premise is that you are a dictator of a small Caribbean island. You choose your goal -- making your people happy, developing the economy, or embezzling as much money as possible and putting it in your Swiss bank account -- and proceed from there deciding what will be built and where, what policies to enact, holding (and sometimes stealing) elections, putting down coups, etc. I think you might get a kick out of it.
Posted by: Jacqueline at Oct 17, 2006 1:40:07 PM
For new games, get a console (or two). It's less stressful than trying to get things working on a computer. It is a very different experience sitting on a couch with other people next to you, all watching the TV and shouting. For older games, either buy the rerelease from the publisher or download them off the internet and play them on the computer. Also look into emulators for old consoles.
For genres, take a look at graphical adventure games. The Monkey Island series is excellent, as are lots of others.
Posted by: Nathan Whitehead at Oct 17, 2006 1:41:56 PM
