Playing God
I have a new addiction. Recently, I purchased a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and in it was the CD for Roller Coaster Tycoon. I have long ago lost my desire for sugary cereals, so I only bought the box for the game. It was a toss-up between Roller Coaster Tycoon and Battleship, to go along with the Jeopardy CD I received earlier.

In the game, you select a scenario, and given the conditions, you must complete a task (ie. have x number of guests in your park) by a certain time. So I am constantly adding rides, concession stands, paths, scenery and park staff in order to make my park a more enjoyable experience for my guests, and more profitable for me. But my job goes beyond engineer, personnel and marketing manager for the park, there is a heavy customer relations aspect to the job.

It is this customer relations aspect of the game that is perhaps the oddest aspect of it. With a click of the mouse, I can see a categorized list of what every single guest of my park is doing, and what they are thinking. This helps me to meet their concerns. In response to their comments, I hire extra cleaning staff, add more bathrooms, add more pathways etc. The oddest part is that while I'm watching people walk about my park, I can click on any person and view their profile. In their profile, I can see how much money they are carrying as well as a break down on how much they've spent in various areas of my park already. I can see their last few thoughts regarding my park. I can see how happy they are, how hungry and/or thirsty they are, how sick they are, how badly they need to go to the bathroom, and their preferred level of ride intensity. I can also pick them up and move them to any area of the park that I wish.

I only use those abilities for good, as of course using them for bad would lessen my chances of winning the game. Also, if I wanted to be malicious, I have other ways to do that. At any time, I can make changes that put people in serious jeopardy. I can delete sections of path, so people get lost, as my guests are too stupid to find their own way walking on the grass. I can remove active pathways over water, causing people to fall in the water and drown. I can speed up roller coasters so that they crash, and people die.

I'm just afraid that at some point one of the guests at my park are going to ask me what I want, which will cause everything to self-destruct. I am not a park manager, I am Big Brother.

   [ posted by William @ 1:19 PM ]