Top 5 reasons business success is easier in games

When I was younger, and still, my favourite genre of game is construction/simulation games. Mostly, the games that usually started with the name “Theme”, or ended with the name “Tycoon”. My all time favourite is Capitalism II, I think it is a very advanced business simulation game. I always though if I could complete Capitalism II, it would really help me in real life too. Now, whenever I play it, it is just too boring and easy.

So the question is, is this really true? Can a business game, or a simulation game actually simulate that situation well, and would it help you in the same situation in real life? This is a fascinating question, as I am sure there are less billionaires than there are people who have completed Capitalism II, as there are less real life hospital managers as there are people who have completed Theme Hospital.

In a way, we are talking about games, so obviously a game is a simplified version of real life. However, just last night I was playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, and I realised that the game is actually fairly realistic, with most features and problems presented in the game appearing in real life as well, and vice versa. For example, benches will get vandalised in the game if you don’t have enough security guards. People get hungry if there aren’t enough burger bars. And so on.

So why is it, that it is so much easier to be successful in a game than in real life? I have listed 10 reasons that I think are the top reasons why success is easier in a game.

5. Simplified Personal Relations – A large part of running a business is personal relations. Motivating staff, keeping them happy, customer relations. Most of these factors are missing from simulation games, usually if i pay staff enough, I don’t need to worry about them being unhappy.

4. Attitude – Just like casinos use chips so you have less sense of money, computer game money means less to people, so you can risk it more.

3. Capitalism – Notice how in each game you start off with enough capital to get you going? In real life this might not be the case. In capitalism you need capital to start a business. In games you usually have capital. In real life, you probably don’t have millions lying around to spend.

2. Easier to please customers – Building a good long term business is all about satisfying customers, giving them what they want. In a game, all that matters is that my “quality rating” has a reasonable price attached to it. It’s all about numbers. Real life might not be as simple.

1. Infinite tries – Yes, the most obvious reason is that you can have as many goes as possible. Just because you mess up the same level 20 times, does not mean you have a bad reputation. You can make it the 21st time. (note – I would argue however that persistence is a key reason for success in real life too.