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The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

viceland.com

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Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#11

Post by harshpotatoes »

The city reminds me of the Caves of Steel from Isaac Asimov. There are no roads in Magnasanti, only hyper efficient subways. The population density is extreme, nearly seven million people piled into such a small area, every building is like a sky scraper from Manhattan. And did anybody else notice how every building is a historical landmark? All utilities are shipped in from neighbors.

This city is precariously hanging on the edge of destruction. I feel something as simple as a Sim moving to a dinner on the other side of town could upset the careful balance of food supply, but yet the city is 'perfect'.

And that is exactly what the game creator wanted. :D

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#12

Post by jrp »

dotBen wrote: post #6

OT, perhaps, but I didn't like the subliminal messaging/subliminal effects in the video, which were totally unnecessary. Did anyone else notice them?

It didn't bother me. It reminds me of the "edgy" look in a lot of trailers for movies or video games. In particular I am thinking of Portal now, although I'm not sure if they used that exact thing.

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#13

Post by aharrison »

I am truly in awe.

It routinely amazes me the lengths to which many people go to in their chosen domain. Some people choose physics, or medicine. Some people choose Rubiks cubes, train sets, or Sim City.

I find it hard in my day to day life to decide I will work on something for three years to truly and utterly dominate it. Especially something such as Sim City. I would say that I wish this gentleman had worked on curing cancer, or rubinius, or financial modeling, but I am beginning to think that that level of passion is non-transferable, and not something that can be taught or imbued.

Of course, this guy is an architecture major, so maybe we will see that same level of skill, dedication, and attention to detail come out in the real world.

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#14

Post by thatoneguy »

dotBen wrote: post #9
gridspy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you were supposed to notice them.

do you not think it was a bit weird? BTW: I'm at a bit of a loss as to why my original comment got downvoted so much... would someone care to help me out with explaining what was wrong with what I wrote?

Subliminal messaging has largely proven to be a hoax and the downvoting is probably the result of a heavy aversion to pseudoscience most users on this site ostensibly possess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#15

Post by derefr »

harshpotatoes wrote: post #11

The city reminds me of the Caves of Steel from Isaac Asimov. There are no roads in Magnasanti, only hyper efficient subways. The population density is extreme, nearly seven million people piled into such a small area, every building is like a sky scraper from Manhattan. And did anybody else notice how every building is a historical landmark? All utilities are shipped in from neighbors. This city is precariously hangi…

The word is "decadence."

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#16

Post by erlanger »

nostromo wrote: post #5
jimmyjim wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain to those who've never played Sim City before what exactly it is that is so remarkable about the video?

He basically found a way to build a more populous city (presumably) than anyone else, ever. He also found a pattern that seems to keep the city crime-free and educated with full employment and no apparent pollution. This would take quite an investment of time without using any cheats. Obviously the video is pure melodrama though.

> and educated with full employment and no apparent pollution.

From the article: There are a lot of other problems in the city hidden under the illusion of order and greatness: Suffocating air pollution, high unemployment, no fire stations, schools, or hospitals, a regimented lifestyle - this is the price that these sims pay for living in the city with the highest population ... They have all been successfully dumbed down

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#17

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #5
jimmyjim wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain to those who've never played Sim City before what exactly it is that is so remarkable about the video?

He basically found a way to build a more populous city (presumably) than anyone else, ever. He also found a pattern that seems to keep the city crime-free and educated with full employment and no apparent pollution. This would take quite an investment of time without using any cheats. Obviously the video is pure melodrama though.

[deleted]

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#18

Post by Retric »

thatoneguy wrote: post #14
dotBen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you not think it was a bit weird? BTW: I'm at a bit of a loss as to why my original comment got downvoted so much... would someone care to help me out with explaining what was wrong with what I wrote?

Subliminal messaging has largely proven to be a hoax and the downvoting is probably the result of a heavy aversion to pseudoscience most users on this site ostensibly possess. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli

I don't think it's quite that clear cut.

I suspect that product placement in moves is both effective and somewhat subliminal. The real issue is the limits on effect. Flashing messages is not going to get someone to kill some dictator but:

"Subconscious stimuli by single words is well known to be modestly effective in changing human behavior or emotions. This is evident by a pictorial advertisement that portrays four different types of rum.rocks The phrase "U Buy" was embedded somewhere, backwards in the picture. A study was done to test the effectiveness of the alcohol ad. Before the study, participants were able to try to identify any hidden message in the ad, none found any. In the end, the study showed 80% of the subjects unconsciously perceived the backward message, meaning they showed a preference for that particular rum.[2]" (From your link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli)

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#19

Post by vollmond »

nostromo wrote: post #5
jimmyjim wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain to those who've never played Sim City before what exactly it is that is so remarkable about the video?

He basically found a way to build a more populous city (presumably) than anyone else, ever. He also found a pattern that seems to keep the city crime-free and educated with full employment and no apparent pollution. This would take quite an investment of time without using any cheats. Obviously the video is pure melodrama though.

Well, no. He has a perfectly stable, high-population city, but it has none of those things except crime-free status

"There are a lot of other problems in the city hidden under the illusion of order and greatness: Suffocating air pollution, high unemployment, no fire stations, schools, or hospitals, a regimented lifestyle - this is the price that these sims pay for living in the city with the highest population. It’s a sick and twisted goal to strive towards. The ironic thing about it is the sims in Magnasanti tolerate it. They don’t rebel, or cause revolutions and social chaos. No one considers challenging the system by physical means since a hyper-efficient police state keeps them in line. They have all been successfully dumbed down, sickened with poor health, enslaved and mind-controlled just enough to keep this system going for thousands of years. 50,000 years to be exact. They are all imprisoned in space and time."

edit: I knew I should have refreshed...

Re: The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat Sim City

#20

Post by PG-13 »

dotBen wrote: post #9
gridspy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you were supposed to notice them.

do you not think it was a bit weird? BTW: I'm at a bit of a loss as to why my original comment got downvoted so much... would someone care to help me out with explaining what was wrong with what I wrote?

You know what's wrong with what you wrote, which is why you edited without admitting to it like a coward.

You wrote some nonsense like "I have a gift for spotting subliminal messages", when it was totally obvious to everyone.

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