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God games are generally large-scale strategic fantastic simulations, sometimes of entire worlds and populations, that cast you in the position of an entity with divine or supernatural powers. God games are characterised by that:
- Actions taken by the player tend to be optional interventions into the system of the game world, for instance in the form of miracles or invoking calamities, rather than being a necessity for its continual progression.
- The game world is relatively self-sustaining and persistent.
- As a/the god, the player can affect the world and influence his subjects but not directly control them: i.e. there is a minimum of "click-select-order" gameplay unlike in other strategy games.
God games
God games designates computer games in which the character play a godlike entity that controls entire worlds; Populous (1989) is generally credited as the original prototype of the genre.
God games, by their nature, come in a wide variety, from abstract or mathematic simulators to creative or conventional games. In most god games the game is observed from an aloft, elevated perspective, however Little Computer People was viewed from the side. Many popular god games, like Bullfrog's Populous and Lionhead's Black & White are games of territorial domination while others, like SimEarth, are not. In some notable games, like Little Computer People and The Sims you are the controller of only one or some very few simulated individuals, providing for and guiding their lives, while in Black & White you guide a nation of up to thousands.
A possible source for the name "god game" is the novel The Magus by John Fowles ("The God Game" is the subtitle of that text), though it can also simply be a derivative of that in these games you play a god.
In many God Games, the player does not win or lose per se, but is challenged to attain and maintain a level of success and with the absence of goals or objectives the player often experiences a greater deal of freedom in such games than other genres. At the same time, there have been assertions that any "game" without win and loss conditions should not be considered a game by definition. Possibly the most famous of these was made by Will Wright, who prefers to call his creations software toys rather than games. Good examples of such god games are, again, Little Computer People and The Sims.
The genre has drawn the interest of some of the best-known game designers in the world, often propelling them to prominence; one example is Peter Molyneux, the creator of the aforementioned Populous.
Genres commonly confused with God games
Commonly confused with god games are city-building games, like SimCity, and economic simulations, like Railroad Tycoon and other Tycoon games.
The SimCity games in particular are often called god games, a likely reason being that you have access to initiating catastrophies like typhoons on your city. However, unlike in god games, these catastrophies — which can and do occur "naturally" in the game — are not integral to the gameplay and in fact not really of "your" doing but rather a feature left in for testing the robustness of your city or simply for purposes of amusement, sadism or megalomania.
Economic simulators and tycoon games are less often, but recurringly, confused with god games probably due to superficial similarities in how the game world is normally represented. In fact, these games are more similar to city-building games than god games.
Playing god games
The most interesting aspect of god games lies in how they are played. Unlike normal strategy games you do not directly control the simulated inhabitants ("sims") of the game world, nor do you leaf through screens to set policies or zone terrain like in city-building games. In Black & White, renown for its innovative and experimental user interface, you interact with the world either through the "Hand of God", by which you can move or form the world, or even grab sims (generally a frightening experience for them), performing physical miracles that might earn you worship in early stages of the game, or you can use the mana earned from worship to perform miracles by gesturing arcane signs. TheSims, on the other hand has a more conventional interface where you direct your sims' desires through HUD icons. In Populous you directed the sims by placing "papal magnets", which attracted them, as well as by offering revelations to selected subjects making them prophets and instruments of your will.
Examples of god games
City, Nation, World Level
- ActRaiser by Tomoyashi Miyazaki, published by Enix for SNES (1990)
- Black and White by Peter Molyneux, Ron Millar et al at Lionhead and distributed by Electronic Arts (2001)
- Evolution by Crossover Technologies, a simulation of species evolution
- Populous by Peter Molyneux at Bullfrog for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST (and later for other systems) (1989)
- SimAnt, where the player controls an ant colony in a suburban backyard (1991)
- SimEarth by Will Wright, published by Maxis for many systems (1990)
- SimLife, where the player controls the evolution of creatures (1992)
- Spore, where the user guides a species from cellular to galactic level (2007)
- Utopia by Don Daglow, published by Mattel for Intellivision (1982)
- The Sandbox of God by Mr. Chubigans, published by Vertigo Games
Individual Level
- Alter Ego by Peter J. Favaro, published by Activision for Apple II, PC and Commodore 64 (1986)
- Little Computer People by David Crane, published by Activision for Apple II and Commodore 64 (1985)
- The Sims by Will Wright, published by Electronic Arts for the PC (2000)
- The Sims 2.
See also
External links
"God game"