Yeah, success in this type of game is definitely about channeling a very specific set of power fantasies, delivered along with all those addictive brain reward feedback loop game mechanisms.
You're totally right about the limited potential for enjoy-ability of realistic forces in city/system simulation games. After all, the best examples of these games usually simplify. Like, the old SimCity games focus just on the zoning mixed with some taxes. Or, the Anno games depict colonization of (unsettled - haha) land mixed with maintenance of trade routes to reward the player with 'growth'.
The article however does deliver a pretty good idea of how one could go about depicting the specific area of interest studied by the author - medieval farming and village planning. I think all of us can easily imagine a very enjoyable game there.
The question of balance is interesting, and IMO highly dependent on how strong and original the selected set of core mechanics is. The better they are, the less of this 'fantastical satiation' aspect is needed to cover them up. But what is most interesting to me is the question of what should mechanics in such games themselves actually depict? Like, to actually be worth spending time playing?
You're totally right about the limited potential for enjoy-ability of realistic forces in city/system simulation games. After all, the best examples of these games usually simplify. Like, the old SimCity games focus just on the zoning mixed with some taxes. Or, the Anno games depict colonization of (unsettled - haha) land mixed with maintenance of trade routes to reward the player with 'growth'.
The article however does deliver a pretty good idea of how one could go about depicting the specific area of interest studied by the author - medieval farming and village planning. I think all of us can easily imagine a very enjoyable game there.
The question of balance is interesting, and IMO highly dependent on how strong and original the selected set of core mechanics is. The better they are, the less of this 'fantastical satiation' aspect is needed to cover them up. But what is most interesting to me is the question of what should mechanics in such games themselves actually depict? Like, to actually be worth spending time playing?