Share your SC4 Story

[pcwhiz24 1,187]

I haven't seen a thread like this, so I got the idea; 

 

Share with us the story of when you first discovered SC4 or SimCity in general. When did you start playing it for the first time or hear about it? Did you play SC growing up? How old where you when SC4 was released, etc.

 

Or when you discovered this site, Cities XL, just your history..

 

Here's what I mean.

I'll start with mine story (WARNING, very long with Lots of detail, please bear with me here)

 

I was 10 (5th grade) and on winter break (it was late 2006)  I was at a Boy's and Girl's club that I always went to after school, and since both my parents were at work, they had a special whole day program where I went to boy's and girl's club from 8 to like 4pm. One afternoon, I was in a science lab, and I saw one of my friends playing a game on the computer called "City." I saw him plopping down landmarks, playing the game. Feeling very intrigued, I felt like playing. I started playing the game by taking out a $250,000 loan and planting trees and highways, until I went bankrupt. Little did I know that game "City" was SimCity 3000! (It was 4 years before I found that out!)

 

At the time, I had a desktop my parents bought me (nearly a year old) with 1 GB of RAM and an AMD Athlon 2.20 Ghz CPU and ATI Radeon 200 integrated Graphics (128 Mb Memory). About 2 months after entering Middle School (6th grade) I read on google about this game called "Roller Coaster Tycoon 3." At the time, the other game I played like that was "Thrillville" for the PS2, but I wanted a game with less height limits, and to be able to build rides like Sheikra at Busch Gardens. I got the game, and then it was really fun (until it got laggy) and I noticed the lag, when I got on the rides, but I would wonder why it ran so slow, since I didn't even know what "lag" was at the time! Around late 2007, I felt an urge to buy that "City" game I saw at Boy's and Girl's club.

 

So me and my dad went to Best Buy and went to the computer games section and asked an assistant if there were any games about building cities and he (or she? don't remember) pointed me to a game called "SimCity Societes." I bought it and played it. (Don't judge! I didn't know anything about the game sucking! I was new to the whole thing) I took it home and upon choosing a map, all I saw was the ocean. I didn't know what was going on or why, until I went to options and set everything to "Low". Then, I saw land! I started building my city (unlimited mode btw) and I admit, it was pretty fun, although I wondered why I couldn't turn "shadows" on without it running all "Choppy" and such. I had quite a lot of fun playing the game though, (I was 12). But I realized it wasn't really like the game "City" I saw at Boy's and Girl's Club.

 

So I went back to Best Buy and asked a worker if there's any other games about building cities. She showed my SimCity Societes, but I told her I already had it, and then showed me another game, and that game, my friends, was SimCity 4! I bought it, took it home and played it. It was very interesting, the regions and such, but I couldn't build a city to save my life! I also spent some time looking for the "Free camera" setting that SimCity societies had, since I was so used to the free camera and didn't like "looking down" all the time in SC4. I gave up looking eventually but still kept playing the game, as it was very interesting. I followed the tutorial and then set off to build my first cities following those tutorials, and some were successful, and some were ridden by "no job zots." In the summer of 2008, I discovered I could use paint to make my own region and did so, which I named "Mega Cities" and had a good mix of large tiles, small and medium tiles, how I wanted it!

 

I hand made the region, going in/out of cities, terraforming and reconciling. Later, I expanded the region in paint, and terraformed more land. Then I built some really nice small tile cities, four in a row, and below, a large tile city I named "Woodland Metropolis." This city was built, and after reaching 500,000 pop, I thought, "I want this city to hit a million!" There were many economic setbacks, and at one point at around 600,000, there was no demand for anything! All demand in the negatives, I nearly gave up and moved on to build other cities in the region. I then returned to Woodland Metropolis and saw "some" demand for things. I overhauled the dirty industry, set their taxes to 20%, (and manufacturing too) until it was nothing but Hi-Tech. Finally, in early July, the city hit 1 million sims, and it was such a proud moment for me! (I was home alone since my parents were at work and I had a lot of free time on my hands. God I miss those days../:)

 

I took a break from the game for a while and asked Best buy for yet another city game (hopefully one in 3D!) and was pointed to a game deemed as "Civilization IV." I played it for a while, although I didn't really understand what went on too much, I still had fun with it. I played Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, as well (alternated between games a lot) and even bought the SimCity Box with SimCity Societes destinations. First month of 7th grade, I bought SimCity DS (the one where you build a city "though the ages") and REALLY enjoyed it, but could NEVER get to the future era, no matter what I did! (I gave up on that!). I also bought (on the same day, I think) City Life 2008. Boy was that game fun, and it was 3D! I loved roaming around the roads, and it looked something like SimCity. (I wished it had highways though)

 

<I turn 13>

 

 Then I heard of Cities XL, and I anticipated the release like crazy! (Q1 2009 was the first release before it was delayed). I played SC4 in the mean time, but it was getting kind of bland. I mean, I already "mastered" the game, so I lost some interest. I was on the search for new content or at least new buildings and stumbled on to SimCity.com (which wouldn't accept ANY usernames I registered with NO matter which one it was!) 

 

But then, in December 2009, I discovered this AMAZING site. I saw an "ocean" mod (learnt what "mod" meant) and installed it into the "plugins" folder (so THAT's what it's for!!) and was wowed when I saw the oceans change to dark blue! I registered and downloaded other mods (Peg's God mode, trees, highway lights, textures). And my interest in this game SKY rocke I would've stopped playing the game, since it was kind of repetitive without the mods, have I not discovered the site.

 

This kept my interest going, and in early January, I discovered NAM and "Rural Highway Mod 3.0." It was released in SC4 Dev. and when I clicked the link, it took me to this "LEX download page," But I couldn't find the Freaking download button, just a green ball! I was really mad about that, and felt I was missing out. In ST, all that was there was RHW 2.1, and was anxiously awaiting it to be updated. Finally, one night, (it was on January 30, 2009)  I came from the park, went to ST.com to "once" again check, and was ELATED when I saw RHW 3.0! I happily downloaded it and built my cities with the wide 4-5 lane highways. Disappointed with the many release delays of Cities XL, I kept playing SC4, then my mom bought a white sony vaio laptop in early May. I heard of the BETA key testing for Cities XL, and on June 6, Home alone, in the morning, I set out to look all day for code words. I almost gave up, but then I was scrolling down on the homepage of ST, a little phrase that caught my eye towards the bottom saying "Onomatopoeia is a code word" I quickly scrambled to write it down, tried to type the code in (misspelled it once) and Bang! It was a success! I spent the whole summer playing that game on my Mom's laptop (since my old desktop had it locked on "very low" settings). But still, it was such an honor to be playing Cities XL BETA at 1-2 FPS on High settings! It was amazing! 

I also did my first City journal here (Anyone here remember "Volcano City?") Which I cancelled due to low ratings. I will continue on my more recent journal once I have time again!

 

Anyways, fast forward to today, I still feel the occasional urge to play SimCity 4 every now and then (and Cities XL too!) I also bought SimCity 2013 but I got bored of it after a month. I actually thought the game looked really nice (loved seeing the cities come to life in the morning as people leave their "temporary" homes) then stopped playing it for 8 months, (HATED the really small maps) until just now. Now I just play it for "fun." You know, as a game not a real life simulator.
 

(Fun fact: I registered at Simtropolis as "GeniusXL" and changed it to pcwhiz24). I also released 3 SC4 mods, and 5 Cities XL Mods for Cities XL.

 

 

Oh and in case you're wondering, in May 2009, I finally discovered that the "City" game in Boys and Girls club I've been after was SimCity 3000! I downloaded it and played it (emulated it) the right way.

And I finally figured out that I needed to register to LEX to download stuff there, just the page never said anything, just a green button that did nothing at all! (huge face palm for me, as I was so clueless, scrolling up and down for 3 weeks wondering where that damn download button was!)

 

Anyways, that is my story. I'll happily share images of my childhood cities (Woodland Metropolis, Mega Cities Region) if you like.

 

Share with Simtropolis! What's your story?

[kristoferpetit 3]

SimCity 2000 was on my school computer, so me and friends use to play it at lunch when we were 10-13ish, soon got it on my home computer and became quite the expert. Then i discovered simcity 4 at a shop which has it on a computer to demo. I use to go to the shop just to play. then my birthday came along and i got Sim City4 from my mother. I have been an addict ever since. But only really discovered mods this year. some people are addicted to crack, I'm addicted to Sim City 4

[Kuewr665 40]

I've had an evident interest in cities since early childhood. My parents got me SimCity 4 Deluxe at around 2006. I kept getting into budget problems all the time since I played by getting the cities to look like how I envisioned them. I never used plugins until 2008, when I installed the Network Addon Mod and a few stations, as well as a budget reset lot.

[Turjan 1,048]

Errm... how do I say this. When the original SimCity was released, someone installed it on a computer at work. So I played the game quite extensively at night, after most people were gone. One day, I discovered that the best strategy was not to connect road stubs to each other. The game was dead to me, and that was it for the next decades.

 

I guess I can blame Cities in Motion for rekindling my interest in this kind of simulations. After spending much too much time with that game, I bought Simcity 4 in a sale. And then I came here...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I purchased a copy of SimCity 4 one day while browsing in a games section of a computer store.  This was about 2 months after the initial release.  Registered the game, got the first bug fix, and started playing.  As a result of a post in the old Maxis forum, found Simtropolis about a year later, purchased Rush Hour, got the EP 1 fix, and played some more.  When the BAT came out, downloaded it and the nightlights fix, LE, and started some BATs which are still around on the STEX.  I am against bauhaus architecture which anyone who sees my BATs will notice.  Been playing ever since with some breaks, but not many.

[ausa07 66]

My first SImCity experience was when I was 5 years old.  I guess I'll put it in a timeline for easier reading:

 

1996:  My dad bought me SimCity 2000 when it came out on PS1 back in 1996.  I used to play it for hours on end.  My parents told me I should become a civil engineer at this point (and in fact I did study it in uni... I blame SimCity for this!)

 

1998:  After playing SimCity 2000 for two years, I decided to write a letter to Maxis explaining to them some new content I would have liked to see if they ever came out with a new SimCity game.  Some of these included different road types, the addition of street lights to roads, the ability to add custom content to the game.  I never got a reply....  But no worries we got Simtropolis, the LEX, PLEX etc now!

 

2000:  Bought SimCity 3000 Unlimited.  Huge excitement here.  Better graphics, more content.  Couldn't get enough of it.  I also had a lot of time with BAT.  Sadly I no longer kept up with using the BAT in SC4...

 

2003 to present day:  Got SimCity 4, then SC4 Deluxe.  This by far is the best SC game ever created in my opinion.  10 years later and I'm still playing this game.  And finally got my dream wish of being able to mod the game to create realistic cities through custom content.  So even though Maxis never answered my letter that I sent them 15 years ago I still got a game that I have always wanted.

 

Nowadays I hardly think of SimCity as a game.  I think of it more as a hobby.  You know those train set models you can find in hobby stores?  I used to do things like that.  Now I can do that... but in a simulation... It's a dream come true 

 

I could have went into much more detail but I didn't want to bore any of you 

[Huston 5,799]

My dad had bought me SimCity 3000 unlimited at first, and had been intrigued so much by the game. About a year or 2 prior to buying it, I got SC4. At first, I was noobing through the game, I kept borrowing ridiculous sums like 2 Million simoleons haha. Now I'm not so much a player, as I am a City Journaler. I find it much more interesting to create scenes rather than cities themselves but on some occasions, I do revisit or remake naturally grown cities

[airman15 4,113]

Being honest, Simcity 4 is the only Simcity Game I've really played. It is my all time favorite, even rivaling other games from my library such as Flight Simulator 2004/X and Command & Conquer Generals. 

 

c. 2003- I first saw the game while at a cousin's house, I was eight years old at the time. I was intrigued by the gameplay and even more so when I saw the U-Drive-It feature (since he had Rush Hour as well). I would as questions about the game and learn how to play and I would beg for hours on end just to have my hands on it.

 

2004- Right after I finished the 4th grade, I was given a copy as a reward. I was happy as a clam but my first cities always went bankrupt (and this is when I met with the 'You've been kicked out of office' popup.

 

2005 to 2009- Experimenting with different methods of city building, using nothing but Maxis content. Also tried creating custom maps but most of them ended up being hideous islands in the middle of the ocean (because of manual terraforming). I tried to sign on to Simcity.com but I accidentally deleted the confirmation email (still feeling like an idiot over that).

 

2010 to present- I learn about mods and this is when I stumble across Simtropolis. I instantly fall in love with the files posted here and I am even inspired to create my own files. It was right then and there that I created my account (under the name davisstevens) and not long afterwards, I made my first file when I was 14 and it is still available for download.

 

And that's about all there is to my story with Simcity 4. I have been playing this game for nine years and it somewhat inspired my decision to go into Drafting/Engineering Support. In fact, it is the major I am going for in college.

[Terring 6,476]

I remember myself building cities on my bed, by using Lego, empty boxes and MicroMachines. It seems that I've always had the interest of constructing cities. Somewhere in 1999 I bought Simcity 3000. Plenty of hours of playing. I've even did truancy to play more Simcity. I'll be honest. I've learn way more and valuable lessons from Carl Sagan and Simcity 3000 than from school. I'm not kidding. Then in 2000 I bought Simcity 3000 World Edition. At last I could build future cities, by making my own futuristic buildings. I bought Simcity 4 in 2005, but because of my studies I couldn't played. In fact, I begun playing Simcity 4 in 2008. The rest are not so interesting...

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Well, it all started for me in around 2003, shortly after the game’s release. I requested to visit a local computer electronics shop (think it was PC World). After looking around, over in the games section, SimCity 4 caught my attention. I’d previously been into simulations such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator (2000 & 2002), and also played Roller Coaster Tycoon (1 & 2) as well as Monopoly Tycoon. Based on real-life situations, these games all had something in common. But until then, I’d never played any of the previous SimCity’s. So there was SC4, with the tagline “Build and run your own city”. Immediately it sounded interesting, and in the end it was a deal.

 

My initial impressions of the game were mainly positive. The first thing I did was follow the tutorials in the Maxisland region. I thought this would be a good starting point, and found it quite straightforward, completing them quickly. But then, at last I decided to have a go myself. At the end of the last tutorial, I clicked the option to continue building. So I played around with the menus, and ended up creating a small town. Looking good, this game is great! Until I thought, hmm I wonder what this does…
 
20 seconds later I learnt the hard way:
Busy Wiping Out City.
 
Oh dear, my city has gone! I wouldn’t be trying that again in a hurry.
 
Back then, the PC I used was fairly basic, and couldn't run many graphic-intensive games. So I found myself quite limited in terms of building large cities. Even without any plugins, the lag was almost unbearable. But I continued to enjoy the game, and make the most of what was possible.
 
A few months later I visited the PC shop again, and noticed an expansion had been brought out. And that’s how I acquired Rush Hour, and also the Prima strategy guide (carefully perched on a stall next to the game). This definitely made things more interesting, and I liked the new U-Drive it mode. The guide was also very beneficial. Although there are some inaccuracies, it greatly helped my knowledge of the terms and technical stuff. I started to plan out my cities more, making gameplay a lot more interesting and rewarding. For the occasional reference, even today the guide still comes in handy. Though at first I must admit, page 350 (cheats) was sadly the most accessed!
 
From then on, I played the game on and off for a few years. It’s quite remarkable that I never installed any of the published patches. The thing is, since it was a shared family computer, I rarely had time to freely access the internet. Being on dial-up was very restrictive. As a result, I wasn’t aware that the patches existed! After this, my interest in the game began to fade. After seeing it in a bargain bin, I even tried my hand at SC3000. But somehow never got into it, and found the random disasters and general feel of the game rather frustrating.
 
The first taste of the SimCity community was via the official website, in around 2008-9. I browsed the community lot exchange (and additional Maxis landmarks), and downloaded what I thought was great stuff. But it’d be nothing compared to what I discovered a few months later. I found Simtropolis from a link in an item on the official site. So I registered an account, finally installed the patches, and started on a mass downloading spree. But with studies getting in the way, I never really had the time to organise the downloads, and actually play properly.
 
It was only until last year that I decided to finally get back to the game. Having got a new laptop, I wanted to start from scratch. This led to me creating a new Simtropolis account, and the decision to be more involved in the community, especially in the forums. Here I’ve learnt a lot of things about the game, especially the more technical aspects and customisation. From past experience, I’ve also learnt to be more selective in downloading things, and creating a better system of organisation. Without Simtropolis, I don’t think I’d be interested in a game that’s now past its 10th birthday.
 
It’s led me to realise:
"SimCity 4 is not just a game, but a tool that's driven by your own imagination and creativity."

 

 

P.S. Nice thread idea by the way.

[infamousjbe 593]

My SC adventures started with the original SC on Nintendo. Couldn't tell you how many 'allnighters' I've spent building cities. Was absolutely addicted to it. 

 

The worst was, after spending all night building a city I would sometimes pass out during only to wake up hours later to more than half the city being burnt down.. lol... not so funny back then. It was extremely frustrating and would throw a fit for a while. At least till I calmed down and commenced to rebuild.

 

From there, I've played every console version but not as extensively as the first one. Not even SC4 upon release brought me back to the series.

 

It wasn't till Deluxe being released that spawned my interest in SC again. When I found out you can actually drive through the cities you've built, I had to have it. Unfortunately I was under the impression it was going to be like the original PC GTA game as a First Person Driver, only to be disappointed it was more like an overhead version like the Dreamcast GTA game. Not quite as fun as it would have been in a FPD

 

However, it was still a SC game an played regardless of the Rush Hour being a bust. 

 

It wasn't but a few days after installing SC4D that I came upon ST. Still remember my first custom content was the very first version of  the RTMT. Not having the stupid bus stops taking up room was ingenious!

 

Unfortunately I didn't really know what I was doing with mods and broke my city. Without knowing how to fix it, or even the patience to find out how, this frustrated me right out of playing SC4 anymore (around '04ish). 

 

It wasn't till about 4 months ago when I dug my copy of SC4 out of the donation bin (which was going out the door the very next day) because the release of SC2013 reminded me about the series. I really only wanted to know if it still ran on today's machines. With a wide eye excitement, it still ran like a champ (or as best it can on my cheap laptop).

 

Then this realization brought me back to ST and was absolutely BLOWN away at how active the community still was and all the content that's been created. If it wasn't for the community, I probably wouldn't be as interested in SC4 quite as much as I've become. The vanilla game was only so good, but now it's a whole nother beast that doesn't resemble the vanilla in anyway. I'd probably get disenchanted with the vanilla if it wasn't for custom content now a days. 

 

Even months later I'm still finding content that opens up the game more than I've ever imagined. I've even started to dabble behind the scenes with mods to further mold the game to my specific likes and wants. No other game I've ever played had as much content available or even the ability to mod pretty much anything to ones own suite.

[cromabianca 158]

It was 2003, I got my first laptop so... of course I started playing games on it!!

Started with 3000 Unlimited (bought in a store at a discount price) and then bought SC4 and the Expansion pack, as soon as both came out. 10 years later I'm playing the very same discs!!!!

But it wasn't always playing. I had a loooong hiatus. Until last January or so, when I bumped in a "let's play" on YouTube. Wanna know what got me back? It was The music!! As soon as I heard it, emotions shook me! It was like when you love a woman so intensely and then for some reason you both go separate ways... And then, one day, you meet her by accident on a street... I know I'm getting a little pulled away, but you got the idea! Now we're happily married and (greatly thanks to the stex, the lex, the plex, you guys) it's still love at first sight... And sleepless nights! Viva Simcity!!!!!

Great topic, by the way!!

[Prophet42 1,503]

I started with SimCity 2000 back in 1995 (I think).  I'm not sure how I found out about it, but once I had it I was hooked.  At the time I was also playing Doom (and Doom 2 when it came out).  I kept coming back to SC2K.  I just couldn't get enough of it. 

 

When SimCity 3000 came out I was estactic.  I pretty much stopped playing any other game and focused on SimCity 3000.  Of course I upgraded to SimCity 3000 Unlimited when it came out.  At the time, Wren Werburg's SC3K site was the place to be.  I won four 'City of the Month' awards with my cities that I posted.  I even wrote an artical on the 'Great Depression' that seemed to happen to every city I played on SC3K.

 

When SimCity 4 came out I actually did not get it right away.  I had recently just got married and we were trying to pay off some debt.  When SimCity 4 Deluxe came out I did go out and purchase it.  However, first I had to buy a new computer that could run it.  That was part of the delay.  I instantly fell in love with it.  Shortly after I discovered the Simtropolis web site.  It was a God-send.  With the custom content and the modds, SC4 has remained alive and fresh.  It is still basically the only game I play.

 

I was excited to hear that SimCity 5 was coming out.  However, the more I read about it with the online requirement and not being able to save cities locally, I decided to hold off buying it.  It looks like that was a smart decision.  With a diasasterous launch, small maps, online requirement and not being able to save locally, I will be sticking with SC4 for a while longer (probably a lot longer).

[Superbacon 380]

It was an absurdly early Christmas morning in 1996. I was 6 at the time. I opened one of the gifts to see some snazzy looking box art with a big UFO on it and a city in the background. Ah, SimCity 2000. I had never heard of it before. My dad began telling me I could build whole cities of my very own. By noon I was playing non-stop. That was the day I became hooked on simulation games and became a fan of the franchise. It was also the day I became a PC gamer. 

In 2000 I got SC3000. I was very excited. I made some very impressive cities. The kind that had a downtown with tall office towers, with gradually declining density and eventually huge mansion properties toward the edge of the map. It was perfect. Then in 2004 I got SC4. Aaand I still play.

[VicRusty 74]

Mmm... i don't remember the year. But at home first We had a 386 computer and then a 486.

My uncle always gave us the programs and the games.

One day He gave us the disketts to install SimCity. I really liked to construct cities and see floods and tornados destroing it.

 

Then arrived SC2000 and SC3000 and finally I stoped to play. I completely forget about the games for too many reasons. I started to work and travel as much I can.

 

One day in 2008 or 09 I broked my left elbow. I couldn't work and I started to feel really really bored. I came back to my hometown and visiting my father house I seen the SC4 game. I tought It could be a great idea play the game to remember when I was a child. I installed but soon I get bored for the repetitive buildings, etc.. But OH! I found sites like simtropolis and the game became very adictive.

 

I really spent too much hours playing. Sometimes i think It could have been better to not take the game at my father house.

[The Pennsylvania Turnpike 252]

Being 3 when SimCity 4 was released, i did not play it. Around that time i was playing games like Need for Speed. I did however get SC4 when i was 7. I hated it because i couldn't plop skyscrapers and i couldn't zone apartments. I came back when i was 10 and found out how to play the game, mainly due to Simtropolis. I soon built a city with over 800,000 people uniquely named "Metropolis". At age 11 i could easily build cities with over 100,000 people. And my cities consisted of no cheats. This was also around the time i started downloading mods from Simtropolis. I'm almost 14 and i still play this game. I connect my laptop to my TV via a HDMI cable and play it on my HDTV! I'm surprised that this game did not sell well when it was released, it has for many people including me, turned from a video game, to a Hobby or in some cases, a lifestyle.

[natethegreatforlife 3]

I was really interested in cities and such when I was younger. I would always draw city skylines and maps. I was with my babysitter at Walmart in 2004 or 2005 (I was 5 or 6), and we happened to be in the games section. There, I discovered Simcity. There were two games; Simcity 3000 and Simcity 4. I read the box, and I was amazed and over-excited. She decided to get me Simcity 3000 since it was really cheap, and I absolutely loved it. I remember being intrigued by all the landmarks that I've always wanted to visit, like the Empire State Building, CN Tower, etc. I would make my cities full of these buildings. When I told my parents about how much I loved that game, my dad pulled out his old Simcity 2000 and installed it on our laptop. We built a city together named Linesville, which was the closest city to our cabin and he loved that town in real life (he still does to this day). I remember the first moment I saw cars on the roads, and how excited I was to know that the city was growing. Eventually, I was screwing around with the disasters, flooding it, burning it, and putting tornadoes through the city center, thus destroying the city. It was still fun. I continued to play, and I vividly remember trying to build my hometown. I ended up putting a volcano in a neighboring suburb and a meltdown destroyed the city. For my 7th birthday, I wanted Simcity 4. I remember ignoring my friend who was over that day to play it. My first city was a plot in the Timbuktu region. I didn't know how to switch regions for a few months, so I was stuck on that region until I discovered how to make new ones. I couldn't build big cities at all. I think the biggest city I built was a city with like 20,000 people. Over the years, my dad showed me how to install mods from this website. I fell in love with the game for a second time. There was something special about adding a McDonald's and supertall skyscrapers to my city. In 2012, I had built my first real city. I called it Firstenburg, and it had over 150,000 people only covering half of the medium-sized plot. I was proud of that place. The income was over $10,000 higher than that of the expenses, and it had several mods which made the city seem more alive. I revitalized a neighborhood that was becoming abandoned into a huge park, with monuments and forests. Sadly, later that year that computer broke. I couldn't use that disc to install the game, as it was very scratched and over 6 years old, so I lost interest in the game until February 2013. I was very excited for the new Simcity, so I decided to order a copy of Simcity 4 off of Amazon. I stopped playing it when the new Simcity released, but I came back to it because I got more and more bored as the days went on. And now, here I find myself still playing Simcity 4 after nearly 8 years. I grew up with this franchise, and I've never gotten bored with it. It's my second favorite gaming series of all time, behind Grand Theft Auto, which has just as much sentimental and replay value. I <3 SC

[Sims21 2]

It started when I was younger, I use to have these cereal boxes as buildings on the table, and I use to draw streets, freeways, traffic lights, road signs, and anything and everything that a city has.  But also a SimCity is a reality in life also, it's how all these homes and streets that we have in the real world.  I look on Google Maps on satellite view and everything there shows like it's SimCity, with the homes, trees, streets, buildings, and a lot more.  We can take control as us being a Mayor also by the taxes on the RCI, zoning the areas, having the education, health, and safety for our Sims, listening on to what on Sims want.  All of this is basically in reality also.  Even though I may not be a president, governor, or a city mayor in real life, but it's a good game to be in a place of taking responsibility and just create. 

[CGMozart118 14]

Started with Legos, on a plywood board mounted on casters under the bed, then Simcity 2000 for Christmas because my mom thought I'd go get "violent" videogames instead if left to my own devices (in her defense, I did just that - Doom & Starcraft, mostly). bought Simcity 3000 the day it came out, loved it, outgrew it. A friend of mine got Simcity 4 when it came out and I saw him playing it. It brought back great memories, so I got the Deluxe version when I finally had a computer that would run it, back when I knew I would never use all 20GB of hard drive space!!

Problem was, I was in 7th grade, and had no real concept of funding buildings, taxes, economies of scale (higher density lets fewer schools service more people, for example), NIMBY/YIMBY, or transit networks, and we had dialup internet, soooo no custom content for me! Fast forward to 2009, in college, and I found the discs gathering dust under my bed. For fun I popped it in, and not being an idiot on taxes (funny enough, 1% across the board won't fund your city in Year 1!) and have been playing it on and off again (mostly on again) since then - especially after I discovered the NAM. But Simcity 2013? No thanks, I'll pass!

[airman15 4,113]

Oh, I forgot to add to my history: I have Simcity Societies.

When I first saw the label and the 3D graphics I was excited. But after I installed it and saw how different the gameplay was, I was so disappointed. A very laggy frame rate, having to build everything one by one, a confusing menu layout (I couldn't even find a hospital, all my sims ended up becoming immune to all diseases) were some of the things that really made me mad. I still have the disks but I have them stored in the depths of a CD binder.