poll Which kind of SimCity 4 player are you?

[Lucario Boricua 7,048]

Been thinking over the years about all the ways the game can be enjoyed, so I thought to check the pulse of the community at Simtropolis.

Which playstyle(s) best represent you!?

Any I missed that's worth mentioning?
 

• The Newbies: almost everything is game's default content, frequently asking questions on how to do certain basic aspects of the game, feel an immense level of achievement and pride when their first skyscraper appears. Money cheats to balance almost every city's budget are a must!
   
• The Corrupt Mayors: in-game cheats or just plain neglect to silence every little ailment of their city are a way of life, they can't be bothered with providing public services or robust economic development because the mayor's city's revenue will falter. Oh! There's a lil' radiation in Timmy's school, nah, that's just nonsense made up by Camille Meadows...
   
• The Plopmatics: the control freaks who want everything to look perfect from the start. They lay out their city's transportation network from the start and preferentially, or exclusively, place each and all buildings and small landscape features directly. This as opposed to letting the buildings grow on their own, tearing the urban fabric to add infrastructure upgrades, and letting nature have its own game-like look. Can't let those pesky Maxis weeds grow in their zoned land!
   
• The DOT secretaries: they don't care that much about nature, urbanistic aesthetics or coherent cityscapes, they want to build their transportation networks to the fullest: intricate roads, railways, airports which are too big for their region, seaports able to move a continent's worth of merchandise in one city, and so on. Traffic jams and crashes are a plus.
   
• The Megabuilders: their specialty is creating grand infrastructure projects, especially those beyond transportation. Power plants, fuel refineries, dams and reservoirs, levees, large bridges, telecommunications, landmarks, mean machines, fancy industrial estates and/or university campuses are the protagonists of their cities. Someone call Discovery Channel to make a documentary of my magnificent engineering marvel!
   
• The Pioneers: they especially enjoy rustic scenes, either in the wilderness, farm areas, logging, mining, fishing and natural preserves. Anything more dense than an outer suburb or a countryside village is a no-go. They also enjoy telling stories of how a region's development starts with the brave settlers who had to make everything from scratch.
   
• The Pastoralists: players who don't necessarily want a story of how their wilderness becomes tamed by civilization, but rather enjoy keeping things simple with agriculture and villages. Big cities are scary.
   
• The Skyscraper Junkies: these people want their cities to be very dense, have tall towers everywhere and actually challenge the worlds' megalopolis cities. The perfect city must always have rapidly growing population numbers.
   
• Architectural/urbanistic purists: players who will manicure the grand urban spaces, with lots of monuments, vast parks, statues, very uniform architectural styles, and strategically placed landmarks, all with a sense of grandeur and a pinch of elitism. The perfect city looks like the capital of a grand empire with all the riches of the world at its disposal.
   
• The Dystopians: people who enjoy making scenes focusing on the ugly aspects of cities—pollution, poverty, congestion, waste, emergencies, industrial splendor. Grimy air and water are an indication of a job well-done.
   
• The Futurists: players who like to do futuristic sci-fi themes, with space-age architecture, infrastructure and economies. Their cities are otherworldly, extremely clean, technological and efficient, and (hopefully) have flying cars.
   
• The Historians: players who like to recreate historic themes in their regions, being up to the challenge of making functional cities that do not appear to have modern traffic, or the tedium of enforcing an architectural style from the old days. 
   
• The Fandom Fans: players who like to recreate the worlds of their favorite media franchises, novels movies, TV series, videogames, animation and/or comics. You might feel sad that your content doesn't get that much attention because all the fans aren't either into city simulators or your fellow city builders are into something else.
   
• The Storytellers: players who use SimCity 4 as a visual aid for a specific story or ambiance. Cities and landscapes made with the game are nothing but mere illustrations of that story idea they have on their head.
   
• The Suburbanites: players who like to make endless suburbs, shopping centers, open roads and are especially fond of flat terrains. Now get off mah lawn!
   
• The Entertainers: players who put a heavy emphasis on recreational, sports, cultural and touristy facilities--Sims should not be doomed to a depressing life of commuting, they must have more fun than the player when creating their world!
   
• The Ecotopians: players who especially enjoy celebrating nature with SimCity 4 content, and whose regions barely have sims or cites.
   
• The Content-makers: if they open SimCity 4, it's most likely to test the mod or building they just created, a few of them dedicate to this on an exclusive basis.
   
• Jack-of-all-trades: players who actually like variety and show a reasonably high level of mastery across multiple (and often disparate) play styles.
   
• National Simgraphic journalists: players who put an immense level of attention to detail to recreate life-like or actual scenes from real places around the world, scouring the depths of the Internet for the perfect content or beating the forges of BATmaking and lotting to make it into a reality. More often than not, their chosen scenes are a few city blocks or a standalone landmark, not the city at large.
   
• My playstyle isn't here!: players whose play style differ big time from those listed by the author and which cannot even be adequately described by taking aspects of some of those listed.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

I guess I'm mostly the type "Before I go back to playing, I would like to mod and re-lot these 5,987,633,728,869 items, and then... oh wait, I found something more to mod!".

At this point, "which kind of player" is a question I could only answer in theoretical terms. I'm having fun, though.

[thingfishs 417]

2 hours ago, T Wrecks said:

At this point, "which kind of player" is a question I could only answer in theoretical terms.

This made me laugh. I'm sure many here can relate (I know I sure can. I really look forward to my next chance to play, but know realistically, with what I'm taking on at the moment, that I'll be lucky to get there inside of 8 weeks at a guess.

2 hours ago, T Wrecks said:

I'm having fun, though.

Exactly

As for the list, obviously people can (and will) be a bit of many categories - and for me I guess I'm a bit of a content maker/pastoralist/suburbanist.

One thing missing perhaps are the opposite of The Plopmatics (those who never/rarely plop and are all about growing and the controlled chaos of the underlying game - definitely me). The Growers is all I can think of atm, pretty good, huh? I do know our theme song would be Que Sera...

[Ducio 285]

Fun list! Seems pretty extensive and captures a lot of different ways I enjoy SimCity. I am mostly a pioneer though... there's just something about starting a small settlement and seeing it grow into a metropolis! 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

In game I'm definitely from The Skyscraper Junkies. In these social distance times I decided to begin a new region and make cities in a more realistic way. Well... I couldn't resist and now they're all full of skyscraper and millions of inhabitants living stressed

I added the content maker in the second option though, probably 99% of the time I ran SC4 in the last 5 years was to test BATs.

[Bruno the Bear 48]

I would like to create several farm and forest communities connected to industrial areas then merging into suburbs and some commercial then into large cities with canals, highways, and ports.

[Vitoraju 675]

I like to spend time creating several kilometers of rural areas, and suburbs in between. And to give a nice contrast and more realism, I leave some urban sections more populous.

[Wiimeiser 452]

I'm not sure, I think I'm a mix of several.

 

Fandom Fans seem like they'd be small in number, given I can't find any crossover custom content for a franchise other than The Simpsons, Stargate, and Corner Gas... (Maybe MLP? But that one hardly counts...)

[Tarkus 6,933]

Obviously, being part of the NAM Team, and having just (mostly) gotten through a particularly grueling development cycle, I'm definitely in the "Content Creator" camp to some degree.  But when I'm actually playing the game, for real, I'm definitely a "Jack of All Trades".  Do I focus a lot on roadway infrastructure?  Yes.  But my road projects are actually determined by the traffic data I see in-game, not just for the heck of it.  And my types of cities tend to vary a bit . . . I tend to have a lot of smaller towns and suburbs, though will occasionally have denser pockets. 

I've actually never exceeded 1,000,000 population in a region before . . . it's never really been a goal for me.  My Chemeketa region in Tarkusian Cities, with 5x6 large city tiles, is very close to that mark . . . somewhere in the mid-900,000s--but hasn't gotten there yet.  Not in a huge rush to get there, either--my infrastructure projects coming to fruition are a bigger goal, though some of the development I've been planning in one corner of the city will probably push it there fairly soon.

-Tarkus

[Dgmc2013 912]

Funny list! I confess I'm the plopmatic, making all the roads, highways, train lines, subway system, etc. and then I became the Skyscraper Junkies filling the city with a lot of Skyscrapers

[Propfam 2,295]

5 hours ago, Dgmc2013 said:

Funny list! I confess I'm the plopmatic, making all the roads, highways, train lines, subway system, etc. and then I became the Skyscraper Junkies filling the city with a lot of Skyscrapers

Same. But, I took the approach in extreme level: why not fill the sky with the largest skyscrapers for their category? In one of my city, there are lots of the same R$$$ towers and Hutt Enterprise Towers. The reason behind this is solely on efficiency. I have only 1 medium city and I don't want to mess up with neighboring city much. So, I have to use the space efficiently and towers are the answer.

Thanks.

[tails2489 350]

Can you be a Jack-of-all-Trades even if you're not particularly good at any of those trades?? 

[Bruno the Bear 48]

Jack-of-Trades means that you are a little good at everything.

I am Jack-of-all trades.

[matias93 7,535]

For me, even if I haven't strived specifically for it, my main concern is with the background: a life-like geography before terraforming, a sound history rather than a compelling story, neighbourhoods that could have arisen by their own even if they don't look too beautiful or awe-inspiring. If I dedicate more time to the game, I'm sure I would end creating custom maps and terrain controllers more than anything else, but playing it's still more interesting than creating content, even if I don't know for how long...

[Naomi57 2,985]

That was fun!  

To my surprise, I'm the DOT Secretary first and foremost, love my transport infrastructure, and I know that stuff well enough to plan it out in advance.  I actually spend most of my game watching time in Traffic Volume data view.    Gotta say, NAM is still a learning curve for me, but I'm getting there!  Here's a journal of my NAM 36 learning curve journey, if you'd like to see my experiments.

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/758458-taking-NAM-for-my-very-first-test-drive-in-east-new-york/

My second one is Jill of all Trades, with a fair knowledge of many things, but not quite mastery in any of them, and long-long way to go in others.  I like variety, from variety in my city planning styles, to variety in the sorts of things I focus on from one month to the next, always new ideas for various kinds of experiments on the boil and bubble.

My next one isn't on the list, Vanilla Economist.  I like playing the vanilla economics of the game and making it work for me.  The balance within the simulation is really quite amazing, from investment return to tax management to demand to desirability to prosperity cycles to growth stages to employment and EQ and commute times, and I enjoy trying to decode and control the factors from outside the black box.  Occasional glimpses inside the black box are fun, too.  

My fourth is also not on the list, the Cartographer.  I like taking real-world maps, and building a SimCity which bears some vague resemblance to the original, even naming my schools and hospitals after the original place names.  I have SimCity 4 in one window and Google Satellite in the other.    This is similar to the Historian in some respects, but with a focus on geography rather than history.  I'm super impressed with some people's network maps and region maps ... mine really are little better than colour-coded mud maps.  Here's a few of mine, followed by some other Cartographer mayor's work products that are an inspiration to me!

Click on the pictures to zoom in and arrow around, or click on the links to see the pictures in their original posts ... 

Some of Naomi's Cartography (so far)  

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/71056-show-us-your-whole-city/?tab=comments#comment-1728203

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/35443-show-us-your-interchanges/?page=205&tab=comments#comment-1719854

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/758676-what-is-the-best-public-transportation-to-use-in-a-city/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-1725031

Other Mayor's Cartographic Posts   

@Takingyouthere's impressive cartographic tutorial ...

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/757925-how-to-create-a-high-quality-road-map-of-your-SC4-city-region/

@ByeByeBayou's transport map using similar techniques ...

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/757925-how-to-create-a-high-quality-road-map-of-your-SC4-city-region/?tab=comments#comment-1716077

Worsaw by @tomz16 ...

https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/29165-region-view/

... and of course, @korver's style is unmistakable!

Here's some pics of his recreating my home town.  So incredible, it actually feels like home.

https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/28711-sights-from-sydney-part-i/

https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/28713-sights-from-sydney-part-ii/

 

EDIT:  Looking at korver's and tomz16's styles, I guess there's overlap between the Cartographer and National Simgraphic journalists.

[carlosmarcelo 982]

I am a little bit of everything (or Jill of all Trades), but for the past 2 years I am dedicated (and having fun) being an eternal tester,  who is not content to just download a mod: he has an uncontrollable need to move some screws and see what happens. Then when it gets bad (em português: quando dá ruim), I run to Simtropolis to ask for help ... 

And I can also say that I am an opener for endless projects: I have an idea, I start doing it, I don’t finish it and I’m already starting 3 new ones ... 

[infamousjbe 593]

Didn't see one that fits exactly other than John-Of-All-Trads (my name Johnathan) lol....      with a focus on "Organic Growth Realism",,,   99% grown.

On 5/5/2020 at 5:24 AM, thingfishs said:

(those who never/rarely plop and are all about growing and the controlled chaos of the underlying game - definitely me). The Growers is all I can think 

Yea, that ^

[Naomi57 2,985]

3 hours ago, infamousjbe said:

Didn't see one that fits exactly other than John-Of-All-Trads (my name Johnathan) lol....      with a focus on "Organic Growth Realism",,,   99% grown.

I'm thinking perhaps you might fit under a new category, Jonathan, perhaps the Artist?  I remember you talking about "painting your cities".  Does that sound like a fit?  A sense of aesthetic, and realism, without the city actually being any real place you can find by Google Satellite?

[TheCrybKeeper 301]

My style is linear/grid/cloned districts and could be, dystopian or utopian. The choice of dystopian and no utopian is a bit off putting =D

[Terring 6,476]

My cities varies from small settlements to huge cities, but all of them are what you get if you mix MTP with SimMars

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

Plopmatic for sure!

[JojiTX 765]

Suburbanite and plopmatic. My cities, regions, road networks, everything, needs to look exactly how I want. And I shoot for realistic suburban sprawl and road networks, and flora. Obviously, you kind of have to avois plopping residential to avoid some bad side effects. But you can still get it to look a certain way. Everything else though... thoroughly planned and laid out.

[youngwii 74]

Though my exact play style is not listed in the poll, I have lately been building medium-dense cities with a grid pattern and lots of roundabouts. I also think I would like DOT Secretary, Skyscraper Junkie, and Suburbanite.

[Mr_Robotico 52]

I really love your descriptions of the diferent game styles, so hilarious. 

I love creating from quiet, tiny rural villages to vast skyscrapers jungles, so bit of a combination of pastoralist, suburbanite and skysraper junkie, so that the synthesis is Jack of all trades.

However, probably my main style is what @Naomi57 has remarked, "Vanilla Economist". I feel pretty confortable with the vanilla growth simulation experience and I don't mind "those pesky Maxis buildings" . One of the things I really like is starting in a vast empty region and developing it. The enjoyment is not in the goal, but in the journey itself.

 

I also remember those days of being a Newbie and using weaknesspays and you don't deserve it  cheats all the time. Who had known that low density areas don't need water? Why building a hospital and a school at every corner, even next to commercial zones? Well, economically those "cities" (not a single skyscraper) were a complete bankruptcy but the 200IQ was worth it, I suppose.

 

Then, I started to learn and definitively I became a corrupt mayor . I needed the extra money of the casino, prision and radioactive waste thingy so I filled the city with all that undesirable buildings (Poor Lil' Timmy). To top it all, I started working for Dr Vu for that extra shiny §... lots of fun in the dark side but now I am a respetable mayor... 

I think…

ohhh some nice UFOs…

a volcano would be a nice addition to that park next to the new skyscraper….

Now seriously, I'm not much of a "Destroyer of Worlds" . That could be a separated game style from Distopian.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

I don't know exactly. "Suburbanite" might describe me the best, but it's not all that I do. I'd describe my type as "One Region Fanatic". I've been working on a single region for years. I've written articles about the cities and towns and their history and when I play mostly what I do is watch these towns change and grow, or make subtle tweaks to them. I haven't started a brand new city in forever. I recently just divided one of my largest cities into "wards" and created a map that shows these wards. I also obsessively name every street. 

[Naomi57 2,985]

1 hour ago, MintberryCrunch said:

I also obsessively name every street.

I obsessively name every hospital, clinic, school and museum.  Sometimes I name my police stations, airports, universities and ferries, too.  

I'm weird about naming my streets, as I use street names to help point out small park plops that are otherwise easily missed.  My latest one named is "Flower Garden Lane".  I like the fact that the street names show up in Zone Data View.  Here's some other street names I've used recently, I'm sure you'll spot the theme!  

• Flower Garden Way
• Market Lane
• Playground Avenue
• Ranger Street
• Court Road
• Gazebo Avenue
• Community Road

1 hour ago, MintberryCrunch said:

I recently just divided one of my largest cities into "wards" and created a map that shows these wards.

I want to do a proper map of my large cities or region someday.

[vetram 221]

Well ,  for most of the playing ways i can surely feel a big NO  ....I think i am mostly with the side of The Entertainers  as i like to feel that my Sims love me ! ... which means that i am always trying my best in order to offer them a better quality life.. and i am always looking forward to achieve that ..also i would like to meet other Mayors that feel the same and see their cities...is that really possible?

[JojiTX 765]

On 6/5/2020 at 9:59 PM, MintberryCrunch said:

I also obsessively name every street.

Lol this is something I was about to do as well as name all of the neighborhoods I planned out once they start growing. Something about giving your city a real personality and making every section feel like a different subdivision is so engaging.

[monkeywater 910]

Efficiency+Aesthetics+megabuilder

[CCXXII 79]

Counting Streets and Avenues!