Video game:SimCity 3000

Originally published by Maxis and released in 1989, SimCity is a city-building simulation franchise created by legendary video game designer Will Wright.

In the SimCity games, players choose between a sandbox game or a scenario game. In sandbox games, players possess a blank map and can build a city from the ground up. While in sandbox mode, players have no predefined goals to meet. Instead, players are given starting money and the freedom to build a city in any way they wish. Depending on an individual's urban planning skills, players either watch their cities grow and prosper or wither and collapse as a result of their actions.

In scenario mode, the game provides players with a pre-existing city map and a goal to be completed within a particular time frame. Many of these scenarios are based on real cities and corresponding historical events. In one such scenario, players have to structurally and financially rebuild San Francisco after a major earthquake has devastated the city.

At its core, SimCity is an educational game that teaches players the basics of urban planning and design. Players utilize critical thinking and problem solving skills to manage the construction of residential, commercial, and industrial areas in order to find a balance between what a local populace wants and what a growing city needs to survive. In 2008, the original SimCity source code was released to the public under the GNU General Public Library (GPL). Renamed to Micropolis to protect the franchise's trademark, this free version was made available for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, a non-profit organization that distributes affordable educational devices to children in developing nations.

The success of SimCity inspired a new wave of simulation games, including Will Wright's own life simulation game The Sims. In SimCity 4, Maxis attempted to connect these two game franchises by giving players the ability to import their characters from The Sims into the city they created. Since its first release in 1989, SimCity spawned numerous sequels across multiple platforms. SimCity's success and learning potential has earned it a place in video game history.