Consumer and Societal Trends
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:46 am
Right now we have two forms of unpredictability to deal with in the game:
1. Economic cycles
2. Random events
I find the random events are not that impactful or just annoying in the case of fires. The economic cycles are great, but real world companies need to deal with an evolving marketplace that is subject to the whims of consumers among other things.
What if the game included some trends that would cause the demand for certain products to wax and wane over time? These trends could also impact cities, for which populations and product interest could shift over time.
For example, perhaps Low Carb diets become popular for several years and demand for bread, ice cream, etc. would dip meaningfully while demand for frozen meat products would benefit?
Another example would be a refugee crisis occurs and the population growth of a given city accelerates while the wage level in the city falls due to the supply of new workers without jobs?
Certain retail store types could fall in or out of favor as well (department stores are going the way of the dodo one year triggering a customer traffic penalty and perhaps a few years later they come back).
You could have some short-term trends that last for a few years and other "macro trends" that last for a long time (10, 15, or 20 years).
A macro trend could be global warming that reduces farm productivity for a long period of time. The impacts could be phased over time. An aging population could be another, which might increase demand for certain products at the expense of others (e.g., more drugs and fewer toys).
The supply of mineral, oil, and timber deposits could also be impacted by certain trends. E.g., discovery of fracking cuts the price of oil deposits drastically for a period of time. Alternatively, forest fires could wipe out timber resources, but one needs to be careful as timber is often insufficient in the game currently.
1. Economic cycles
2. Random events
I find the random events are not that impactful or just annoying in the case of fires. The economic cycles are great, but real world companies need to deal with an evolving marketplace that is subject to the whims of consumers among other things.
What if the game included some trends that would cause the demand for certain products to wax and wane over time? These trends could also impact cities, for which populations and product interest could shift over time.
For example, perhaps Low Carb diets become popular for several years and demand for bread, ice cream, etc. would dip meaningfully while demand for frozen meat products would benefit?
Another example would be a refugee crisis occurs and the population growth of a given city accelerates while the wage level in the city falls due to the supply of new workers without jobs?
Certain retail store types could fall in or out of favor as well (department stores are going the way of the dodo one year triggering a customer traffic penalty and perhaps a few years later they come back).
You could have some short-term trends that last for a few years and other "macro trends" that last for a long time (10, 15, or 20 years).
A macro trend could be global warming that reduces farm productivity for a long period of time. The impacts could be phased over time. An aging population could be another, which might increase demand for certain products at the expense of others (e.g., more drugs and fewer toys).
The supply of mineral, oil, and timber deposits could also be impacted by certain trends. E.g., discovery of fracking cuts the price of oil deposits drastically for a period of time. Alternatively, forest fires could wipe out timber resources, but one needs to be careful as timber is often insufficient in the game currently.