Sharpen Strategic Skills
Ludopolis has several layers where strategic skills can be used — diplomacy between players, city planning, immigration patterns, and trade systems — as well as the interactions between these layers. Ludopolis was designed from the ground up to be a arena for exercising strategies, and to have sufficient complexity that the more players and students learn, the more strategies become apparent.
To develop our strategic skills, we need situations where we can exercise them. Strategic games, such as Ludopolis, are good tools for this exercise since there is more latitude for experimentation and virtually no consequences for failed experiments. However, whereas some strategic skills are generic and can be developed in many contexts, other strategic skills need to be developed in their specific contexts. For example:
To develop our strategic skills, we need situations where we can exercise them. Strategic games, such as Ludopolis, are good tools for this exercise since there is more latitude for experimentation and virtually no consequences for failed experiments. However, whereas some strategic skills are generic and can be developed in many contexts, other strategic skills need to be developed in their specific contexts. For example:
- Ludopolis will not make you a better chess player
- Ludopolis is limited in the amount it can teach you about cities and economies, since these are only themes used in Ludopolis (to make the acquisition of general strategic skills more fun and intuitive) and not realistic simulations. Ludopolis might still help an economist develop new insights about basic issues, since Ludopolis economics are purely about supply and demand and commodity arbitrage with issues such as currency stripped away.