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Capitalism (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Capitalism is a business simulation computer game first published in 1995 by Interactive Magic
, developed by Enlight
for the Macintosh
and MS-DOS
and designed by Trevor Chan
. Other similar business simulation games include Industry Giant
, Entrepreneur and The Corporate Machine
. Capitalism may be the first successful business simulation game.
The aim of Capitalism is to become the most profitable business in the world while competing in several different markets against a number of different corporations. The player must run a business as the chief executive officer
while preventing the business from going bankrupt or being bought out by a competitor.
A more advanced version was developed and released as Capitalism Plus on January 1, 1996, featuring world maps, more products and enhanced management capabilities which was published by Brøderbund
. A sequel was released entitled Capitalism II
in 2001.
. Each store can be stocked with up to four different items. As a real world model it is necessary to take into account land cost, overhead, demand for the products, and competition. The player can build several types of firms including department store
s, factories
, research and development
centers, farm
s, mine
s, oil well
s and also logging camps
.
The most common business model
to pursue in Capitalism is retail
by running a chain of department stores. However, the player can venture into any market segment they want including manufacturing
, which includes another set of considerations such as suppliers and raw material
shortages. Manufacturing begins with building a factory
and planning the internal operation layout of the structure. Purchasing, manufacturing, sales and advertising can all be used in factories. The most profitable strategy is to ultimately build a vertically integrated enterprise
by the player 1) operating the farm
s and mine
s which make the raw materials, 2) which are then purchased by the player's factories, which in turn produce branded goods that are 3) sold in the player's department stores.
The player can also choose to run research and development
(R&D) operations as either their sole business or alongside running other operations such as department stores and factories. R&D ultimately improves the player's product quality by increasing technology gain. R&D for any product can last from 6 months to 10 years in the game, with the technology gain being higher when the R&D duration is increased. New products can also be produced using R&D.
Interestingly, farming is the most financially rewarding business model in Capitalism, usually creating millions of dollars in annual profit
. On a farm, the player grows crops
and raises livestock
; a farm can produce both meat
and other products such as wheat
and barley
. These can then be sold within the business to department stores or outside to competitors.
Capitalism includes seventeen scenario
s with pre-made situations and businesses and a certain goal. The scenarios are generally more difficult to succeed in that competitors often have the starting advantage. Each scenario has a different goal and different environment and competitor situation. For example, the Alternative Challenge scenario restricts the market
to two cities while in "D" for Diversification the player must manage a profitable broad-based corporation and manage a large number of firms at the same time.
Some of the scenarios require the player to dominate a particular market in terms of market share
. For example, Food Dominance sets a goal of dominating the food industry
within 50 years while earning an annual operating profit of no less than $20 million. In Fortress of the Beverage King the player must dethrone the Beverage King 'James Zandman' as the dominator of the beverage industry within 50 years.
Most scenario games disable the stock market
option in an attempt to make the player focus on completing the scenario goals. The initial capital given in each scenario depends on the difficulty of the goals set. Each time a player successfully completes a scenario within the time limit set and with all goals reached, they will receive a bonus score and be added to the 'Hall of Fame' list.
Another feature of Capitalism is the layout plan library, which can store layout plans for all types of buildings available in the game. It enables the player to save previously used layout plans into a library as a record and then apply them to buildings to save time rather than creating new layout plans. Layout plans can be replaced, added, deleted or sorted.
A more advanced version of the original Capitalism was developed and released as Capitalism Plus on Jan 1, 1996 and published by Brøderbund
for Windows 95
only. It added world maps, more products and enhanced management capabilities to the game in addition to improved SVGA graphics, more markets to dominate and random events including riots, disease and technology breakthroughs. With Capitalism Plus, a map and scenario editor program was also added enabling players to configure products, industries, goals and other items. Capitalism Plus is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista .
as "...the most realistic, detailed business sim on the market today, and one of the best economic games of all time". Capitalism also made appearances on The Discovery Channel and CNBC-TV Cable
.
In 1996, Harvard University
and Stanford University
began using Capitalism for educational purposes. Professor Tom Kosnik said, "Capitalism is a world-class, hands-on learning experience I've used at Stanford School of Engineering and Harvard Business School. Gamers not only learn the subtleties of growing an entrepreneurial business but also learn about leadership and team building necessary in any business situation."
On October 21, 1996, BusinessWeek
reviewed Capitalism, saying:
In the year 2000, Computer Gaming World
named Capitalism among the fifteen most difficult games ever, saying: "[Capitalism is] so complicated it should come with a free MBA in every box." The magazine has also praised the game as highly enjoyable and addictive.
Interactive Magic
Interactive Magic was a developer and publisher of simulation computer games during the 1990s which was founded by MicroProse co-founder Bill Stealey in 1995 after the buyout of MicroProse by Spectrum Holobyte...
, developed by Enlight
Enlight
Enlight Software is a publisher and developer of interactive entertainment. The company was founded by Trevor Chan in 1993, and their first project was the economic strategy game Capitalism, which was published by Interactive Magic in 1995. In 1997, they released Capitalism Plus and the real-time...
for the Macintosh
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
and MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and designed by Trevor Chan
Trevor Chan
Trevor Chan is a game designer and CEO of Enlight. He has designed strategy video games such as Seven Kingdoms, and business simulation games such as Capitalism II. He is considered one of the bigger names in PC game development, in part because he is one of few game developers to have his name in...
. Other similar business simulation games include Industry Giant
Industry Giant
Industry Giant is a business simulation game for Windows. In 2002 a sequel, Industry Giant 2 was released....
, Entrepreneur and The Corporate Machine
The Corporate Machine
The Corporate Machine is a strategy computer game from Stardock in which the goal is to create a corporation in one of four industries and eventually dominate your rival companies...
. Capitalism may be the first successful business simulation game.
The aim of Capitalism is to become the most profitable business in the world while competing in several different markets against a number of different corporations. The player must run a business as the chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
while preventing the business from going bankrupt or being bought out by a competitor.
A more advanced version was developed and released as Capitalism Plus on January 1, 1996, featuring world maps, more products and enhanced management capabilities which was published by Brøderbund
Brøderbund
Brøderbund Software, Inc. was an American maker of computer games, educational software and The Print Shop productivity tools. It was best known as the original creator and publisher of the popular Carmen Sandiego games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, but moved to San Rafael,...
. A sequel was released entitled Capitalism II
Capitalism II
Trevor Chan's Capitalism II is the business simulation game sequel to the original Capitalism. It was created by Enlight, and published by Ubisoft Entertainment in 2001.The player creates and controls a business empire...
in 2001.
Gameplay
Capitalism is a simulation game which can be played in two different ways. The player may start their own business or play a scenario with a pre-made business with a set goal. In a new game, the player begins with a maximum of $200,000,000 initial capitalCapital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
. Each store can be stocked with up to four different items. As a real world model it is necessary to take into account land cost, overhead, demand for the products, and competition. The player can build several types of firms including department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s, factories
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
, research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
centers, farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s, mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s, oil well
Oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
s and also logging camps
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
.
The most common business model
Business model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
to pursue in Capitalism is retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
by running a chain of department stores. However, the player can venture into any market segment they want including manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
, which includes another set of considerations such as suppliers and raw material
Raw material
A raw material or feedstock is the basic material from which a product is manufactured or made, frequently used with an extended meaning. For example, the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Latex, iron ore, logs, and crude...
shortages. Manufacturing begins with building a factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
and planning the internal operation layout of the structure. Purchasing, manufacturing, sales and advertising can all be used in factories. The most profitable strategy is to ultimately build a vertically integrated enterprise
Vertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
by the player 1) operating the farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s which make the raw materials, 2) which are then purchased by the player's factories, which in turn produce branded goods that are 3) sold in the player's department stores.
The player can also choose to run research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
(R&D) operations as either their sole business or alongside running other operations such as department stores and factories. R&D ultimately improves the player's product quality by increasing technology gain. R&D for any product can last from 6 months to 10 years in the game, with the technology gain being higher when the R&D duration is increased. New products can also be produced using R&D.
Interestingly, farming is the most financially rewarding business model in Capitalism, usually creating millions of dollars in annual profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
. On a farm, the player grows crops
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
and raises livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
; a farm can produce both meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and other products such as wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
. These can then be sold within the business to department stores or outside to competitors.
Scenarios
Scenario
A scenario is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the Commedia dell'arte it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play that was literally pinned to the back of the scenery...
s with pre-made situations and businesses and a certain goal. The scenarios are generally more difficult to succeed in that competitors often have the starting advantage. Each scenario has a different goal and different environment and competitor situation. For example, the Alternative Challenge scenario restricts the market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
to two cities while in "D" for Diversification the player must manage a profitable broad-based corporation and manage a large number of firms at the same time.
Some of the scenarios require the player to dominate a particular market in terms of market share
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
. For example, Food Dominance sets a goal of dominating the food industry
Food industry
The food production is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that together supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population...
within 50 years while earning an annual operating profit of no less than $20 million. In Fortress of the Beverage King the player must dethrone the Beverage King 'James Zandman' as the dominator of the beverage industry within 50 years.
Most scenario games disable the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
option in an attempt to make the player focus on completing the scenario goals. The initial capital given in each scenario depends on the difficulty of the goals set. Each time a player successfully completes a scenario within the time limit set and with all goals reached, they will receive a bonus score and be added to the 'Hall of Fame' list.
Other features
Capitalism includes many different features designed to reduce effort and save time in basic gameplay. From the main menu, players can use 'Quick Start' to choose from eight instructional games to learn about retailing, market analysis, farming, manufacturing, branding and advertising, research and development, raw material production and the stock market. These lessons are included in the game to introduce a new player to the concepts and basic gameplay.Another feature of Capitalism is the layout plan library, which can store layout plans for all types of buildings available in the game. It enables the player to save previously used layout plans into a library as a record and then apply them to buildings to save time rather than creating new layout plans. Layout plans can be replaced, added, deleted or sorted.
Capitalism Plus
Brøderbund
Brøderbund Software, Inc. was an American maker of computer games, educational software and The Print Shop productivity tools. It was best known as the original creator and publisher of the popular Carmen Sandiego games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, but moved to San Rafael,...
for Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
only. It added world maps, more products and enhanced management capabilities to the game in addition to improved SVGA graphics, more markets to dominate and random events including riots, disease and technology breakthroughs. With Capitalism Plus, a map and scenario editor program was also added enabling players to configure products, industries, goals and other items. Capitalism Plus is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista .
Response
Shortly after the release of Capitalism in 1995, it was referred to by PC GamerPC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
as "...the most realistic, detailed business sim on the market today, and one of the best economic games of all time". Capitalism also made appearances on The Discovery Channel and CNBC-TV Cable
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
.
In 1996, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
began using Capitalism for educational purposes. Professor Tom Kosnik said, "Capitalism is a world-class, hands-on learning experience I've used at Stanford School of Engineering and Harvard Business School. Gamers not only learn the subtleties of growing an entrepreneurial business but also learn about leadership and team building necessary in any business situation."
On October 21, 1996, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
reviewed Capitalism, saying:
In the year 2000, Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
named Capitalism among the fifteen most difficult games ever, saying: "[Capitalism is] so complicated it should come with a free MBA in every box." The magazine has also praised the game as highly enjoyable and addictive.
External links
- Capitalism at GameSpotGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
- Capitalism Plus at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Capitalism demo at Download.com