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''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'' is often regarded as being the first successful Business And Economics simulation computer game. A more advanced version was developed and released as ''Capitalism Plus'' on 1 January 1996 , featuring world maps, more products and enhanced management capabilities which was published by Brøderbund . A sequel was released entitled '' Capitalism II '' in 2001 , and is frequently used for Education al purposes at colleges for students studying business. SYNOPSIS 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. 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 Capital . 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. A player can also venture into Manufacturing , which includes another set of considerations such as Supplier s and Raw Material shortages. In the game, 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 operate the Farm s and Mine s for raw materials which are purchased by factories, producing branded goods sold in the player's department stores. SCENARIOS ''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 Competitor s 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. 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'' 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 , but not the Mac OS . 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. RESPONSE Shortly after the release of ''Capitalism'' in 1995, it was referred to by PC Gamer 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: " 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. NOTES |
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