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Systems thinking

Seeing how the parts push each other.

SimCity on the SNES teaches you that a new road causes traffic, traffic causes pollution, pollution drives people out, and empty houses cut your taxes. Nothing happens alone. Every change ripples.

Simulation and management games are toy versions of how the real world works, and they let you break it safely.

Train it on purpose

  1. Change one thing and watch what else moves. Only one.
  2. Before a big decision in the game, guess the knock-on effects. Then check.
  3. Find a game's broken strategy and work out why the system lets it happen.

Off the couch

Why your share house is always out of milk. Why the team at work is slow. Why that suburb got expensive. People who see systems blame individuals less and fix more, and they tend to make sense of the news faster than everyone else at the table.

Sources

  1. Turkle, S. (1984). The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit.

Games that train it

ActRaiser coverActRaiser
Clear land with lightning, point settlers at roads, seal the monster lairs, and the town grows. A bigger population feeds your hit points and magic in the action stages. Every bit pushes on every other bit.Breath of Fire II coverBreath of Fire II
Recruit characters to your town, pay carpenters for houses, and let six Shamans move in to fuse with your fighters. What you build at home changes what your party can do in the field.Chrono Trigger coverChrono Trigger
Seven eras feed into each other: fix something in the past and the future shifts. Who you bring changes the Double and Triple Techs you get.Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi coverDragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi
Classes rank up by winning fights, skills stay when you switch, and the right pairs unlock hybrids like Gladiator on the road to Hero. A choice at Alltrades Abbey ripples ten hours out.Final Fantasy II coverFinal Fantasy II
No levels: take hits and HP rises, cast spells and magic grows, swing a sword and you get better with swords. Players broke it almost at once by attacking their own party.Final Fantasy V coverFinal Fantasy V
There are 22 jobs, and a skill learned in one can be carried into another. A Knight who casts black magic, or any job keeping the Thief's Caution so nothing hits you from behind.Front Mission coverFront Mission
Each wanzer is a body, two arms and legs, kitted out with parts, computers, backpacks and weapons inside a weight limit set by its power output. Change one piece and the rest shift.Gradius III coverGradius III
Edit Mode lets you build your own weapon set from missile, double, laser, shield and special. Some weapons only exist in the fixed sets and some only in custom ones, so every pick has a cost.Harvest Moon coverHarvest Moon
Crops without water don't die, they just stop growing. Unfed cows can fall sick, and chickens left out can be lost to a storm or wild dogs.Ice Hockey coverIce Hockey
Every skater is one of three builds: quick and slight wins face-offs but gets knocked flat, an all-rounder, or big and slow who loses face-offs but hits and shoots hardest. The mix is most of the tactics.Mega Man 6 coverMega Man 6
The Energy Balancer tops up whichever weapon is lowest when you grab ammo. Understanding that changes which weapons you spend freely.Mega Man X coverMega Man X
Clearing Storm Eagle's aircraft carrier knocks out power in Spark Mandrill's plant. The order you beat bosses in changes the stages.Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen coverOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
Day turns to night and werewolves only wake after dark. Alignment, reputation and squad makeup all push on each other across the map.R.B.I. Baseball coverR.B.I. Baseball
Each real player came with real abilities, so picking who to send up is a proper decision. The roster is a system, not ten identical sprites.Secret of Mana coverSecret of Mana
Eight weapon types each level up with use, and you can tune how the computer allies behave. The party is a machine you set up, then watch run.Super Bomberman 4 coverSuper Bomberman 4
Maniac mode lets you choose which items drop and how many hits each player can take. Change one setting and the whole battle changes.Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together coverTactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Turns don't alternate by side. Each unit acts when its wait counter runs down, and heavy units wait longer, so armour costs you time.Tecmo Super Bowl coverTecmo Super Bowl
All 28 teams, real players, real strengths, and a full season that tracks every player's stats. Every team plays differently because every player has his own numbers.Terranigma coverTerranigma
Once people return, towns grow and trade as you help them, and your choices spread inventions and ideas from place to place.