Learning from SimCity: An empirical study of Turkish adolescents

SimCity is a system simulation game frequently used in educational settings. This study investigates whether playing SimCity could change Turkish adolescents' perception of the city they live in. We hypothesized that playing the game would lead to perceptional changes in the players regarding their ideal and real cities. Two hundred forty eight 13-year old Turkish adolescents attending 7th grade constituted the sample. Ninety adolescents played the game for six weeks. Their scores on various perception variables on city issues were compared to those of the control group's. Results showed that students in the experimental group changed their expectations of an ideal city to resemble the game, expected city authorities to pay greater attention to city issues, and reported higher level of distrust to city authorities at the post-test compared to those in the control group. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential of SimCity in training informed citizens.