Educational Multi Player SimCity for Linux Proposal. Educational Multi Player SimCity for Linux Proposal
Back in March 2002, Maxis told me they
were interested in supporting the educational use of products like
SimCity. Earlier, I had developed a multi player version of SimCity,
which runs on Linux/X11, and was scriptable in TCL. Educators and
researchers from Columbia University, MIT, IBM, Xerox and other
educational and commercial institutions were excited about gaining
access to this version of SimCity, and adapting it to teach and
stimulate students' interest in urban planning, computer simulation and
game programming.
So I wrote this proposal and presented
it to Maxis. Maxis was quite enthusiastic about the idea, invited me in
to discuss it, and said they would write up a contract which enabled me
to distribute Multi Player SimCity for Linux, and adapt it to the needs
of our educational users.
Unfortunately, it's been almost two
years since I sent the proposal, and I have never heard anything back
from Maxis about this project. The software still exists, works very
well, and is ready to distribute. But I can't distribute this
Educationally Oriented Multi Player SimCity for Linux, until I hear
back from Maxis about the contract. Despite my repeated email and phone
messages asking about the status, Maxis never got back to me about
this, or offered any explaination. So as far as I know, it's still tied
up at EA Legal. I still wonder if they dropped the ball, or if they will finally come through after two years.
SimCity.edu Proposal to Maxis
Don Hopkins ported SimCity to Unix in
1991, working as a contractor for DUX Software, who licensed it from
Maxis for a ten-year duration. He developed a cooperative networked
multi player version of SimCity, released in 1993. He subsequently
worked with Will Wright for Maxis/EA, developing The Sims character
animation system, content pipeline, programming tools and user
interface. Hopkins ported SimCity to Linux and optimized it, so it's a
viable product as well as an engaging educational tool.
Hopkins has demonstrated Multi Player
SimCity at ACM's InterCHI Conference, IBM's New Paradigms Workshop, the
Exploratorium's Multimedia Playground, Interval's Electric Carnival,
BayCHI at Xerox PARC, and MIT Media Lab's corporate sponsors meeting.
Audiences are consistently excited about the possibilities of using
SimCity educationally.
The ten-year contract between Maxis
and DUX Software to distribute the Unix version of SimCity has expired,
so it's not currently available as a product. Hopkins would like to
license the rights from Maxis/EA directly, to develop an educational
version of SimCity Classic. It can be distributed and played over the
Internet like the popular ActiveX SimCity Classic, and extended to
support educational uses.
Columbia University uses SimCity and
SimEarth to help teach Civil and Environmental Engineering. They are
actively redesigning the curriculum to incorporate simulation games
like SimCity and SimEarth, as well as developing a new simulation
platform. Professor Upmanu Lall has applied for an NFS grant to develop
an open system called OPTIMUS (Open Platform for Teaching Integrated
Modeling and Urban Simulation). Don Hopkins is collaborating with
Columbia University to develop simulation tools for education and
research.
The educators at Columbia University
are excited about and willing to financially support the development of
educational versions of SimCity and SimEarth. Hopkins hopes to make
Multi Player SimCity for Linux available at low cost for educational
use, while also selling it commercially to the small but enthusiastic
Linux gaming community. The NFS grant can fund the development of the
current Multi Player SimCity Classic into an educational tool, for
Columbia and other universities to use in their Civil and Environmental
Engineering curricula.
This project doesn't require funding
or work from Maxis/EA, and will support itself by generating a positive
stream of royalties from commercial sales. The long-term benefits to
Maxis, EA and society are quite positive: Columbia University will
measure the effect of SimCity and other simulation tools on their goals
of improving student enrolment and test scores. They will publish the
results at conferences and in research papers, and make them available
for other schools to use.
Maxis's intellectual property and time
will be protected, because Hopkins will insulate Columbia from the
SimCity source code, and will also insulate Maxis from supporting the
educational version of SimCity. Multi Player SimCity is already
extensible through the TCL/Tk scripting language, and Hopkins will
provide the hooks necessary for Columbia to use SimCity educationally,
though scripting languages and component technology, without releasing
any proprietary Maxis source code.
The initial proposal is for Hopkins
and Maxis/EA to enter into a contract granting Hopkins the right to
commercially develop and distribute SimCity Classic, and also possibly
SimEarth. Hopkins will further develop the software for Columbia
University's educational use (at no expense to Maxis or EA), with the
overall design subject to the approval of Maxis and EA. Maxis/EA will
receive royalties on all sales of the product, and will also receive
proper credit for its educational uses. This proposal is a rough draft,
to start a dialog toward an agreement that will benefit everyone.
Don Hopkins
[Don Hopkins' RadiOMatic BlogUTron] 
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