SimCB
Games
economics simulation game
SHOW HN2022
815points
309comments
#14of 2,570 in 2022
Top 1%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
10 positive, 64 neutral or asking, 5 mixed, 26 critical, out of 105 comments about the project. Thread score -0.16.
Idea: 4 for, 19 againstDesign: 0 for, 3 againstPerformance: 0 for, 3 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun and easy to pick up as an economics toy.
From 2 comments
Very cool! I work in a banking adjacent industry, and this is mildly entertaining. Do you have any plans to create an accounting firm simulator for more entertaining games?
formerkrogemp on HN``` *** GAME END *** Your economy produced: 439918 apples. ``` Deflation is easily combated by raising interest above the next expected deflation level so that saving money…
the_third_wave on HN
Useful for learning macroeconomics concepts.
From 2 comments
Nicely done. I'm looking forward to going through your code and design. It's a great addition to the set of games that help us get our head around these things. Simple models…
neilwilson on HNBenoit, thank you for this! "What has government done to our money" is a nice read to understand money, inflation, central banks, exchange rates between currencies, etc.…
roansh on HN
Objections
Model is too simplistic; only ten businesses causes domino failures.
From 2 comments
I have no idea if this was a bug or a failure model but it seemed I was doing decent until everything started failing all at once. Orchards running out of business etc. LE: I…
ThalesX on HNIf you hit too much disinflation/deflation things can go sour pretty quickly. This is a bit exaggerated in this model as there are only 10 businesses and there can be a domino…
BenoitEssiambre on HN
Economic model is missing external factors like currency and trade.
From 1 comment
The model is missing the external factors if currency price and foreign import prices of goods and demand for your own currency. CB decisions have been greatly cushioned by the…
dzink on HN
Interest rate changes make little difference to final score.
From 3 comments
> When the central bank lends money at positive interest rates, the interest profits or “seigniorage” are distributed to everyone like dividends (they would in the real world go…
doubleunplussed on HNI tried a number of different approaches, like * Target 2% inflation * Target 4% inflation * Target positive but little real interest rates * Keep interests at -0.5% the whole…
mrighele on HNSo I've put interest rate to 0.0% all the way until the end and GDP was 442599
mrcomplicated on HN
Events escalate too fast with no time to react.
From 2 comments
This game needs a "gold standard" mode to see what happens to the toy economy with no central bank! EDIT: It would also be nice if the game paused around major events to give you…
mmastrac on HNCool game, but when shit hits the fan and production falls, everything seems to explode instantly, within a few turns. It would be nice to add some time controls so I can…
koshergweilo on HN
Requests
Add a pause or time controls during major events.
From 2 comments
This game needs a "gold standard" mode to see what happens to the toy economy with no central bank! EDIT: It would also be nice if the game paused around major events to give you…
mmastrac on HNCool game, but when shit hits the fan and production falls, everything seems to explode instantly, within a few turns. It would be nice to add some time controls so I can…
koshergweilo on HN
Add a gold standard mode.
From 1 comment
This game needs a "gold standard" mode to see what happens to the toy economy with no central bank! EDIT: It would also be nice if the game paused around major events to give you…
mmastrac on HN
Use a slider instead of step buttons.
From 1 comment
Cool game, but when shit hits the fan and production falls, everything seems to explode instantly, within a few turns. It would be nice to add some time controls so I can…
koshergweilo on HN
Add historical charts and a leaderboard.
From 2 comments
Cool game, but when shit hits the fan and production falls, everything seems to explode instantly, within a few turns. It would be nice to add some time controls so I can…
koshergweilo on HNWhat is a good score tho, to get some idea of if you did OK or not? A few people mentioned 400-450k, is that average? Where's the dam leader board ;)
roomey on HN
Questions
Why does inflation stay near zero with negative rates?
From 2 comments
442,329 by controlling interest to keep inflation as close to 1.5% as I could (which isn’t always easy). 442,306 by just immediately setting interest at -0.5% and leaving it…
jsjohnst on HNI tried to keep inflation between 1.5-2% for the first 50 months and then decided to find out what happens if I YOLO permanently fix the interest rate to -0.5%. After the 240…
yreg on HN
How does seigniorage and money creation actually work?
From 1 comment
> When the central bank lends money at positive interest rates, the interest profits or “seigniorage” are distributed to everyone like dividends (they would in the real world go…
doubleunplussed on HN
Alternatives named
Chair the Fed by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
From 2 comments
Very nice. This reminds me of the game Chair the Fed, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco:…
jbay808 on HNFYI the Fed used to have an educational game called "Chair the Fed". They took it down in 2021. I'll leave the meaning of that action as an exercise for the reader.…
jyu on HN
American Dream by Increpare.
From 1 comment
On the financial end of the spectrum, there's "american dream" [1] by Stephen Lavelle [2], an enigmatic fellow who releases almost all his games as open-source. Putting you in…
kvathupo on HN
Keshikomi Simulator by Patrick McKenzie.
From 1 comment
That made me chuckle. You might like: https://keshikomisimulator.com/ from Patrick McKenzie.
BenoitEssiambre on HN