Summer 2002
Growth Game: Playing with Tough Choices
By Pat Ford
Staff Writer
Pew Center
It’s all too easy for a place like sprawl-conscious Myrtle Beach, SC, to divide into stark camps – pro-growth or anti-growth – with scant appreciation for the nuances of each.
To help convey those complexities, The Sun News began in April offering residents a new entry point – an interactive Web game, “Chart the Strand’s Future.”
As the latest element of its ongoing growth coverage, the game allows users not only to design their own plans for growth but also to see how their choices affect community finances and quality of life.
“It’s helping people talk about the complicated decision-making that goes into planning for growth,” said Assistant Managing Editor Carolyn Callison Murray. “I’ve gotten a lot of response from people saying, ‘We love that game; it’s an interesting way to view growth.’ “
The game employs a map of Myrtle Beach and three neighboring communities that comprise what the paper identifies as the nation’s fastest-growing relocation destination. Users can zoom in on any one of the communities to see a more detailed map and get background and demographic information to help make planning decisions.
Users can click and drag icons for various development choices – hotels, transportation, schools, offices, public buildings or industry – to a map site. A meter in the corner of their screen shows how the choice would affect the town’s financial health and quality of life.
The game was designed by Seattle software company Smashing Ideas Inc. Co-founder Glenn Thomas said it’s designed to let players move the pieces around until they find the right balance of choices. “If you put 40 hotels along the beach, it’s going to be great for your finances, but the quality of life suffers,” he said.
“You can play around and say, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t want all hotels. I’ll put in parks.’ Then the quality of life goes up, but the financial impact is negative.”
The idea is based on the popular “Sim City” computer game, but Thomas says it doesn’t include all the complexities of actual planning decisions. “To be honest,” he said, “it’s not quite city-planner material. Not all the variables were captured. But the idea was to give people a rough idea of the effects of their choices.”
Smashing Ideas normally designs interactive games for advertisers and entertainment sites. It made a foray into journalism with a similar city-planning project last year for The Herald in Everett, WA.
Like The Sun News, The Herald used clickable maps and moveable icons. But the goal in the Everett game was to let residents have a virtual vote on how the town’s waterfront should be developed.
The Everett game players could electronically submit their final version of the map. The Herald then tabulated the results and submitted a report to city officials.
In Myrtle Beach, the paper asked for the meter to show users the consequences of their choices – a new feature – because the goal was to convey the complexities of managing growth. However, there was no way to submit maps electronically.
Instead, users were asked to print out and mail in their maps to help give the paper a sense of the community’s vision. Unfortunately, Murray said, no one has.
“I am a little disappointed,” Murray said. “I know people are playing, but it’s the extra step of printing it out and putting it in an envelope.”
Other features have involved the community. For instance, The Sun News collaborated with Coastal Carolina University on an April growth summit, attended by about 150 people. “It was a very encouraging response,” Murray said. The group heard from urban designer Michael Callus, who gave a global perspective on Myrtle Beach’s place in the world and the broader implications of growth decisions.
“When you live in a place, you focus on what’s inside its geographic boundaries, not your place in the rest of the world,” Murray said. “A lot of people came up to me afterward and said, ‘I never thought of it that way.’ “
The audience broke into groups to discuss the big development issues in Myrtle Beach – transportation, the environment, leadership, housing, jobs and education. Participants could volunteer to work on these areas, and there have already been follow-up meetings.
“Coastal Carolina is putting together an ad hoc growth committee to address issues raised at the summit,” Murray said. “We’re trying to be a facilitator, creating an environment where they can discuss the next piece. We’re not trying to tell them what the next piece should be.”
The paper unveiled its Web game at the summit, and Murray said participants were very interested. One teacher told her he planned to use it in his class on growth issues to show students the relationship between decisions and consequences.
Thomas eventually envisions an interactive exercise that will combine the elements of the Myrtle Beach and Everett games. “It’s heading in the right direction,” he said. “Each project is a little different … I think there will be a future one that will tie everything together. A few more features would make it really, really relevant for people as a community.”