Video games are (at least partially) simplified models of the reality. They can model anything: sword-fighting with a simple click, personality changes of player and the world's feedback to it, evolution of species, history or cultures, etc. Of course, it is up to the player to understand what are the things that work in reality too and what other things are there only for fun or to over-simplify something. You better not mix up the two, otherwise you can have a baad time.

The following lists might be extended later.

Useful things I learned

Managing my mood better from Sims: Sims 3 uses little moodlets to express the hidden components the characters' mood. These are state icons that can represent anything from hunger to loneliness, sharing a successful blog post, or enjoying a good joke, being embarrassed or inspired, being energized from workout or feeling down from unsatisfied thirst for coffee. There are an insane amount of them. They all last for a certain amount of time. Hitting your thumb with a hammer might annoy you for a couple of minutes, but being promoted makes you proud for days. Some has positive score and some has negative effect. Their sum has a high impact on the affected character's overall mood. It taught me to listen to myself better when I'm frustrated or feeling off without apparent reason. Can I find out what my moodlets would be? Can I cancel out some negative ones? How could I add some positive ones?

Keeping a financial balance and how to invest from Transport Tycoon: I got this game from my cousin. She mailed me her disks when I was 8 or 9. I couldn't understand most of the texts at first because English is not my native language. But I was amazed by the game's complexity. It took me weeks to figure out what the different buttons and widgets do. It was awesome! As the world changed over time, the company flourished if you played well. I loved the implementation of the finance charts. They taught me how to look at my current situation and plan ahead.

Basic pros and cons of government types from Civilization: The first DOS based implementation remained my favourite with its wonderful pixel graphics and tile based maps. Sure, one shouldn't try to learn history or philosophy from it. But, even as a kid I noticed that autocracies scored worse at science but the people didn't care about wars. Democratic nations, on the other hand, didn't tolerate long wars, and it was more expensive to maintain their society. But on the long run they performed much better (at least for my strategy) and had lower corruption. These were rough simplifications without any explanation, but now, as adult I understand more of this.

Things you shouldn't learn but fun

Sims 3: You can teleport if you meditate deep enough. Of course, it can happen that this is true, simply no one meditated deep enough to experience it.

Transport Tycoon: Passengers don't care about their destination, as long as they can fit on the bus.

Civilization: Building a stadium will make people of the city more satisfied. I lived in a country where the prime minister thought it would work. It didn't.

The first version of this post is part of the Blaugust 2025 series on my blog along with:

• Blaugust