Customer Reviews

Capitalism Plus

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Professor Thomas Kosnik,
Consulting Professor, Stanford School of Engineering, and Lecturer, Harvard Business School , Technology Today, CNBC-TV Cable
"Capitalism is a world class, hands-on learning experience which I've used at Stanford School of Engineering and Harvard Business School. Gamers not only learn the subtleties of growing an entrepreneurial business but also learn about leadership and team building necessary in any business situation." "Capitalism is very realistic and will allow the dynamics to change depending on whether you're selling a cola product, which is sort of a low tech-branded consumer good, or whether your selling consumer electronics or a PC."

Professor Drew Fudenberg
Harvard University
"This game does an excellent job of modeling many of the key aspects of modern business. Not all aspects of it are realistic, but enough of them are that many sensible strategies are encouraged. In particular it's gratifying to me to see that the game rewards thinking about sources of long-term competitive advantage, be it from brand recognition, low production costs gained from learning-by-doing (a nice touch!), a monopoly on high quality inputs, or a big technological lead."

Businessweek, October 21, 1996
Capitalism isn't just for those who aspire to be the next Michael Dell or Sam Walton. It can be a fun and useful exercise for anyone who wants to test their entrepreneurial mettle without, for once, taking any risk. Players can choose to compete against computer-controlled rivals in four different industries: farming, manufacturing, raw material mining, and retailing. For a truly adventurous and time-consuming game, players can mix and match industries as captains of giant conglomerates. As in the real world, players compete locally, in one city, or fight it out on the global stage.
With so many possibilities, Capitalism is an intense strategy game, much like chess, where players must constantly think ahead. As such, it could easily overwhelm novices. But by adjusting several factors--competency and managerial style of the computer-controlled rivals, for example, can be varied from very aggressive to conservative--gameplay can be suited to various styles and speed. The game even allows a player to hire presidents to manage the day-to-day operations of different divisions so the player can concentrate on the big picture.

Far Eastern Economic Review, September 26, 2002
The mass market isn't the only audience for Chan's games. Like Virtual U, Capitalism has made the leap from game room to classroom. Because of its high degree of realism, the game has been used by professors at institutions like Harvard and Stanford Universities to help students learn basic business principles. Chan is hoping that Restaurant Empire and Hotel Giant will also be adopted for training and education. "Simulation games are a fun way to learn about anything," he says. "They prove that computer games aren't just about shooting things but can also be educational."

CNN - 22nd May 2002
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN Correspondent
Some guys have all the luck. They have the billion dollar market cap, the brand, and the empire, while the rest of us spend our lives toiling away in cubicles with no chance to ever run the show. That is until now. Even the desk jockey can claw his way to the top in "Capitalism," the game.Hong Kong game developer Trevor Chan just released the follow-up to the award-winning original, but the objective is the same. Move your assets to turn an upstart into the most profitable company in the world. First-time players can choose a challenge like, the world in your hands, where you manage a research and development lab out to post annual revenues of $400 million, and as you take on the competition, that's when the real drama begins.But "Capitalism" is no Business 101. Critics call it a deep involving game that could test even the sharpest business document. In fact, it's been used as a simulation exercise for business students at Stanford University.

It took me a while to learn the intricacies of Capitalism Plus because there was so much to know. Although I've played strategy games that are complicated in nature, none of them rival Capitalism Plus by the slightest margin. I've worked my philosophy out in terms of beating the game after much of trials and errors. I'll say, Capitalism Plus is probably the best business simulation game made, and I doubt there will be a better one except for the next version. So, if you want to take on Capitalism Plus, expect a lot of frustration, and it will be worth it in the long run. But the problem is, when it becomes worth it, is the game a lot of fun playing? I don't think so because there is a lot of checks and balances since I have to monitor every department store, making sure the supply and demand level of each product is equalized. If not, I got to change the price, and this must be routinely done pretty often. Not to mention the idea of setting up new factories, department stores, and laying out the 9 square plan which is easily avoided by going to F4 and applying already pre-set plan. So, it takes time to set up the plans and then adding them to the library. It sucks that while in the library there isn't a convenient way of picking what I need. After a while, looking at my annual profit meter which went from 100 million to 1 billion dollars, I feel content giving up the life of being a capitalist and just watch my net worth increase exponentially. Eventually, I landed on second place of Billionaires list with 29.3 big ones. The question you may be asking yourself, if you are right now playing this game, is how do I beat this game?! Like I said, lots of trials and errors are what needed to win. I'll give you some advices. Nobody will buy inferiorly made products, so shift your focus on Research and Development to improve the quality of the products. Of course, it costs a lot of money; then again, to make a lot of money is to spend a lot of money. You should start off at the beginning with a department store selling the three products offered at the seaport. That's gonna be guaranteed to make you enough money to stay afloat. At the meantime, work onto setting up your first factory and making one or two products that you can build your dominance up with. Eventually, your success will compound over the long run, say ten years. Of course, the true actual work in this is millions of checks and balances to make sure the prices are right and assured of profit for you. Of course, one could say that I should hire a president. But to be honest with you, I can do the job better. Even worse about the president is that he can only do very few, or he'll be frustrated and resign. See what I mean? That's why I am making more money than he will ever. I've gone through three levels of difficulty, and there is an ample supply of challenges when moving up to each level. Basically, the game is about manufacturing goods, selling goods, mining up natural resources, farming lands, raising livestock for food and materials, setting prices, and making money. All in all, Capitalism is a very good game that will get you addicted for hours.

this game was not that different from the first version. Fun to play but not a step upward