Castro does The Sims
Franz Felsl talks about the citizens of "Tropico", the setting of PopTop's eponymous Caribbean dictator sim
One of the more unusual games to catch our attention in recent months was "Tropico", which mixes the gameplay of classic games like "The Sims" and "Sim City" with a tongue-in-cheek Cold War setting, setting you up as dictator of a small Caribbean island. The game has now been delayed until next year as developers PopTop (of "Railroad Tycoon" fame) polish things up, but it should be well worth the wait. In the meantime, designer Franz Felsl explains the charm of the citizens who populate your tropical worker's paradise...
"Each person on your island has a personality, family members, interests, job training, and opinions of you... It's the sociopolitical intermingling that makes Tropico interesting. Do one thing and some people act one way while others act another and so on. There is no one easy way to stay in power and things change over time. Since you don't tell your people to go about their lives directly you must provide incentive to do the thing you want them to do like pay better wages, bribe or provide amenities they want. In Tropico, you lose when the people no longer want you around and you don't have the resources available to repress that urge."