In Defense of the Small Board Size

So, I've heard a lot of people on blogs and in videos talk about how awful it is that the board sizes for SimCity 5 are so small. Frankly, it's harshing my mellow.

So, respectfully, I disagree and here's why I think it's fun to play in tight quarters.

Balance

Having a small board size adds to the fun of the game. Because you have a limited amount of space to smash all your people into, you have to make some serious choices in order to maintain the balance of your city. For instance, plopping down a pro stadium in the heart of your city is something that many of us would like to do. On a huge plot of land, you can throw the stadium anywhere there is open land and maybe you're right and maybe you're not.

But in a world that's only four screens wide, you have to agonize over where to put that stadium -- if you decide to plop it at all -- because the thing is freakin' huge! It's going to consume an entire neighborhood. But it's so sexy looking. And nevermind the money it could be bringing in.

Competition

Most people played older SimCity games to veg out. And there's nothing wrong with that. But SimCity 5 ain't no flying bird game. It's a knock-down drag out quest to reach the top of the leaderboard by climbing over the dead bodies of thousands of mayors who couldn't attract wealthy citizens to the suburbs because they don't know the power of a strategically-placed amphitheater.

Small city sites mean that when you want to partner up, you have no choice but to work together to share resources, people, and great works sites. And when you're in the mood to conquer the world all by your lonesome, they challenge your civil engineering skills and teach you that you can't just sprawl whenever the mood suits you.

This isn't 1953, you know. The world is getting smaller, people!

DRM

Stupid DRM. Yet it's there. As such, you can't have millions of people with infinitely large cities all clamoring to add miles of highway and acres of skyscrapers. Sucking water from an aquifer thirty miles away is just unrealistic.

SimCity 5 boards are small for the same reason hockey rinks are small -- if the hockey rink was bigger, there'd be less fighting. And no one wants that. The squares we've got now may seem small, but that's just one more thing you're supposed to plan for. And if you fail to respect their diminutive size, they'll become a huge problem for you later on. And that is a dark kind of fun that I personally enjoy. :)