Think

On any given work day, you have your default work application open - a compiler, an Office or a Photoshop. That's one (or perhaps two or three). Then you have a browser with multiple tabs. Then you have a work email program flashing you new mail. And you have instant messenger with at least two convos going on. And you have an RSS reader. And Twitter. And a gmail notifier. And when you leave your desk, all this goes with you when you take your iPhone for a "walking" break.

Information both pertinent and useless is all up in your grill, and we accept this as normal behavior. The majority of us can manage because we assign severities and priorities to these little slices of social heavens and hells. And even if we fail to answer an IM or we mark as read an RSS item we didn't read, apocalypse won’t flip your desk over.

What if there was a game that demanded your ability to multitask? A game where you had to keep track of multiple components and relationships, where nothing lives in isolation and the slightest negligence of a part affects the whole? Actually, the majority of games already demand your attention on multiple fronts (meters and counters, spatial awareness of you and your opponents human or otherwise), but like the information coming from your apps and devices, ignoring one doesn't crash the system.

I imagine the gamers who like taking care of their Sims' needs in The Sims would be good at, say, an air traffic control game or any kind of traffic control system. I believe there is an ATC game for the DS and ground-level traffic games in Japan. I think the closest games we have now of similar complexity are flight simulators. Just look at that screenshot above.

Is there a relationship here or just the loosest correlation at best?

Something to think about: It would be pretty interesting to see more games that, instead of controlling one character, you controlled two characters at the same time, each having the same control set but having different objectives and obstacles.