God in a Machine

In the upcoming film "Bruce Almighty," Jim Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a whiny, self-pitying television reporter who, after a particularly dreadful day, vents his frustrations against God. In response, God appears-in a form suspiciously resembling Morgan Freeman-and gives Bruce divine power. If Bruce thinks he can do a better job micromanaging the universe, God says, go ahead and try.

Oh, for such an opportunity. The problem is, exercising omnipotence--like acting, ice curling or painting like Jackson Pollock--turns out to be much harder than it looks. You can find this out for yourself, thanks to a whole genre of video games that gives you a chance to play god. Appropriately nicknamed "god games," they are among the best-selling entertainment software on the market.

There are many different takes on the concept, all of the god games allow the player to act as Head Honcho of some village, city or world. In "Civilization: Call to Power" from Activision, players methodically guide a society from a budding Romanesque regional power to a futuristic, globe-dominating hyperpower, far beyond the wildest dreams of Pentagon denizens Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, complete with undersea cities and an asteroid-mining industry.

Among the most popular god games is the SimCity series. The most recent incarnation, SimCity 4, which came out in January, is like other SimCity games, as it allows you to create your very own metropolis from the ground up. SimCity 4 begins on Day Three of Creation, more or less: you're presented with a generic chunk of geography--just undeveloped real estate and water--that you can modify with gently rolling hills or mountains to rival the soaring Olympus Mons on Mars. Alternately, you can sprinkle the sea with islands by sinking portions of land and letting the sea rush in. Having created the basic terrain, it's time to add forests populated with animals, ranging from basic farmyard fauna to those more suited to an African game reserve.

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