Complex simulation games can realistically model interdependent global problems

Evidence

The game is complex and challenging and has struck knowledgeable people as surprisingly realistic. Latin America, for instance, must focus on economic development while bearing in mind problems of deforestation, water pollution, desertification, and population control. When a team has developed a proposal, one of the facilitators will question it at length, trying to make sure the plan is feasible and sustainable. The facilitator can reward good proposals and also punish regions with famine, strife, and pestilence if they have terribly abused the environment. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1691