In the creation of the Design Paradise Simulation Game, every attempt has been made to reflect the realities of the development process. The game's
purpose, however, is to teach the interrelationships of environment,
development, economy, and quality of life and not to provide specific
financial or numeric projections. The statistics on financial gain and
loss, employment, and population growth are meant solely to reinforce
the principles of balanced development introduced in the resource section.
While we believe the game can be a useful tool for understanding the
fundamental theory behind economic growth or contraction associated with
development, the embedded models are not as complex as would be used for business projections, and the game should not be the basis for any specific decision-making.
The underlying principle of the game is cause and effect. What actions in the area of land use will result in what consequences--financial, environmental, and social?
The financial consequences--profit and loss--were derived from the following charts in the State of Hawaii Data Book, 1993-94, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
These figures were then manipulated so that they were comparable and could be applied to the parameters of the game (i.e. cost of development or profit from development in relation to the area represented by one tile in the game).
The environmental consequences were based on ratios derived from the present distribution of land, as well as the expressed desire of both residents and visitors that the existing balance be preserved. The ratio of agriculture and conservation land to urban and rural zoned land was approximately three to one; thus, this ratio was incorporated into the game.
The social impact, in the game, is represented by housing and jobs available to the population. The following charts from the 1993-94 Data Book were used as standards for "quality of life" in Design Paradise:
Design Paradise was created to teach the principles of wise land use. Its creators hope that after studying the resource section, playing the simulation game, and applying the concepts to their own locales, visitors to this virtual paradise will be better able to design their own ideal communities in the real world.
We also used information from Bank of Hawaii's publication Construction in Hawaii, as well as data obtained during a visit to their Economics Department.
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