From farm to flight: simulation games find an avid community on YouTube

From the steering wheel of farm equipment to the flight deck of a commercial airplane to the streets of a bustling cityscape, simulation games — and the creators who play them — capture imaginations in new and inventive ways. These games allow us to do things we seldom get the chance to do, all from the comfort of our screens, and they have been a big hit on YouTube.

The original SimCity launched 35 years ago this month, and simulation games have come a long way since. Gamers have gone from building cities to running farms to simulating virtual civilizations. While they’ve grown in scope, the experiences have also become more…unique. Players can now experience life as a goat, become a virtual barber, learn how to speak, and so much more.

The community of simulator creators – and the challenges they invent – have come a long way too. Creators like CarynandConnieGaming have taken on design challenges, TmarTn2 recreated the real life event of landing a plane on the Hudson River, and Ctop has tried to find out just how far they can push these virtual worlds.

To mark the growth in popularity of these games and the communities around them, we’ve transformed the YouTube logo (which we call a “Yoodle”), put together a playlist of simulation game-focused videos, and created a video exploring why we watch creators play simulators in the first place. We hope you enjoy and can’t wait to see how these virtual worlds continue to grow and evolve.