Richard and David Darling of Codemasters were inspired by Concertmaster's best-selling games, which were based on real sports such as football and BMX racing, which had a pre-existing popularity.
In the mid-1980s, Codemasters and the Oliver Twins released a number of games with "Simulator" in the title, including BMX Simulator (1986), Grand Prix Simulator (1986), and Pro Boxing Simulator (1988). Sega have since continued to manufacture motion simulator cabinets for arcade games through to the 2010s.
One of the most sophisticated motion simulator cabinets in arcades was Sega's R360 (1990), which simulated the full 360-degree rotation of an aircraft. Suzuki's team at Sega followed it with hydraulic motion simulator cockpit cabinets for rail shooters such as Space Harrier (1985), racing games such as Out Run (1986), and combat flight simulators such as After Burner (1987) and G-LOC: Air Battle (1990). The "taikan" trend later began when Yu Suzuki's team at Sega (later known as Sega AM2) developed Hang-On (1985), a racing video game where the player sits on and moves a motorbike replica to control the in-game actions. Sega's first game to use a motion simulator cabinet was Space Tactics (1981), a space combat simulator that had a cockpit cabinet where the screen moved in sync with the on-screen action. The trend was sparked by Sega's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese. In the 1980s, it became a trend for arcade video games to use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets. Another early economic sim by Danielle Bunten Berry, M.U.L.E., released in 1983. The Sumerian Game (1964), a text-based early mainframe game designed by Mabel Addis, based on the ancient Sumerian city-state of Lagash, was the first economic simulation game.
Many games are designed to change and develop specific skills of decision making, problem solving and critical thinking (such as those involved in survey sampling, perception and communication). As such, they can be used to change and improve students attitudes toward self, environment, and classroom learning. They may also increase empathy for others and help develop awareness of personal and interpersonal values by allowing players to see moral and ethical implications of the choices they make. Simulation games can provide increased insights into how the world is seen, like the moral and intellectual idiosyncrasies of others. Therefore, the use of simulation games may increase students' motivation and interest in learning. Students will experience them by actually ''living" the experiences. See also: Video games and education, Games and learning, and Gamification of learningīecause Simulation games make learning a matter of direct experience, they may relieve the tedium associated with more conventional modes of instruction, as they demand increased participation rather than merely reading about or discussing concepts and ideas (like discrimination, culture, stratification, and norms). These may include simulations of pinball games and casino games such as slot machines, pachinko, and roulette.