Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

There are still a lot of aspects about putting up a business that isn't covered by those small-sized files of a game slash simulation proliferated on the internet.

First is a truism I learned from a Woody Woodpecker comic during my childhood.

"It takes money to make money". I haven't seen a business simulation game where you start out with some money that you invest to buy things that you hope will bring you profit.

Sure the back story of these games skirt around the issue by saying you inherit a store or something from someone who wasn't making money off of it, but how often does that happen?

Next, it's not that everything that you buy that you think will be good for your business really does rake in more cash. Bad business decisions, sometimes very costly ones, really do exist. The question is whether you want to hang on to them (if we're talking about something acquired) until it eventually does bring in money or if one should already cut off the losses.

In a business simulation game, I'd present this as giving the player several options on what to buy, but not guaranteeing that it will automatically make the customers spend more money at your establishment.

It would be a different scenario for each time you play the game, set randomly, so that there isn't any sure way of winning by following a set path after several chances of playing.

But there will be indicators (maybe newspaper headlines that can be perused) to give the player a hint on where consumer tendencies are leaning and thus buy the right thing.

Next is employee type. There are several personalities that one encounters not just among the clients but also among the workers. They aren't robots that simply respond perfectly to stimulus provided by the customer wandering into their area.

They get tired, get cranky and need incentives, need rest. It's just a matter of seeing which people are shortsighted and only look forward to the day's wages or have their eyes on the potential promotion in the far distance.

These, included in game simulations, I think would really enhance a would-be entrepreneur's understanding of how it is to set up his or her own business.

Session 2561 may profit in that game. Class dismissed.