I know it's hard to imagine, but from what I hear, many "third-world countries" do in fact have stoves and sinks. Some even have rock stars.

*cue stereotypical patronizing voice*

"Hey there little Mafusa*click*jamba, wanna see what it feels like to build a place you'll never be?"

I wonder if any of them would eventually get bored in the Sims and start intentionally trying to kill neighbors whenever they come over like I used to...

@singlecoilpickup: If only they made Sim Dictator, my life would've been vastly different.

What will it take to resist the urge to preload these computers up with a bunch of outdated crap?

SimCity? Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool back in 1994. What's next, give them xywrite as a word processor?

Wonderful. Let's teach them to further isolate themselves by loading games onto their computers.

Jason your comments are not very appropriate. I live in Boston but am from the Dominican Republic, which is a "third-world country". You should take a vacation and go to any of the cities there or in many of the other countries like this to see what life is like. You'd be surprised to see we actually cook in a stove, have sinks (which also overflow every now and then), and have our share of musicians as well.
Your comments show your ignorance...

EA should change the graphics a bit and call it SIM FARM... it would be a lot more realistic to a kid living in the middle of nowhere...

Since when did making fun of those less fortunate become acceptable "jokes" on here? It's very disturbing.

I would love to be a kid in a third world country just so Sim City could blow my mind AGAIN. But maybe EA should allocate their donation in the way of hamburger helper? Maybe water and rice? Or thousands of light-sabers from 1999?

*Sigh* It's just one thing after another isn't it?

@zorrillaj: por favor zorrillaj... come on be serious... the comment was a joke papa... I'm a puerto rican who has been to DR many times...

Jason you forgot the fact that power loss is another thing that third world countries have alot of... so those OLPCs better have a good long charge or the battery will die... my friend zorrillaj here knows that probably all to well... I went to the campos in DR and electricity went out ALOT OF TIMES...

Suhc a shame to rea that description. First of all the term "third world" is as old as the Simcity game they're putting on those PCs! The politically correct terms are "developed" and devloping" countries. And yes I do come from (Jamaica) and live in such places (Trinidad), but I've also lived in the U.S. and believe me there isn't much difference once you look past the money (and the infrastructure it supports of course)!

I don't know when last the author took a plane out of his country to such a place, but we have running water, cable, internet, malls, theatres, iPhones (;-))..heck we even got ROADS to drive our lamborghinis on and REAL concrete roofs over our heads!

I know it's easy to follow the stereotype, hey you mightn't even have realised that typing something like that would actually rub some ppl the wrong way, but could future articles be a bit less condescending to us backwards native-types who don't have stoves and actually make up a good bit of your readership?

* awaits the flaming from the first world flamers*

it's a shame the olpc will be priced out of the range of those it was originally designed for, it it ever actually sees the light of day.

What is interesting about this aspect of OLPC is that SimCity was based on the vast expanding cities of the world, when City Beautiful and Vertical City were all the rage. It would be interesting to see if this project actually lead future city planners of 3rd world countries to actually build on the basis of this game.

I can't remember since it has been so long, but did the Large Arch-somethings exist in SimCity I, or was that later?

I think that Sim City 2000 would be a much better game to load up. It's got just the right amount of detail and management for the OLPC. Also, it would be very badass if Blizzard donated Warcraft II. Hello LAN parties!!!

@Delmarc: Point taken. But I still don't think it's an appropriate joke.

3rd World needs Civil Engineers, and they exist. The first computer I had access to was in 2000. I wish I had the chance to start sooner.

Grow a sense of humor. How can you take something seriously if you can't laugh at it?

aside from the politics, that is one funny photoshop - visual gag perfectly executed... kudos :-)

ZorillaJ and MMFY:

Part of tolerance and respect is accepting that people's sense of humor can different. And while you can voice your concern, you should respect that some people on this blog find it funny.

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Second, Third World was a relic from the Cold War. You had the West, the Soviets/Communist and the Third-World aka Non-Aligned Nation.

Third-World is not a synonymy for "Developing Nations", technically speaking. Indeed, there are "Developed Nations", "Newly Industrialized/Developed Nations", "Developing Nations" and "Underdeveloped Nations".

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Third, as someone coming from a crappy back water Third-World Country (Indonesia) too, I find Jason's comment tragically funny and makes way for a bigger discussion of OLPC in general.

People need vaccination, clean water, electricity, health care, cell phones, help in farming, micro-loans (like with Kiva.org), education...and but instead people are talking about OLPC.

Yeah, my family there has stoves and what not, but my grandmother still draws water from a well. So Third-World countries are paradoxical, they may have the latest cell-phones, but their grand parents may have limited electricity. They dont have broadband at home, but can always be found at Internet cafes. Let's not lie and say living in the US is the same as village in Indonesia.

What for? So kids can surf the Internet and go to see all the things they cant afford on Gucci.com and porn? Yeah, no thanks.

Hope about DDT instead so the kid doesn't die from Malaria? That's more effective.

I'd rather give $100.00 to Heifer International than buy some kid an OLPC.

Or better yet, sponsor engineers to invent a more sustainable water pump - most people in South-East Asia use gas-powered water pump for farming, which aint great for the Environment or economical ($100 a barrel).
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Conclusion

So keep on writing Jason. If we stick to writing in away that offends no one, we'd be living in a bland mono-culture. And contributing to that is the highest sin.

@jared51182: "It would be interesting to see if this project actually lead future city planners of 3rd world countries to actually build on the basis of this game."

That's what I'm afraid of. That game is based on HORRIBLE urban planning principles. It encourages suburban sprawl and is basically based on zoning laws that are choking back better urban design as it tries to take root and improve our cities.

Wish there was a game that taught New Urbanism.

@aec007: actually... it already exists! hmm I remember dusting crops in that game...and crashing the planes for seemingly no reason other than trying to hit cows...

was actually a pretty fun game :D

As a person that lives in the "Third World" I really got ofended on that very imature joke...
Quoting ZORRILLAJ
"Your comments show your ignorance..."

And adding:
If you got nothing good to speak, say nothing!

I live in a "third world" country and I liked the joke XD. Liked the image too :)
Come on people, we laugh all the time of the (north) americans, they can laugh of us if they want to. We are friendly people!

Does this mean they'll be adding "socialist policy" to the disasters menu?

Most of the Korean; Japanese, etc. gadgets you see in this site arrive to the US via "third world countries", like Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, a poor place from where a great amount of retailers here in USA import their merchandise.

And computers, I don't think they need, if you don't have one you could go to a Internet Cafe and surf the net or play games for less than 25 cents an hour, I saw this myself.

What they need (and the guys who promote these things) is education.

I'm sorry but that was some funny stuff. I just about choked. If you can't take a joke then turn the computer off and walk away.

@djpr:

Meh.. nobody said Jason should stop writing (at least I didn't). I said he should consider the terminology he used and their connotations more carefully. As I pointed out I don't know if he considered the effects it may have on his audience past the "it's a joke" tag, but some ppl can be mightily offended by such references.

Third World has always had a negative connotation no matter how you spin it. I can take a joke like everyone else (e.g. I didn't say he should get fired as was happening with the tubgirl fiasco) - simply told him how I felt and ask he consider that many feel that way.

It's a free world (technically) so if he wants to continue using such phrases and references it's his choice (and mine to comment on them). Excuse me while I go use my microwave ;-)

"Since when did making fun of those less fortunate become acceptable "jokes" on here? It's very disturbing."

assuming you're referring to the post, i think the joke is making fun of people's lack of knowledge about the countries that the olpc is being made for and people's response to the olpc project. for example, a type of common criticism of the olpc you'll see on a gizmodo comment is, "who cares if they can use a computer if they don't have running water?"

Shouldn't it read "Teach me to get some food"?.

As for the "Joke"... lighten up. Anyways, i bet he'll find those incredible mad skillz at playing an Xbox plenty usefull when his president gets us all into WWIII. [wink wink, a joke for a joke right? right?]

I have SimCity Classic for Windows on my flash drive for slow times at work. (It's portable, just copy the folder over)
It's still good for some fun, runs well on low power machines, and at least it's constructive for the kids.

I see no problems here.

"and getting a career as a rockstar-things they can't actually do in real life because they live in a Third World country" - er... have you ever heard of a dude called Bob marley?

wel i actually think its kinda a good idea...it shows problems on a larger scale, and ofc. it does show that alien invasion may be underway

That picture is awesome. To all of the others here who teach sensitivity training, stop it. Stop trying to force others to speak as you do, act as you do, and believe as you do.