Wright Perseveres To Win Big Never Give Up: For this video game designer, criticism is simply a cue to fine-tune.(A)

Byline: PATRICK SEITZ

Video game creator Will Wright has faced a lot of doubters in his career. Executives and colleagues told him that some of his game ideas were no good and wouldn't sell.

But Wright wouldn't give up. He continued to work on his games and eventually proved them wrong. In the process, he helped create a new category of video games where players create simulated worlds and play God with the people in them.

Both "SimCity," a city planning game, and "The Sims," a kind of adult doll house, were rejected initially. But both became hit personal computer games and led to a series of follow-up versions.

Wright was working as a free-lance designer for Broderbund Software when he came up with the idea of SimCity. When Broderbund passed on it, Wright and his business partner Jeff Braun formed their own company, Maxis, in 1987 to develop it. Wright and Braun gambled their savings on the company and the game.

Released in 1989, "SimCity" was a huge success. The game lets players build virtual cities from the ground up and deal with problems such as crime, taxes, …