My idea for a massive city in Maine

[vgmaster]

Somewhere on the coast of Maine, where there is so much land to have, a city could be built. It would be like the American version of Dubai and would have more things to do than any other American city. It would have an international airport, as well as all kinds of transportation lines. It would also have huge commercial, industrial, and residential sections.

However, the biggest part of the city's economy, would be tourism and leisure entertainment. It would include all kinds of golf courses, shopping malls, museums, zoos/aquariums, theme parks/waterparks, casinos, hotels/resorts, arcologies, and much more. There would also be a massive sports complex, housing multi-purpose venues and other recreational facilities. The city would also be home to a state fair much larger than Maine's Bangor State Fair (and would also have more rides than the Texas State Fair, Hull Fair, and Oktoberfest combined). There would even be many different haunted attractions there, both seasonal and annual. Some of the hotels there would exceed 5 stars.

The theme parks there would include a Cedar Fair park bigger than Cedar Point, a massive Six Flags Park, an Asian themed Busch Gardens, a Seaworld, a Universal theme park, a Disney park bigger than WDW, and a Legoland (if Paramount Parks was still active, it would have one of those too). Some theme parks would also have sister parks. There would even be some standalone waterparks like Schlitterbahn.

Of course, there would also be many special streets (like Niagara Falls' Clifton Hill) that would have all kinds of interesting attractions, shops, restaurants, and more. There would also be different marinas as well as a huge port for cruise lines (like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Disney Cruise Line). It could even have a massive ferris while that rivals the London Eye. Also, there would be a fair share of dinner theater attractions including Medieval Times.

What else do you think it should have?

Edited June 13, 2011 by vgmaster

[PeanutButterDimond]

Couldn't we just leave the land alone and plant trees and plants.... just saying....

[Noir]

Couldn't we just leave the land alone and plant trees and plants.... just saying....

[vgmaster]

One burning question though... why Maine? Maine isn't the ideal vacationing spot as its weather's not particularly desirable and its population consists majorly of deer [citation needed]. If you want a massive tourist destination, you want fairly consistent, mild temperatures year-round.

Well there isn't much to do there, so something like this would make Maine a bit more interesting. As for the weather, I can't really say much cause I never really been there.

Also, for the more important stuff, the city would have its own university, as well as some great libraries, and even some different power plants.

Another thing it could have is an area that has beaches and boardwalks, like Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Asbury Park, and Coney Island. The place would also have some amusement piers.

[JezMM]

Wow, back in the day it was just idea threads about video-game concepts. Now whole cities? You're moving up in the world vgmaster.

My only on-topic comment would be that I find it hard to believe an entire state can be considered as having "not much to do".

[vgmaster]

My only on-topic comment would be that I find it hard to believe an entire state can be considered as having "not much to do".

Well the upper states of the northeast are kinda small, with Maine being the largest. Most of the stuff there seems more old-fashioned and don't have much as other states like Florida and California. I'm not just thinking an idea for a whole city, but how much more interesting stuff it can have. There would be a virtually limitless amount of activities there.

Edited June 13, 2011 by vgmaster

[Johnny Boy]

Cool idea but no. I'd rather leave some space for nature.

[Kevin]

One burning question though... why Maine? Maine isn't the ideal vacationing spot as its weather's not particularly desirable and its population consists majorly of deer [citation needed]. If you want a massive tourist destination, you want fairly consistent, mild temperatures year-round.

That's what I was thinking as well. You do realize how brutal it can get during the winter time, right? A tourist destination would be useless during the winter time because no one will one to go when it that cold outside not to mention a big risk of snowing all the time (see: Nor'easter).

Secondly, can you imagine how much it would cost to build all of that? In a time where the economy isn't very good and the state are already hurting budget-wise, I think the last thing that will happen is a mega tourist destination being built.

Well there isn't much to do there, so something like this would make Maine a bit more interesting.

Not much to do? There's plenty of things to do that's listed on the official Maine tourism site.

[Saint Nathan]

I've been to Maine.

It's not a good tourism spot.

Also there's really no reason for a city made simply to be a tourist location. Small towns, yeah, because they're usually for smaller people and allow them to make a decent living. Big cities made to be tourist locations? Big companies would make the money, and they don't need it. Not to mention, yeah, Maine is beautiful, and there's no reason to fuck all that up just to make more to do. It'd be dumb.

[Conando]

Why Maine? Either way, Maine's already got beaches there. Shit should stay away. Hell, keep it out of New England period. We don't need or rustic charm ruined.

[Pelly <3's U]

Limits are not automatically a bad thing.

Edit: I've decided to try and expand upon this (about limits, although the economical and environmental affects of such a plan would be severe...I know we're gong for wildly fanciful here). Vgmaster, as with most of your concept topics, you've chosen to focus on the all encompassing everything being the key to somethings success (or at least most appealing to you). And limitlessness to imagination is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sure is a far cry from the type of imagination that leads to innovation (a word I'm sure I'll overuse very much in this post).

Let's take something like a game, where developers are under intense pressure not only due to time factors but also system limitations. A big part of their job is trying to make the best work they can under these said limitations. It's what makes people have to try and either think of creative ways of expanding the limits or innovative ways of working within them. We could take a theoretical fighting game, and somehow give it limitless character selection, fighting styles, costume selections, stages, and everything else. Let's disregard the interface problems of all of this (how long would you possibly navigate through all these options in a timely manner so you can actually play the game?), or the time it would take to pull of these feat. What does this game lack next to a game that had to rely on something other then the spectacle of gargantuan possibility? Probably memorable thought out characters, an actually comprehensible system of character match ups, multiple people being able to expand gameplay styles and bond over their mutual characters, and more.

Think about how we look back at games. Even if they don't stand up well to our standards of today, a lot of times we can fondly look back about how they somehow were revolutionary at the time. How someone took the preimposed limits, and came up with a new, exciting, or downright brilliant way to create the best possible game within them. We often regard these as masterpieces, the works that were made under the same constraints of all their competition yet somehow managed to break some sort of mold and find a way to shine.

Now let's take your theoretical city without limits. Sure it possibly sets the record for the largest collection of previously established enterprises, but it certainly is nothing groundbreaking. You've essentially just combined many preexisting factors that make other places unique, and lumped them together into one spot, giving this place no unique cultural value or inventive feature. Like the game example, this place would likely be a nightmare to navigate....but also at the same time you've somewhat robbed this place of being able to come up with it's own distinctive identity.

Sure we can placate people's need to be entertained by gathering everything into their reach, and leave them with no desire to look for anything more. Why travel, experience cultures and ideas different then your own which might inspire new ideas when you can just have everything that already exists but you couldn't access easily before?

The same for the theoretical fighting game from before. Why not just dazzle people with seemingly limitless options, surely they'll be too overwhelmed by sheer expansiveness of everything to realize that in the end they're experiencing nothing revolutionary or creatively designed.

[vgmaster]

I actually agree with you, Pelly. I'm all for innovation and deep down inside I can see all kinds of original and exciting things for this hypothetical city. Having all the already existing stuff is just the icing on the cake for me, and I know there can be lots of innovation put into it, I just have to shovel it out of myself to show it.

For instance, there can be one attraction that's a high speed roller coaster on the city's skyline and it goes both past and through the buildings.

[Lady Lily]

Couldn't we just leave the land alone and plant trees and plants.... just saying....

I agree with you. Land should stay land.

Why Maine? Either way, Maine's already got beaches there. Shit should stay away. Hell, keep it out of New England period. We don't need or rustic charm ruined.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[vgmaster]

Well when I first talked about this I really had no idea that Maine was such a cold place. I'm sure that there's all kinds of interesting stuff there, but most of it just looks nature related. Maybe I could put it either somewhere upstate New York on the coast, or in other states like Delaware, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Gerogia, Alabama, or Mississippi.

[Patticus]

Dubai is what it is because of the United Arab Emirates' oil wealth; it's a relatively small country with a lot of money, so can afford to build extravagantly for the time being. For a similar citadel to be constructed in North America, there needs to be a boom behind it, a big one at that, that can last long enough to the whole thing to be built and get up and running. And that's without considering all of the environmental factors, lobby groups espousing various interests, general corruption, corners being cut, poor materials being used, and a poor site being chosen.

If I were going to choose a location, I'd keep it away from known flood and hurricane-heavy areas and away from desert regions. I'd actually consider completely redeveloping Detroit, turning it from the run-down shadow of what it used to be into an intensely eco-friendly citadel, replacing each of the city's most run-down districts with new forests, lakes and small agri businesses, building the first prototype skyscraper farms, lowering certain taxes within the city limits to attract investment from green construction companies and other businesses.

Of course, I'd have to wait until there's a green boom to ride off the back of.

And if it all failed I'd sell the whole area to Canada for a knock-down price so it'd become their problem.

[Lady Lily]

Well when I first talked about this I really had no idea that Maine was such a cold place. I'm sure that there's all kinds of interesting stuff there, but most of it just looks nature related. Maybe I could put it either somewhere upstate New York on the coast, or in other states like Delaware, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Gerogia, Alabama, or Mississippi.

Keep out of Northern Ny too. Trust me I live there. We don't need you ruining this beautiful nature.