Balance Real Needs, or Cynically Work to Reelection?
Game Tunnel's 2005 Sim Game of the Year
Books can be important; movies can be important. Games, however, are the degraded purview of violent male adolescents. Democracy cannot exist.
Except that it does, of course. It is not without flaw; but it's a game that every citizen of a democracy should play, to get a better gut understanding of the pressures faced by they leaders--and every citizen of a tyranny should play, to get a better gut understanding of why democracy, whatever its flaws, is better than the alternatives.
Democracy is the kind of game that some reviewers used to sneer at as "spreadsheet simulations"; it's carried primarily in text, with some graphics to dress things up--but unlike a "tycoon"-style game, there aren't little animated people running about.
The criticism of this game style is unwarranted in at least one way; games like this often have a highly detailed (and interesting) underlying simulation. This is certainly true for Democracy.
In Democracy, you're the newly-elected leader of a democratic nation--the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, or Poland. Each turn is three months, and the next election is in four years.
Your population is divided into a slew of interest groups--by political orientation, but also by wealth, life-style (motorists and smokers, say), and interest in particular issues (e.g., the environment or health care). People can belong to multiple categories (a smoking environmentalist conservative?). There are dozens of different policies you can implement, and each will please some voters while annoying others. Naturally, the demographics of different nations will affect this--Brits are more likely to like universal health care and worry less about high gas prices than Americans, say.
There are random events and crises to cope with, but you can choose to play the game on almost any level you wish--to cynically comb the polls for ways to increase how the populace feels about you, to attempt to impose your own particular ideological quirks on a potentially unimpressed populace (anarchosyndicalism now!), or even to attempt to govern in a technocratic mode with "the greatest good for the greatest number" upper most.
Democracy, in other words, is concerned with issues and voter reponse; it neither attempts an ideological structure, nor is its simulation of, say, economic impacts particularly deep. But it does impart a sense of the difficulties faced by those in power in struggling with the concerns of the voters, the chaotic nature of the world in throwing up unexpected crises, and the refractory nature of a political environment that often makes it difficult to achieve even well-considered objectives.
It is, in other words, quite an interesting system to engage with. A criticism of it as "a spreadsheet sim" is uninformed; a greater criticism might be that it is too random, and doesn't actually reflect the actual crises our civilization evidently faces today. Of course, to do so, it would have to take an ideological stance (is the great problem global warming or Islamofascism, say?), and within its more limited sphere, it has a great deal to say.
It's also highly modable. So if you do want a version where global warming is the great crisis of the coming century (or the rise of an irredentist China, or whatever your particular bent may be), it's quite possible to create one.
The Developer Says
Democracy starts with you as President (or Prime-Minister) of a modern country. The country is a run as a simple democracy where you need to get over 50% of the vote each election in order to remain in power. The object of the game is to stay in power as long as possible (there are no limits as to how many terms you may be elected president).
- "Games such as democracy are an important step forward in the evolution of education" - Kristofer Poland, Instructor of Political Science, Ohio University
Democracy is a detailed simulation game that is 'turn based' where each turn of the game represents 3 months of time. Elections are held every 4 years. The game has a complex internal model to represent the population of your country. A large number of different 'voter groups' are modeled, such as Motorists, Trade-Unionists, Unemployed people, Wealthy people etc. The simulation allows people to be in several groups at once, so for example, an unemployed poor motorist will be influenced by the opinions of all 3 groups when it comes to election day.
The player influences the voters and the country by putting in place policies. Policies are things like "Free Health Care" and can be modified using sliders to decide how much money (and effort) is put into each policy. Different voting groups will have very different (often conflicting) views as to which policies are desirable.
The game also has a number of 'events' which affect your country, such as labour disputes, political protests, diplomatic incidents etc. And there are also 'dilemmas' which force you (as elected head of state) to make a tough decision. Dilemmas might also include proposed laws, which interest groups are lobbying for. Who you side with will influence who supports you at the next election.
- "I highly recommend this title for strategy and number fans of all types, and those who would like a great political simulation" - Walter Hare cosmosgaming.com
The simulation behind the game also models a large number of variables which determine the condition of your country. Your policies might be popular at first, but they might lead to a fall in productivity, increased commuter journey times, increased air pollution... All these variables come back to haunt you, and to stay in power over several terms you will have to think far ahead.
The data that powers the game is in simple text files (csv files) that can be edited and changed in any spreadsheet or text program, so budding economists and social scientists can tinker with the simulation as much as they like.
Reviews
"Can you handle the spotlight, the constant criticism, and the awesome responsibility?"
- Gamespy
"Democracy is interested in the actual nature of government - as in passing laws, and trying to stay in the political hot seat once you're there."
- Eurogamer.net