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Author Topic: Political Simulation Games
DrConway
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Babbler # 490

posted 01 November 2003 05:32 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I ran across Stalin's Dilemma, a simulation of the Soviet industrialization between 1928 and 1942, and it's an interesting, if rather functional, simulator.

It brings up a question: How close to or far from reality are some "political" simulator games? Shadow President, for example, automatically knocks down your economic growth rate if you boost social spending, even though the stated objective of such spending is to tide people over in recessions (which is kind of important in the "US economic decline" scenario).

Just some thoughts.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
kuri
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posted 01 November 2003 06:05 PM      Profile for kuri   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I had a Tropico phase for a bit last year. I find that all of these games can only manipulate a few variables so that, of course, they can't ever come close to reality. No politician has the a population that is concerned with no more than 5 issues at any particular time! That being said, for a cold-war era Carribean island simulation this one seemed on the whole appropriate in what choices are avaliable. I also noticed that (art imitating life?) I (as leader off the island in the game) was more popular with Tropico's socialist faction whenever I followed all the warnings and messages about the popular mood and level of happiness -- but doing this all the time would make the prescribed goals of the scenario impossible to achieve.

Also, I was annoyed that even when being a capitalist leader, you are still requires you to manage all economic activity. What's the point of going against ideals if doesn't make things easier?

On the whole, I think there is a certain, not hard-right certainly, but 'mainstream' ideology underlining the choices avaliable in political RTS games. I don't imagine that programmers are by and large a radical group and I think these games are probably pretty benign as a form of media, because while most game companies are USian (I think) a small amount of complexity and choice is needed for the purposes of such games. (Black and white views of the world wouldn't make very challenging simulated realities.)

Other computer games with underlying political messages, such as the shoot-'em-up games might not be so benign though. Soldier of Fortune would be a good example for it's shooting of "terrorists" and "criminals", all of course without any context, in fairly predictable regions of the world.... The plot lines of those games often seem to come straight out of Fox news and then amplified ten-fold.

[ 01 November 2003: Message edited by: CJH ]


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DrConway
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posted 02 November 2003 12:44 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The irony is that in Tropico, you can often win the game quite handily by following (as the back of the CD case says) a "socialist path" of factories and housing.

(I should know. I've played it numerous times as a socialist dictator, using the Juan Peron template)

Freelancer is another interesting game that has some amusingly subversive elements in it, which I mentioned over here


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
kuri
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posted 02 November 2003 06:36 PM      Profile for kuri   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I was able to do this too in the original versions. I found it more difficult though with the Paradise Island scenarios.... Why won't the Yanquis come the Peron's island paradise???
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