As I sit here anticipating the arrival of my copy of the DVD edition sequel of my favorite computer game—to be delivered tomorrow, with any luck—it occurs to me that two major interests of mine, computer (simulation) games and politics, have never been successfully combined. Or at least not to my knowledge. There have been a few attempts at political simulations, but none that combined realistic scenarios with engaging gameplay. Most attempted full-on political simulations have failed, as far as I'm concerned, and the few that succeed include politics as one of many aspects of gameplay. Not being a programmer or game designer, I left wondering why it's so difficult to create a great political simulation game, and what it would take to do so. (Of course, part of the problem is that the only conceivable market would be politico-geeks like me, and we're not exactly a huge market share.)
I think my first encounter with a political simulation was when I discovered SimHealth, back when Maxis was still Maxis, and when the Clinton healthcare plan was a major topic of debate (before ending up DOA). It cast the player in the role of a congressional candidate with the job of coming up with a position, getting elected, and getting re-elected. From what I remember of the game, I found it interesting, but eventually stopped playing it. Unlike other open-ended simulation game, this one ended after the player won a second re-election. So, it was a partial simulation of the political process, but ultimately limited in scope.
Some time later, I came across Political Tycoon. The reviews were not promising, but I bought it anyway in the hopes that it would prove the negative reviewers wrong. Suffice it to say, I no longer own the game. I traded it in at the next opportunity I had.
Republic: The Revolution looked promising too. It dropped you into a simulated former Soviet republic, as the son of parents who were killed by the henchmen of the current, corrupt president. Your job is to start a movement to bring down his corrupt regime. Two things were irritating about this game. The slow, turn-based play, and the "movies" (which were done in lovely 3-D graphics) that gave you no choice but to wait and watch until they were finished. These came throughout the game play. I never reached the end of the game, and soon tired of it. It's no longer installed on my computer.
The best political simulation I've seen thus far? Hands down, Tropico. The best game manufacturers have been able to do in the political simulation department is to set players up as dictators of their own "banana republics." Not terribly grand in scope, but playable and entertaining. It's a game I find myself coming back to after months of not playing it at all. SimCity, in all its versions, is the next best when it comes to political simulations, though as mayor-for-life the player has to deal with management and and governing more so than the ins and outs of politics.
A couple of weeks ago, a family shopping trip took me within range of a Best Buy, and as usual I was drawn in. While perusing the shelves, not looking for anything in particular, I came across Political Machine, an attempt to cash in on the current election to some degree. The box features a face of between caricatures of the two major candidates. The candidates start out in their home states and proceed to fly around the country building campaign headquarters, making speeches, launching media campaigns, hiring specialists, etc. Occasionally, there's an invitation to appear on some important news program or another. Gradually, the states turn either blue or (surprise!) red indicating the majority of the population is leaning towards one particular candidate. (To the game designers' credit, there are shades of blue and red. A state may start out red, and slowly slide into blue, but it will go through the color gradients in between first; a sort of acknowledgement that things aren't as simple as "blue states" and "red states.")
Political Machine is simple, too simple to actually do any justice the complexity and unpredictability of an actual presidential election. Perhaps it's asking too much for any game to successfully simulate the political process, but just once I'd like to see someone try and succeed at making a game that is both playable, reasonably realistic, and not an insult to the players' intelligence. I almost wish I was a game designer myself. I might actually give it a try. I'd like to see a game that goes Political Machine one better, beyond the election itself, requiring a player to actually govern after getting elected; or a game that focuses specifically on a president's term of office, and the ins and outs of governing. I'd include a re-election campaign mode, perhaps, though the benefit of incumbency might take some of the challenge out of it. Then again, we've already seen that an incompetent incumbent can undermine the advantages of incumbency.
I probably won't return Political Machine, but I doubt I'll play it all the way through more than a couple of times, while I ponder a few questions. What complexities of politics make it difficult to translate it to the medium of computer games? What limitations of computer games make it difficult for the medium to handle the complexities of politics? I don't know, but I remain hopeful that someday someone will figure it out and create the ultimate political simulation computer game. When they do, I hope I can find the time to play it. 'Till then, for the foreseeable future, I'll be sacrificing sleep to play The Sims 2.
