Greetings!

Democracy 1 & 2 Democracy 2
1

I just purchased both Democracy 1 & 2 based on the demos.

I liked the game concept and found the interface to be particularly intuitive and elegant.

I am also in the Systems field for more than 30 years. I am also connected with a number of small studio game development efforts.

I’ve been a beta tester for Panther Games (Australian company) for about five years. PG produces operational WWII battlefield simulations: RDOA/HTTR/COTA/BFTB.

I am also a member of AGE Studio (French company) for two years. We develope operational and grand strategy war games. Past titles include: BOA/AACW/NCP.

I did have one comment on one aspect not modeled in Dem1/2 which I think is an important aspect of politics. That is communications and the media.

I am American. For over year prior to the invasion of Iraq, speeches by Bush constantly mentioned Iraq and suggested that military action would be needed. A year of communications took place which prepared the American public for a war. When the war began, you would have had to have been in a coma to be surprised that the USA actually invaded Iraq. It was pretty obvious to anyone with a TV, radio, or a PC that war was coming. I think communications is an important part of the political scene which is not modeled in these games. I am not sure how I would do it, but I do know that it is missing.

Thanks.

2

Maybe something that alters the people’s approval/disapproval, without necessarily having changed anything in your policy? Or something like I read in Hardball, by Chris Matthews (a book named after his show, about political campaigns, that they made us read in school) where you give people all the bad news (or policies they’d dislike) in one blow, and delaying and stretching out the stuff they like. (somthing that basically gives the game voters short attention span?)

3

it might be interesting to have a new layer of game where you can spend political capital on communications and spin, effectively cashing in some of your presidential time and effort to smooth over problems you created, or stack up support for otherwise unpopular policies.