I know an “Opposition” mode has been suggested previously, for when you lose an election, to give you chance to get back into power. I think Cliffski has suggested it’s slightly boring because it’s got the question of “what does the gameplay look like?”.
It’s this question I think I might have an answer to.
Each turn you get the chance to do a couple of different things.
- Oppose an existing government policy. This would have a couple of affects:-
- It’s implementation by the government becomes less efficient
- You become more popular with the groups that also oppose the policy (and less popular with those that like the policy)
- If the government cancels the policy within a certain period you get a popularity boost
- Support an existing government policy. This would mean:-
- It’s implementation gets more efficient
- You ‘steal’ some (10 or 20%) of the popularity the government was getting for the policy from the various voter groups
- You propose the government implements a policy they don’t currently have in place. This would be similar to 2, but also:-
- The political capital to implement is reduced.
- You get a boost in popularity if the government implements it.
On each turn you could do all 3, or none of these actions.
In addition, you could be asked your opinion on the dilemnas, and have the voter groups respond to your choice.
Hopefully if it was possible to get the balance right you’d have to a choice between a couple of different play styles:-
- Trying to nudge the government to do a better job by highlighting what you think are the best policies etc, and hoping the voters see you are the better choice at the next election.
- Being really cynical, since in opposition you could decide what voters think about policies is all that matters (not the effects they then have on the economy etc.), just go with the most popular policies.
This would obviously be a fairly sizeable addition to the game, but I think it would be a good one. And could possibly be a DLC?