Marriage Policy

First off, I’ve been playing the game for almost two weeks. I love it so much! It is very well done, very addictive, and feeds my need for political hypothesizing. I appreciate how complex it is and how much work went into it. I wasn’t sure where to put this. I was going to put it in general discussion. Then, I decided it was a modding issue. It’s actually something I’ve felt strongly about since I started playing.

It is the issue of marriage. I propose that there is a missing component which is a strong issue in every one of the playable countries. That is the issue of whether marriage should be restricted to heterosexual couples or if same-sex couples can get married. I know that there is an issue which pops up that asks whether it should be allowed or banned, but I think it is more complex and has a stronger presence than that. It’s a controversial issue like the other ones in the game. Some people hate it, others insist on it, and most couldn’t care either way.

I like how the sliders for Alcohol Law and Abortion Law are set up. I think there should be a similar ever-present slider for this issue, maybe named Marriage Liberty. This is how liberal the government is with granting the legal status of marriage. On one extreme would be ‘heterosexual marriages only’ and then on the other end ‘polygamy’ or even ‘polyfidelity’. Of course, the one end would please Conservatives and the Religious, while the other pleases Liberals. No western country has legal polygamy, but they don’t have curfew for adults either. But I’m really glad this is included in the game- for when I feel like taking on the challenge of creating a police state while remaining democratically elected. We won’t get into how African and Asian countries have legal polygamy when it’s not very liberal or egalitarian. That would be too complex, especially when you split hairs between polygyny and polyandry. The polygamy on this slider would probably be the ‘liberal hippie’ kind conservatives fear allowing same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to.

If someone would tackle this as a mod, that would be awesome. I’m thinking of attempting it myself, but I’ve never done a mod before. I’ve used plenty of them, but have never taken on the monumental and painstaking task of creating my own. Even with the relative ease in which it seems these files can be modded, I am no graphic artist.

I hate to be the one just putting forth ideas and not actually being able to create the product. But this is something I would really like to see- the absence of which somewhat takes away from the otherwise awesomeness of the game.

This is a really good idea. I think the game in general feels a little like it’s missing LGBTQ issues, despite the fact they’ve been in the news a reasonable amount lately. The UK is legalising gay marriage rather than just civil partnerships and I’m sure I’ve seen quite a few debates in the US news about trans* people and trans* rights.

I will have a crack at this later. And possibly look to expand it to add a couple of policies/dilemmas/etc. on other LGBTQ issues.

-El