Some questions...

Am interested in the game, but have some serious questions to ask and don’t see an FAQ here or anything that can answer these questions:

  • Does this game simulate the effect of income inequality and its impact on voting and democracy? In other words, can it simulate a core of very wealthy citizens who can sway elections by providing specific candidates with tons of campaign funds?
  • Can it represent the effect of lobbies on specific politicians to sway their legislation?
  • Can it simulate the effects of Gerrymandered districts that skew election results so that the number of representatives a party can generate is not proportional to the popular vote in the state overall?
  • Does the game simulate politically activist courts, particularly SCOTUS, who alter the game rules for everyone?

My point is, how realistic is the game as a simulator for modern US politics? I’d love to see feedback from some who have played the game.

All of these are pretty much very specific to U.S. politics. The game tries to generalize politics so that it applies to most nations, or at least Western nations. And is first and foremost designed to be an enjoyable game. So, these uniquely American political elements are not well-represented, because that would skew the perspective. However, you can see the enormous effect that Capitalists and the Wealthy have on politics and how they are affected by a wide range of policies (The “1%” influencing the government).

Simulating some of these elements may be able to be done by a mod, but it would have to be very extensive. The game doesn’t really deal with Party politics and geographical representation within a nation (lobbies, campaign funding, district division, gerrymandering). That would require an extremely complex and (perhaps not very fun) engine. When you choose a party, it is basically a namesake. And the opposition party doesn’t really do much. They just represent those who oppose your policies enough to vote against you. The game has much more to do with pleasing particular ideological groups of voters, balancing the economy, and manipulating infrastructure.