Log in

View Full Version : Probably the most Boring game idea I've ever heard



Stamp Mcfury
12-16-2003, 06:10 PM
I found this link to this page today it was game related so I thought posted it
Link to article (http://slate.msn.com/id/2092688/)


If you browse through the titles and descriptions of the "simulation" games at any software store, you might think you were looking at the syllabus of a sociology lecture. Beyond the ever-popular SimCity franchise are games such as Tropico that let you run a virtual banana republic, or ones like Civilization and Age of Empires that reconstruct historical epochs with astonishing levels of detail. A recent game called Republic allows players to simulate the overthrow of an authoritarian Eastern bloc regime: You can build an insurgent military force, or you can win converts through old-fashioned ideological persuasion. Now, the Tate Gallery in London has funded an ambitious project to simulate an alternate political system using the conventions of multiplayer online gaming.

An Online Sim Politics game. I admit i like some Sim games (sim city, sim theme park ect) but a sim election game with online players Hmm.


This is a strange state of affairs, because presidential politics lends itself naturally to the idiom and audience of today's games. Political campaigns are already structured like games,

Mind you that article was made by a political pundit, so this game would be abought what he has focused his life work on. So I can se the appeal of the game to him. Also the PC market for being able to niche products like this. I don't think You'll never see a game with such a small possible market made for a console.

Jorpho
12-16-2003, 07:02 PM
Ever heard of SimHealth, the Maxis game in which you get to overhaul the American health care system? (No, really!)

calthaer
12-16-2003, 07:23 PM
Hey - if it's done right, I believe that ANY game *can* be fun. Who knows? What if they give you not only a popularity poll, but also a "gusto" meter where you try to grab as much as you can while in office? Pick up perks, stipends, interns, whatever - and try not to get caught by the media. That's what politics is all about, right?

Initially they didn't even think that Sim City would be fun - like "who would enjoy running a city?" It's all about the design and, I would argue, not as much about the subject matter.

wcmiker
12-16-2003, 08:14 PM
Sounds awesome.

Keir
12-17-2003, 10:24 AM
Don't sound that boring. Not as boring as Densha de Go (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22754) certainly.

Kid Fenris
12-17-2003, 10:28 AM
It's not an unprecedented idea among video games. There's at least one older Japanese title (for the Famicom, I think) in which players try to win the 1988 U.S. presidential election.

ClubNinja
12-17-2003, 11:27 AM
How about Campaign '84 for the Colecovision? I've never played it, but I'd guess it's the same deal.

BoOchan
12-18-2003, 06:15 AM
Oh God...

We all hate elections, so whats the point of having games that simulate them?

GrandAmChandler
12-18-2003, 07:31 AM
Ever heard of SimHealth, the Maxis game in which you get to overhaul the American health care system? (No, really!)

I deifnitely picked this one up off the shelf when it was first released, especially after my excitement from Sim City, SIm Ant, and Sim Farm (My personal favorite) I will admit that I have never played it, but it sure looked somewhere along the lines of Sim Life in quality..... bleck....