Politics in Games

[airboy]

I'm taking a look at politics in games. Things like the Laffer Curve in Sim City (an economic theory that cutting taxes stimulates growth, which many conservatives embrace).

Has anyone come across aspects in games that strike you as being rooted in some ideology such as liberal, conservative, libertarian, Marxist, etc.?

Michael

Every 4x game that has economic management has explicit theories on how the economy works.  There are also political/economic modeling behind any game that has a national economy component, or use of money to sway neutral nations towards your country.  The examples of this are literally limitless: Strategic Command series, Europa Universalis series; Crusader Kings (bribes, marriages etc...), Civilization series, Pride of Nations.

The belief that higher taxes has no impact on economic growth, or that lowering taxes can expand economic growth as "political" is out of the mainstream.  To be blunt, free market economies produce a lot more goods than primitive dictatorships, autocratic kingdoms, or true economic believer communists.  Higher taxes are seen as stunting economic growth in all economic models taught in US economics classes - whatever the political beliefs of the professor.  This is just standard macroeconomic theory in the West.  The question is how much taxes stunt economic growth, not that they stunt economic growth.  It is often seen as a tradeoff between public goods/equity (less economic discrepancy, free universal health care, etc....) and higher economic growth.

Further, almost every 4x game gives higher research levels to more free societies - as seen by what has happened in the world in the last 200 years.  You often see a programming tradeoff between the population unrest for foreign wars (lower in less democratic countries) and faster economic growth in more free countries.  You also see a tradeoff in population unrest for dictatorships/theocracy (lower unrest) and more socially liberal countries (higher unrest).

ALL of this gets into how beliefs about economic growth, innovation, population unrest, control of society by government, and support of military adventures impact the game model.

[rwenstrup]

There are also some games that are about politics...President Infinity (funding efforts in elections), Democracy (running a country), President Elect (simplified elections, old Dos game).

[Huw the Poo]

The Bioshock series, or at least the first entry, is full of some kind of political (or at least ideological) waffling.  I can't be any more precise because I paid no attention to it whatsoever.  Something something Ayn Rand.

[bayonetbrant]

The Bioshock series, or at least the first entry, is full of some kind of political (or at least ideological) waffling.  I can't be any more precise because I paid no attention to it whatsoever.  Something something Ayn Rand.

there's a lot of utopian backstory to it, but there are no real political decisions that the player makes in the game.  Plus, it's pretty micro (at the individual level), rather than macro, at the societal level.

[FarAway Sooner]

Distant Worlds: Universe does a more ambitious job than most at modeling a private sector independent of the government.  The game is relatively free of explicit ideology, but it at least does an interesting job modeling what happens when you have too little private sector (or too little public sector).

Otherwise, I've found very few games that have a sophisticated take on the trade-offs there.  Some interesting ideas emerging, but almost none of them are even-handed or nuanced in their treatment of issues that are very complicated.

Some allow an "anything goes" decision making tree around different issues (e.g., half the romantic angles in Loren: Amazon Princess are homosexual), but I've not seen any that really jam a particular agenda down your throats.

[DicedT]

The Bioshock series, or at least the first entry, is full of some kind of political (or at least ideological) waffling.  I can't be any more precise because I paid no attention to it whatsoever.  Something something Ayn Rand.

there's a lot of utopian backstory to it, but there are no real political decisions that the player makes in the game.  Plus, it's pretty micro (at the individual level), rather than macro, at the societal level.

This is actually what I'm interested in. Games where politics or ideology is part of the premise. I haven't played Bioshock, but is Ayn Rand just part of the backstory, or do you have to behave according to Randian ideology to win the game?

Though come to think of it, most games are Ayn Rand at heart. It's every man for himself.

Michael

[bayonetbrant]

I think more backstory than anything.  The premise is the 'quasi-uptopian' world that's now been wrecked that you have to work your way through.  There's no overt choice for the player to make on a political spectrum, though there are some interesting ethical dilemmas you're presented with.

[endfire79]

I think more backstory than anything.  The premise is the 'quasi-uptopian' world that's now been wrecked that you have to work your way through.  There's no overt choice for the player to make on a political spectrum, though there are some interesting ethical dilemmas you're presented with.

This made the game a hoot to play! Loved it

[Huw the Poo]

Incidentally, the first Bioshock is an incredibly good game.  I can't speak for the other two though.