Government simulation game

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Simulation video games

A government simulation or political simulation is a game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of all or part of a nation. These games may include geopolitical situations (involving the formation and execution of foreign policy), the creation of domestic political policies, or the simulation of political campaigns.[1] They differ from the genre of classical wargames due to their discouragement or abstraction of military or action elements.


A screenshot from the 2005 computer adaptation of Diplomacy, first created as a board game in 1954.

Games based on geopolitics and elections existed long before the emergence of personal computers and their ability to quickly process large amounts of statistical data. One of the earliest such games was The Game of Politics, created by Oswald Lord in 1935[2] which remained in print until 1960. In 1954, the board game Diplomacy was created, which differs from other wargames in that it features a "negotiation" phase during which players reach agreements with other players, and then execute military moves simultaneously.[3] National politics has remained a vital area of board gaming, with products such as the 1986 board game Die Macher featuring elections in Germany,[4] and Wreck the Nation which satirizes the politics of the United States under the Bush administration.[5] Nationstates is a website based simulation game that allows for the creation and customization of a "nation", allowing players to shape their nations policies via issues which the player receives on an adjustable basis.

After enjoying years as a play-by-mail game, Diplomacy was one of the first games to move to take advantage of e-mail, and continues to be a popular email game as of 2007.[6]

Computer gaming[edit]

A screenshot from the Atari ST version of Balance of Power.

As computers became more sophisticated, games in this genre moved beyond e-mail to more complex simulations. One of the earliest titles in this genre was Balance of Power, designed by Chris Crawford and published in 1985. This game features conflict at the height of the Cold War, using political and policy decisions to shape outcomes rather than warfare.[7][8] In Balance of Power, any armed conflict between the player and the opponent superpower results in a nuclear war, which is considered a loss condition.

Other Cold War era games included Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator created by Virgin Interactive, Spectrum Holobyte's Crisis in the Kremlin and virtually unknown Hidden Agenda.

Conflict simulated a hypothetical situation in 1997 in which the player assumed the role of the Israeli Prime Minister and was obligated to employ various diplomatic and covert directives to defeat its rival nations. Surrounded by hostile nations, the player was restrained by a very limited military force and was thereby encouraged to employ peaceful means to remain in power until he acquired more advanced weapons systems and power.[9]

In Crisis in the Kremlin, the user could play as the protege of any of the following Soviet politicians: Mikhail Gorbachev of the reformist faction; Yegor Ligachev, leader of the hardline faction; and Boris Yeltsin, who was the prevalent figure of the nationalist faction. The player could use the simulation to test certain strategies to lead the failing Soviet Union into a new era of prosperity or force its dissolution and integration into the new world order. This game introduced the concept of budget management, citizen and faction satisfaction as well as multiple economic values and political spectrum.[10]

In Hidden Agenda the user takes the role of the president of Chimerica, a fictional post-revolutionary Central American country, trying to juggle international relations and the needs of the country's citizens.

Early political simulation games were intended more for education than entertainment. In 1987, On the Campaign Trail was developed as a tool at Kent State University's political campaign management program, and engaged students in decision-making regarding the campaigns for United States Senate elections between 1970 and 1986.[11] Subsequently, a commercial market developed for packaged games involving elections and campaigns.

A screenshot from Stardock's Political Machine game.

The 1992 game Power Politics (and, before it, 1981's President Elect)[12] focused on domestic United States political campaigns (but not the running of the country upon election). In 1996, this was adapted to the Doonesbury Election Game, designed by Randy Chase (who also did Power Politics) and published by Mindscape, in which players conducted a campaign with the assistance of a pool of advisors selected from characters in the Doonesbury comic strip.[13] A successor entitled Power Politics III was released in 2005.[14] In 2004, Stardock published Political Machine, in which the player steers a candidate through a 41-week election cycle for United States President, developing policies and tailoring talk show appearances and speech content. The game is heavily tied to modern polling methods, using real-time feedback for how campaign strategy impacts polling numbers.[15] In 2006, TheorySpark released President Forever 2008 + Primaries, an election simulation game that allows the player to realistically control an entire election campaign through both the Primaries and General Election. President Forever 2008 + Primaries itself a follow-up to the highly successful general election sim President Forever, released in 2004

Some games in the genre involve enacting policies and budget decisions to sway voters. One such game is Democracy, published in 2005 by Positech Games. In Democracy, players make decisions during each turn regarding which policies to support. As turns progress, the player views how their favorability rating changes amongst certain types of voters.[16] Candidates make promises before each election, and failure to follow through can result in lower support during the player's reelection campaign.[17] Another is Commander in Chief, produced by Eversim, boasting an array of choices for domestic policy and decisions. Another such game is Tropico.

There can also be found games that puts the player in the seat of a state leader, such as SuperPower, and its sequel, SuperPower 2, whose goals are to produce economic stability and prosperity, but the game mainly revolves around foreign policies, with the abilities to interact with other countries in many ways. The game includes a great number of real-life treaties that influence countries.

Online games[edit]

Web-based games such as NationStates and CyberNations allow players to manage the day-to-day decisions of individual governments, and compete against rival nations. Less formally structured games are also played out in internet forums, where players manage governments and nations according to a set of agreed rules, such as the United States Government Simulation, Virtual America, or Power UK.[18][19][20] Forum-based simulation games simulate the politics of one specific nation. Players on such games play as fictional politicians and participate in debates, media activity, and simulated elections. Realism is highly stressed with key topics of the day often debated on and spun by the players and admins (who act as miniature gods, with the power to shape the game world in any way that they choose).

In other web based games, players register, apply for an open nation, an avatar (administrator), and then send news article actions which help shape their policies, and aspects such as realism and cooperation are highly promoted. Still some other web based games, such as those on eRegime, focus more on taking existing game concepts (such as Balance of Power) and expanding them.

Related games[edit]

A mature city from SimCity 4.

Other construction and management simulations require government management. For example, city-building games such as the SimCity series of games developed and published by Maxis simulates the experience of being a mayor. SimCity features a real-time environment in which the player can create zones for city development, build roads, power and water utilities, and watch as their city develops based on their decisions. The game was originally published in 1989 and as of 2013 was in its fifth major release.[21]

Strategy games frequently make use of government management challenges. 4X games require the management of a government, be it tribal or interstellar. This includes tasks such as building infrastructure and conducting trade. Galactic Civilizations II requires players to manage their approval rating to keep their political party in power. Domestic policy is sometimes abstracted with more emphasis on international conflict. For example, the Civilization series gives players total control over resources, and radically restructuring an empire is a matter of clicking a "revolution!" button.

Other strategy games focus on government management to varying degrees. For instance, in the Hearts of Iron games (set in World War II) the civilian population is only a factor with partisans and manpower, whereas in Victoria a player must not only 'hobnob' and conquer, but implement the Second Industrial Revolution while warding off (ushering in) real political revolutions such as the upheavals of 1848 and communist revolt. Another politically connected game is Tropico.

Government and politics have also been incorporated into adventure games. A Mind Forever Voyaging, published by Infocom in 1985, was an interactive fiction game in which the player controlled a sentient computer capable of experimenting with potential future scenarios based on varying public policy decisions. Newsweek said of the game, "It isn't '1984,' but in some ways it is even scarier."[22]

Training and education[edit]

Beyond entertainment, these games have practical applications in training and education of government personnel. Training simulations have been created for subjects such as managing law enforcement policies (such as racial profiling), the simulation of a military officer's career, and hospital responses to emergency situations.[23]

List of government simulation games[edit]


  1. ^ Tom Leupold (2004-08-12). "Spot On: Games get political". Gamespot. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 
  2. ^ Time Magazine, February 3, 1936, "Monopoly & Politics"
  3. ^ Allan B. Calhamer, Europa Express #10, "The Roots of Diplomacy"
  4. ^ Erik Arneson, "Playing Politics"
  5. ^ "BuzzFlash Reviews". Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
  6. ^ Jim Burgess, "Play-by-Mail Diplomacy vs Play-by-Email Diplomacy"
  7. ^ Chris Crawford (2003), Chris Crawford on Game Design, ISBN 0-13-146099-4
  8. ^ Robert Mandel, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Jun., 1987), "An Evaluation of the 'Balance of Power' Simulation", pp. 333-345,
  9. ^ Zzap! Issue 70, February 1991, p.48, "Conflict: the Middle East Political Simulator"
  10. ^ Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, 447-448 (1994), "Software Reviews: Crisis in the Kremlin"
  11. ^ Nadine S. Koch, "Winning Is Not the Only Thing 'On the Campaign Trail': An Evaluation of a Micro-Computer Campaign Simulation" PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1991), pp. 694-698,
  12. ^ "President Elect." Moby Games (retrieved on January 25th, 2009).
  13. ^ "IGN: The Doonesbury Election Game". 1995-12-30. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
  14. ^ "Power Politics III (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
  15. ^ Jason Silverman (2004-08-19). "Campaign Game Mimics Real Life". Wired News. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
  16. ^ Jess Nickelsen. "Democracy (PC)". 
  17. ^ "Positech Democracy". Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
  18. ^ "United States Government Simulation - Homepage". Retrieved 2013-12-13. 
  19. ^ "Power UK - Homepage". Retrieved 2014-01-18. 
  20. ^ "Virtual America - Homepage". Retrieved 2014-02-01. 
  21. ^ Tal Blevins (2003-01-14). "Sim City 4 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
  22. ^ "Ad-Blurbs for A Mind Forever Voyaging". MobyGames. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
  23. ^ Dave Carey (2007-01-06). "Simulation games help prepare government, unite local businesses". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2011-03-18.