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Sure, groups of people vote for the player because they like policies and plans, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually happy. It’s telling that GDP and popularity are the marks of a successful country. That, so I thought, was the game’s strength, which perhaps meant that it was a critique of the various democratic systems that it simulates as well as a game. I was impressed that the game forced me to face certain realities of rule, chipping away at my own beliefs and bias, and exposing the flaws in my naïve expectations. There’s a great deal to admire about the model, which mostly hides its number-crunching behind attractively austere displays. The playthrough hadn’t begun as an experiment in dystopian design though, it had become that because balancing Britain was much more difficult than I’d expected it to be. Partly because of the game’s tight web of cause and effect, and partly because I enjoyed pushing the simulation to its limits, when welfare became social malware, I pushed the country over the edge, encouraging the collapse. I’d tried to introduce policies and spending plans that suited my own political beliefs, which manifest around the idea of a large, benevolent government that magically assists without interfering, and protects without becoming paternalistic. Who would vote for the man who had failed so spectacularly and so quickly? Nobody. Anarchy in the UK and, worst of all, my chances of re-election were close to zero. I placed my laptop at the feet of Jeremy Bentham’s pickled remnants, consulted the teachings of John Stuart Mill, and prepared to make Britain great again.īy dusk, armed gangs roamed the streets and once peaceful citizens brandished weaponry of their own in an attempt to claim back their towns and cities. I wanted to create a balanced society, avoiding mawkish pandering to special interest groups and instead doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
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My first encounter with the game began with a plan.
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As always, the plan didn't quite work out and the actual experience was far more interesting than I'd anticipated.ĭemocracy 3 made a funeral pyre of my idealism. During my second stint in government, I expected to inhabit the middle ground, hoping to discover stability in mediocrity. On my first visit, I broke Britain, crushing its culture and creating a country reminiscent of Clockwork Orange, filled with gangs and ultraviolence. I returned to Democracy 3 in an attempt to put right the wrongs of my previous administration.