Democracy 3
The third in the series of complex political strategy games made by indie developer Positech Games Releasing a video, Positech Games announced that Democracy 3 is now available for pre-order and beta access now from the developers site here. Pre-order customers will get DRM-free copies that run on PC, Mac or Linux. A Steam key for the games eventual steam release is also included. I really did want to make Britain a better, happier place for everyone.
Trouble is, no-one else agreed. I compromised my own values and I punished people who were just like me, I scrimped and I saved and I took desperate actions. I tried to think long-term, but I also fought seemingly endless short-term fires. The middle-class hated me, the rich abused every tax loophole they could find, the poor took to alcohol abuse and crime. The socialists and greens cheered me, sure, but that didn’t matter a jot as the nation’s money haemorrhaged its last, and the public understandably voted for the other guy.
I tried to help them all, and they all hated me for it. Professor Brian Cox and his mates were dead wrong. Things can only get worse. Perhaps the most immediately striking thing about Positech’s latest government sim is that it’s full of maths. I will presume it’s maths based on research rather than wild speculation, but in any case it’s game built upon a vast array of adjustable numbers, each of which has cause and effect on at least half a dozen other numbers.
Raise luxury goods tax, for instance, and you’ll see the nation’s deficit reduce somewhat, the socialists and poor will cheer you on and, in theory, there’ll be more emphasis on domestic rather than international products. But the middle class will be furious that their iPads cost more, foreign investors might shy away and quite frankly it’ll all go to hell in a half-dozen ways you probably hadn’t expected.
Another example – hybrid cars and alternative energy sources are all jolly nice on paper, but what possible use are they if they can’t bandage up a nation’s bleeding budget right away? All these groups and sub-groups of people, all with their different needs, so many so contrary to what others desire. So much juggling. Can it ever possibly work, is there any balance, some perfect set of numbers? I don’t know, but I can’t very well just give up, can I?
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