I've been itching for something like this for a while, so I thought i'd post my thoughts about it. I know there was a thread not too long ago about applying CK2 mechanics to a modern setting. This will be about a democratic setting. Specifically about politicians and parties.
Probably something worth pointing out: I'm from the United States, so I'm more familiar with the way our government works as opposed to others, even though it's not all that dissimilar from other representative democracies. In fact this post will be more about applying these mechanics to a broader democratic government, NOT any specific country's government.
A game I'm gonna bring up right away is Democracy 3 and why this is different. If you've never played it, it handles policies in an interesting and rather in-depth way (in fact it's the entire focus of the game), but when it comes to actual government, it completely bombs. You are the only real party/entity doing anything. If you lose an election it's game over. There is also no law making body, instead you spend points generated each turn to pass your different laws.
I think this is where CK2 mechanics would shine. Instead, have an actual law making body (congress, parliament) that votes on different laws that can affect the nation. Each seat is filled by a member who has their own, party affiliation, values, agenda, and voter base. These things would not only affect what party they are actually part of, but how likely they are to vote with other parties or even change parties. There is plenty of room here to simulate things like corruption on a personal level, as well as perhaps a system where they choose a party leader among themselves. A game like this might work better if you played as a whole party, as opposed to a single person like in CK2, but all characters would still be autonomous and make their own decisions.
When it comes to the actual parties, they would all have one or more ideologies/philosophies associated with them. These would determine it's voter base and how it's members will (usually) vote. These ideologies could also change as time goes on for many different reasons. If a party becomes out of touch with most peoples desires, it should be able to shift some aspect of it's agenda to be more in line with it's target demographics. Something like this could result in a schism within a party, either temporarily dividing it's votes on certain issues, or giving birth to a brand new party.
When it comes to the nation you are playing as, I imagine this could be:
1. a single real-life country - more focused but would exclude people not familiar with that country
2. a selection of real-life countries - less monogamous, but could be hard to make them all unique or reasonably accurate
3. a neutral made-up one (like "SimNation" from the Sims) - boring but easy
Regardless of the choice, gameplay would likely focus almost entirely on that nation and may or may not involve a simulation of other counties. If it did, it would probably only exist so foreign policy would be more interesting or dynamic. It would likely be MUCH less focused on war than other paradox games, if it's even an aspect at all.
I could go on, but I want to hear what other ideas people have. Do you guys even want something like this?
TL;DR paradox pls mak dis gaem
Probably something worth pointing out: I'm from the United States, so I'm more familiar with the way our government works as opposed to others, even though it's not all that dissimilar from other representative democracies. In fact this post will be more about applying these mechanics to a broader democratic government, NOT any specific country's government.
A game I'm gonna bring up right away is Democracy 3 and why this is different. If you've never played it, it handles policies in an interesting and rather in-depth way (in fact it's the entire focus of the game), but when it comes to actual government, it completely bombs. You are the only real party/entity doing anything. If you lose an election it's game over. There is also no law making body, instead you spend points generated each turn to pass your different laws.
I think this is where CK2 mechanics would shine. Instead, have an actual law making body (congress, parliament) that votes on different laws that can affect the nation. Each seat is filled by a member who has their own, party affiliation, values, agenda, and voter base. These things would not only affect what party they are actually part of, but how likely they are to vote with other parties or even change parties. There is plenty of room here to simulate things like corruption on a personal level, as well as perhaps a system where they choose a party leader among themselves. A game like this might work better if you played as a whole party, as opposed to a single person like in CK2, but all characters would still be autonomous and make their own decisions.
When it comes to the actual parties, they would all have one or more ideologies/philosophies associated with them. These would determine it's voter base and how it's members will (usually) vote. These ideologies could also change as time goes on for many different reasons. If a party becomes out of touch with most peoples desires, it should be able to shift some aspect of it's agenda to be more in line with it's target demographics. Something like this could result in a schism within a party, either temporarily dividing it's votes on certain issues, or giving birth to a brand new party.
When it comes to the nation you are playing as, I imagine this could be:
1. a single real-life country - more focused but would exclude people not familiar with that country
2. a selection of real-life countries - less monogamous, but could be hard to make them all unique or reasonably accurate
3. a neutral made-up one (like "SimNation" from the Sims) - boring but easy
Regardless of the choice, gameplay would likely focus almost entirely on that nation and may or may not involve a simulation of other counties. If it did, it would probably only exist so foreign policy would be more interesting or dynamic. It would likely be MUCH less focused on war than other paradox games, if it's even an aspect at all.
I could go on, but I want to hear what other ideas people have. Do you guys even want something like this?
TL;DR paradox pls mak dis gaem
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