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Old July 1, 2002, 08:33   #1
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President Maker - do we have a programmer in the house?
In Off-Topic's "Computer Games You'd Like To See" thread, I've been kicking around an idea for a good, polished presidential campaign simulator. Let me post my post from that thread:

Quote:
Several [run-for-prez simulators exist], actually. What I want is... smoother. More polished. Better.

Hey, if there's someone able to slap code together, I'm game - as an assistant designer. Oh, the ideas I have for this!

...

What the hell - maybe I'll just bore everyone with them anyhow. I just need to organize it in my head.

Okay. In this simulator, first of all, you wouldn't necessarily be the candidate - you'd be the campaign manager. Other prez campaign simulators have taken this approach as well. You'd have fairly large control of what candidate does - you get to decide what cities he visits, what topics he speechifies about, what asses he kisses, stuff like this. However, a candidate - particularily a candidate with mind of his own - might do stuff you don't want him to do, such as harp on his unpopular pet project, refuse to go to Milwaukee because his high school love lives there, or become an alcoholic.

The main part is - scheluding. Each week, you make a schelude. In it, you put all the candidate does - travelling between cities (different methods of travel, of course, bus is cheap but slow while plane is expensive but quick), what he does in cities (gives speeches, kisses babies, asses), when he has a TV appearance, stuff like that. You also decide how much "personal time" and sleep the candidate gets - if you make him work 24/7, he'll burn out very quickly. A tired candidate will also flub his speeches, be cranky to reporters and, eh, unresist the temptations of flesh. ("You're tired, Senator? I might be just a bodacious bimbo intern, but I know just the thing to help you relax...")

Of course, running for president means trying to get votes. That's what you're zapping city to city for - giving speeches, holding press conferences, raising funds which help you to buy ads in TV or newspapers, pepping up your organization, and so on, all the way to the final weeks of desperately taking cynical advantage of shortcomings of Yankee electoral system touring battleground states. Speeches and so on also give you a bit of choice what to do - issues (or non-issues) you concentrate on, und so weiter.

Issues? Yes, issues! Each candidate has, of course, positions on issues of the day, no matter what day of what year it is. On each issue, you can take seven stances - Far Left, Left, Moderate Left, Middle, Moderate Right, Right and Far Right. (This gives you a bit of wiggle room so you can waffle on your positions.) For instance, on issue of abortion issue, far right position could be banning it and prosecuting abortionists and abortionees to full extent of law, while moderate leftist would work to keep abortion legal if regulated. Candidates could also have some issues as their priorities, setting the tone for the campaign and making sure candidates mention their issue at every change they get. We could also have option to take Far-Out Extremist opinion ("Yes, I believe that we should nuke China right at this minute!") - hey, we kinda need it if we plan to have Libertarian candidates in!

(It was a JOKE! A JOKE! Don't apply force for non-self-defensive purposes on me, and not with that lightpole, either!)

Of course, media also plays important role. Press conferences, TV appearances - media can make or break you. This is the area where charisma and other non-political qualities shine in the most - when you're in that studio with talk-show host, it's better to wave a giant flag and shout "YEAH! AMERICA! WOOHOO!" than discuss your plan for why, exactly, America is something to be woohooed. Media's also perfect venue for ads which you can also customize, from what they are about ("I support death penalty, Hispanics - and AMERICA!") to how big they are (Pyrotechnical displays and coreography vs. "Hi, I'm Joe Thimblebottom, vote for me" with shaky camera and black background.)

There's also fundraising. From little town fundraisers to individual donations to what really counts, big old whopping bribes soft money donations from corporations and unions and like. Endorsements are always important - you might get a letter saying "We here at Christians For Christian Christmerica might endorse you if you change your stance on Gay Issues to Far Right" and then having to decide what to do.

And when all fails, dirty tricks are what it's all about. Send your people to bug opponent's campaign, disturb his fundraisers, or start a whispering campaign about his "lifelong bachelorhood." Or, more innocently, try to collect information about your own candidate. Is he speaking the truth when he swears on a stack of Bibles that he hasn't even looked at other women than his wife, especially when he's Bill Clinton? And if he isn't speaking the truth, how can you cover it up? Threaten, bribe, or just let it be?

The world keeps moving on it's own, of course. Newspapers keep you aware of what's happening - what the other candidates are doing, and whether there are any events you should know about - after "13 Killed In School Shooting", releasing that ad touting your NRA membership might not be a good idea. Newspapers are also sources for polls and maybe even columns, detailing what are chances of different candidates and how the race has developed. For extra fun, we could have three newspapers - regular fluff paper, liberal opinion mag and conservative opinion mag. ("Will America reject candidate Clinton's blatant socialism?")

You can simulate any race you want to, at least in modern times - replay Kennedy-Nixon, try to win Reagan as Mondale - or if it's a non-challenge you're looking for, Mondale with Reagan. Issues are different in different times - in 1952 Soviet relations are important, in 1968 you might offer a word or two about Civil Rights, and in 2000, as we all know, issues were of such importance as "Whose plan to provide prescription drugs for the elderly is better?"

But you aren't limited to prescribed races. You can create your own candidates. GURPS-style system - everything costs points, whether it's increasing characters Charisma, Endurance, Intelligence or so on, or choosing Advantages such as "Rich Father" or "War Hero". Then there are qualities - it's hard to emanate both Toughness (works for men, conservatives) and Empathy (works on women, liberals) at the same time, although it's easy to be a mean but petty wuss. Intelligence and Folksiness don't fit in same character, either - but it's easy to be Dan Quayle. And you can take Disadvantages - Clinton obviously had the "Sex Maniac" disadvantage, providing easy fodder for scandal rags.

But above it all, this game needs fluff (no, not fluffers, although it's easy to get that image after talking about Clinton.) Authentic-looking newspapers, candidate talking to you about problems on the road, maybe even option to interview people on the street ("I'd vote for Che Guevara, but he's such a tool of the ruling class") about what they'd like to see. Human touch! On a computer game! Novel idea not used enough on computer games heretofore! And so on! Hooray!

Whew! That was a mouthful. Now I can't think of anything for the whole day.
Now, I've been kicking around this idea in my head for some time, and I believe I have a pretty good mental image of what kind of game this is - but since I couldn't code my way out of a paper bag, it's been strictly conceptual. Lemmy suggested that maybe I should start a thread, see if there's interest and maybe actually someone knowing a programming language or two. Now, I can't code, and (if there would be enough people to start a project or something), as everyone knows, have leadership abilities of a small cantaloupe, which makes me unsuitable for project leadership. But I have ideas. Hoyyy do I have ideas. And the thing is - this kinda game would be neat-o, but unlikely to be developed by any major corporations.

Of course, this all might fizzle right at the beginning thanks to lack of interest, but still, might be worth asking whether there's any interest.
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Old July 1, 2002, 09:28   #2
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Stefu... I wish you best of luck with the game project, and yes, we do have programmers here, sure. Just be prepared, most of those "Let's create a game!" projects usually end up dying somehwere in the planning phase, but then again, there are some that turn out to be good, like Candle'Bre, which didn't die, and is on its way to a release now.
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Old July 1, 2002, 09:46   #3
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Oh I am interested. I also cannot code so that pretty much puts me into a position where I would love to help in any way possible (research perhaps?). There has to be some coders out there that would be willing to work on something like this.
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Old July 2, 2002, 05:57   #4
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hmm, no other programmers eh?
Well, if i can program, in Java, but i don't think it will get very far with only one programmer.
We could start working on ideas, the programming can't start without any ideas anyway. Maybe other programmers will come once more people get interested?
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