''Democracy'' is a
government simulation game
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 Geopolitics, geopolitical situations (involving the formation and execution of for ...
that was first developed by
Positech Games
Positech Games is a video game developer based in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1997 and belongs to the former Lionhead Studios programmer Cliff Harris. The company has published a number of PC games. One of the most notable pu ...
in 2005, with a sequel released in December 2007, a third game in 2013 and a fourth in 2022. The player plays as if they are the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
or
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
of a democratic government. The player must introduce and alter policies in seven areas – tax, economy, welfare, foreign policy, transport, law and order and public services. Each policy has an effect on the happiness of various voter groups, as well as affecting factors such as crime and air quality. The player has to deal with "situations", which are typically problems such as petrol protests or homelessness, and also has to make decisions on dilemmas that arise each turn.
Gameplay
After deciding which nation to play as, the player must win the support of various
factions which make up the
electorate
Electorate may refer to:
* The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate''
* The dominion of a Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...
, including the religious,
patriotic
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
,
parents
A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...
,
capitalists,
socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
,
liberals,
conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and others, and thus win the ensuing elections that take place. The player introduces policies and uses sliders to change the amount of
government funding
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
, level of a
tax
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
or generally the
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and regulations in that particular area. Of course, because each individual person belongs to several factions (e.g.: a
Poor Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Smoker who is a
Patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
or a
Rich
Rich may refer to:
Common uses
* Rich, an entity possessing wealth
* Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling
**Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting
Places United States
* Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...
,
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
person who is also a
Drinker), it is practically impossible to control all the voters. Before each
general election, two promises are made by the player to the electorate (e.g.: reduce
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...
by 10%). If the player has not kept these promises by the next election, the people become annoyed and
cynicism
Cynic or Cynicism may refer to:
Modes of thought
* Cynicism (philosophy), a school of ancient Greek philosophy
* Cynicism (contemporary), modern use of the word for distrust of others' motives
Books
* ''The Cynic'', James Gordon Stuart Grant 1 ...
increases.
To make policy changes, the player must spend political capital, which is earned by loyal ministers.
The player must also try to balance the
budget and pay off the
country's debts without losing votes and causing
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
due to very high taxes.
There are also many events, dilemmas and situations in the game which the player must deal with. An example of an event might be the curing of a
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
, a dilemma may be whom to appoint as a senior judge and a situation may be high levels of
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
. An event happens, sometimes due to policies however the player doesn't take part; they simply profit or suffer from it. A dilemma is an important decision which must be resolved for the turn to be ended and situations are ongoing conditions which must be dealt with or helped and enjoyed.
Modding
The games designer has described the code behind the game as being based on a
neural network. This has allowed the game to be very easily modded, and most of the 'game logic' in it is openly editable in simple text
CSV files, allowing players to change the way the core mechanics of the game operate. A number of mods have been released for both the first and second game in the series, and are generally released on the Positech forum. Mods have included new countries (and real countries for ''Democracy 2'') and the addition of factors such as inflation, as well as enhancement of the voter cynicism factor in ''Democracy 2''.
Sequels
Democracy 2
A sequel to the game was released in December 2007, which, while very similar to the original in terms of gameplay, differs in that it uses fictional nations. It has numerous new features, including cabinet ministers, more policy debates, and real-world statistical data.
Democracy 3
In October 2013, ''Democracy 3'' was released. In late 2015 Positech announced an 'expandalone' for the game set entirely in Africa, with a different simulation model, music and graphics entitled ''Democracy 3: Africa''.
Democracy 4
The Alpha Release was made available in early August 2020. The United Kingdom, Germany and United States were initially the only selectable countries to play, with later development granting access to playing as Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia and France. The game was released on October 6, 2020 for early access on
Steam and
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
with the final version being released on January 13, 2022. In addition to the aforementioned countries, Japan and South Korea are playable as well. Supplemental add-ons have been made giving each country unique dynamics with buffs and debuffs as well as new in-game events. Other added touches include making the game warm mod friendly. The game is available on Windows, but remains unavailable on MacOS.
Democracy 4 uses an in-house developed game engine coded in
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
using
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such ...
by two programmers in the UK, Cliff Harris and Jeff Sheen. Artwork, SFX and Music was provided by third parties. Uses some
middleware
Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue".
Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...
for sound playback, and also to render vector artwork and Unicode fonts.
Release and reception
The original game was released in 2007 in the United States by
Tri-Synergy, with added events and policies, and a special mode in which the player controls a fictional nation. The game received "mixed" reviews, according to game aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. Website Game Tunnel scored the game 8/10 overall, stating "losing a game of ''Democracy'' is almost as rewarding as winning your next election" and "there is always the motivation to do better next time". The website also awarded ''Democracy'' its own 2005 'Simulation Game of the Year' award.
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...
rated the game 3.5/5 and said "''Democracy'' does exactly what it sets out to do - get you thinking about how even small changes effect
icdifferent groups of people".
''Democracy 3'' also received "mixed" reviews, according to Metacritic. While Polish magazine ''
CD-Action
''CD-Action'' is a Polish magazine devoted to video games. Its first issue was published on April 1, 1996. In 2005, an unsuccessful attempt was made to introduce the magazine to the Czech market; only one issue was ever published.
References
...
'' stated that the game "does much more for understanding democracy than any citizenship lesson," Daniel Schindel's critical review for ''Unwinnable'' noted several inaccuracies concerning the in-game effects of imposing
death penalty, legalizing drugs, and strong
labor laws
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
. A spin-off game, titled ''Democracy 3: Africa'', was quietly released in early 2016. The game focused entirely on nations on the continent of Africa and added features to address the corruption, authoritarianism, military dictatorships, and
female genital mutilation that is abundant on the continent. Players are tasked with fixing these issues, or regressing further into a dictatorship.
In September 2018, Positech Games announced an updated version of the game, in the form of ''Democracy 4'', which was released in early access in 2020. This title, as with the spin-off, ''Democracy: Africa'', was produced by a joint venture between
Positech Games
Positech Games is a video game developer based in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1997 and belongs to the former Lionhead Studios programmer Cliff Harris. The company has published a number of PC games. One of the most notable pu ...
and
Stargazy Studios. In addition to ''Democracy: Africa'', Stargazy previously provided translation and
localization
Localization or localisation may refer to:
Biology
* Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence
* Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...
services for ''Democracy 3''. New features added to ''Democracy 4'' included simulated corruption, crackdowns on political freedoms and free speech, and even authoritarianism. Events and decisions in the game were updated to reflect the passage of time between the release of ''Democracy 3'' and ''Democracy 4''.
References
External links
Democracy game homepageDevelopers homepageRed Marble Games homepage (Mac version)Tri-Synergy homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Democracy (Video Game)
2005 video games
Government simulation video games
Indie video games
Linux games
MacOS games
Windows games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games with Steam Workshop support
Single-player video games
Tri Synergy games
Positech Games games
Red Marble Games games