Government simulation
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
A government simulation or political simulation is an Internet-based game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of a certain nation. Government simulations differ from micronations in that they deal with existing nations (such as the modern day United States, United Kingdom or Canada), whereas micronations normally deal with fantasy countries or even historical nations (i.e., The Roman Empire). Government simulations normally are conducted over Internet-based message boards, but have also been played over electronic mailing lists.
The first known government simulation was the AOL Senate Sim, which was conducted purely on AOL-based message boards. However, several Internet-based simulations popped up not long afterwards including the United States Government Simulation (http://www.usgovsim.com), the National Government Simulation (http://pub176.ezboard.com/brepnet), and the Online Senate Simulation. Of these sims, USGS is the only one still in operation today.
History - U.S. Simulations
The history of U.S. government simulations can perhaps be best divided into four eras. The first began with the founding of the AOL Senate Simulation and other Internet-based simulations such as USGS and NGS1. NGS1 was unique in that it simulated the House of Representatives, whereas most other simulations had chosen to simulate the United States Senate. USGS is a hybrid sim that incorporates both Congressional chambers as well as State Governors and takes a more relaxed approach to rules and procedures.
The second era began with the second incarnation of National Government Simulation, with Senate Sim developing later. NGS2 operated for over two years. NGS2 was often contrasted with the Senate Sim in terms of style and the sort of behavior that was viewed as acceptable. Where NGS2 was, especially after the first year, often characterized by extreme disagreements and extended flame wars, Senate Sim was significantly more collegial. Strangely enough, these stylistic differences often resembled the real life differences between the Senate and House of Representatives, even though both simulations shared many members.
NGS2 suffered from several major problems by the fall of 2002. First, legislation in many important areas (including the legalization of gay marriage, the abolition of the death penalty, and the establishment of a universal health care system) had been passed very early in the history of the simulation (when membership was quite low) resulting in a political climate which significantly differed from that of the United States. Additionally, the Simulation suffered from a proliferation of political parties (at one point the parties included the Republicans, Democrats, Social Democrats, Libertarians, Whigs, Greens, and White Panthers). As a result, a movement emerged to "reset" the simulation. Legislation to this effect passed the House, but was later overturned by the Supreme Court after a protracted battle. As a result, activity in the simulation virtually ceased.
The third era began with the collapse of Senate Sim and NGS2. The Senate Sim collapsed abruptly in 2003 when Chief Administrator Joel Rotunda abruptly quit. During this period two attempts at NGS2 successors were created - National Government Simulation 3 and NGS: America. NGS3 proved to be short-lived, largely due to a failed rules system that featured State Governments, which were rapidly hijacked by various political radicals, resulting in the collapse of the United States into Civil War. NGS: America proved longer lived and was notable mostly for the fact that it featured a bicameral system of government and that it featured a notable influx of new players, many of them former members of the defunct AOL Senate Simulation.
A fourth era began with the introduction of various new sims such as GovSim (http://www.govsim.com), the American Government Simulation, and US SenSim (no longer active).
AGS, founded in the Summer of 2004, already has achieved a membership numbering in the hundreds. It is unique in that it features a simulated "game world" whereby the results of player actions are simulated by the game's Administrative Board. As of May of 2005 the world of AGS differs significantly from the real world. Most notably:
-Iran's nuclear program was successfully destroyed by a US Air Strike. -After the US launched a limited air strike against Sudan in response to ongoing genocide in Darfur, a number of US citizens were taken hostage, leading to a Congressional Declaration of War against Sudan and a subsequent (successful) American invasion of that country. -The United States has passed and implemented a Flat Tax. -The Supreme Court has overturned previous rulings with regard to Separation of Church and State, ruling as Constitutional an Executive Order mandating the public display of the 10 Commandments at government buildings.
History - International Simulations
In late 1999 the True UN Simulator (TUN) was created, which allowed players to participate in UN Assembly scenarios and other international affairs. The game shut down in late 2000 and was reborn a few weeks later as TrueWorldSim (http://www.trueworldsim.com) (TWS). TWS stayed as a war-oriented sim until April of 2005, when it went back to its roots as an International Politics Simulation. "Nations" Simulation (http://nations-sim.co.uk/game), was established mid- 2002, and has expanded to become one of the most played games of its genre. In mid-2002, Politics UK (http://politicsuk.net) was born. Currently the largest of any UK Parliament simulation, it recently acquired Politics Canada (http://www.politicscanada.net), the largest of the Canadian sims. While there are many other similar online representations of real-life politics, these four are generally recognized as the top international simulations.
External links
- American Government Simulation (http://www.americangovernmentsimulation.com)
- GovSim (http://www.govsim.com)
- Particracy (http://www.particracy.net)
- Politics Canada (http://www.politicscanada.net)
- Politics UK (http://politicsuk.net)
- Road to the Presidency (http://rtp4.kernscorp.com/)
- SimCity
- Terra Politicus (http://www.mockparliament.com/forum/index.php) Australian Mock Parliament
- True World Simulator (http://www.trueworldsim.com)
- United States Government Simulation (http://www.usgovsim.com)
- "Nations" - Geopolitical Nation Simulation Game (http://www.nations-sim.co.uk/game)
- "The New Nation (http://s11.invisionfree.com/New_Nation)
