For millions of Americans, November 2nd will be a date that shall live in infamy. For other millions, it will be a vindication. The 2004 Presidential race is arguably the most divisive and closely contested political contest in recent American history, coinciding as it does with significant shifts in the country's foreign policy, international standing, economic health, and even political philosophy. With a flood of newly registered voters and record-breaking ratings for the televised debates, there are predictions of an additional 14 million eligible voters turning out this year for a total of 120 million eligible voters, up from 106 million in the 2000 election. The day after the elections will be both morning and mourning in America. Is it any surprise that this epic civic war has inspired a handful of computer games? Perhaps the surprise is that it hasn't inspired more of them?

The Game of Politics

Computer games about the Presidential election are hardly new. Politics has long been viable subject matter for strategy games, with Chris Crawford's 1985 classic Balance of Power being probably the purest expression of this. Similarly, you see plenty of games trying to work the political angle into a larger context, whether it's Civilization's forms of government, political victory conditions in a sci-fi game like Master of Orion, or even an infernal Senate struggle in Disgaea, a Japanese fantasy RPG. But as far back as 1988, SSI published Nelson Hernandez's President Elect, which was solely about the election process for the American Presidency. Randy Chase's Power Politics was published in 1992, followed by a Doonesbury-themed sequel called The Doonesbury Election Game in 1995. Before these, there were Avalon Hill's Candidate and Mayfair's Road to the White House, both board games. (Several developers we spoke with in the course of researching this article cited Road to the White House as an inspiration.)


Since then, however, the gaming industry has compartmentalized into mainstream and niche titles, with election games clearly falling into the latter category. In 1988, Jim Gasperini used storytelling software to create Hidden Agenda, a game in which the player assumed the role of a Central American country's president for a three-year term, setting policy and dealing with random events. "We hoped the game would bring people interested in international politics to an appreciation of the power of the game medium, and attract those already interested in games to become interested in international politics," Gasperini recalls. "Rather than attracting the superset of these worlds, however, it turned out that the actual market was the subset of the intersection: those who were already interested in both. In the years since Hidden Agenda was published, with a very few exceptions, the worlds of educational/serious-themed software and of commercial games have sharply diverged."

Before Florida and After Florida

This is what election games have struggled with as gaming becomes more popular. Most gamers would rather conquer planets and slay dragons, and most political junkies would rather not play games. But there are glimmers of hope, partly because of the perennial interest in elections. John Gastil, the creator of Election Day, observes the obvious pattern. "Every four years, people get more interested."