Video game seeks to make peace, not war
A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up a bus, leaving the newly elected Israeli prime minister to puzzle over a response. A missile strike could ease security fears, or prompt more violence. A diplomatic approach might anger Israelis, leading to an assassination plot.
The complex choices facing leaders in the Middle East have long confounded political analysts and policy makers. But two graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University are hoping their video game based on the conflict will help players find solutions - and raise capital for their new company.
But will such a game attract players and investors? I love games of this genre, so whenever PeaceMaker comes out, sign me up!
One of my favorite games so far is SuperPower II, a game that takes statistics from the CIA Factbook and uses them as the starting point. You can play any country in the world (including the Vatican, the Palestinian Authority, United States, Germany, Taiwan, Lebanon, anything) and do pretty much whatever you want. Want to conquer the world? Best of luck. Want to foster diplomatic and trade relations? By all means. Want to be a terrorist state? Go for it. Want to turn your country into a financial tiger? Do so.
Games based in reality are excellent, especially when all of the intricacies of modern politics and economics are introduced. Not only are they enjoyable, they teach as well.
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Shaun Kenney 
1 Comments:
For $30 it's definitely worth picking up.
My *only* complaint would be the tendency towards socialist-style governments. i.e. if you're not spending money on education, your populace isn't being educated. Period. Likewise, when you run the game for a long time, all of them adopt a financial condition where they all have huge surpluses. Deficit spending (and it's benefits) simply aren't addressed.
Also there's a question of projection of power. There are only a handful of countries that can project power globally (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France) to any sizeable degree. Not so in SuperPower II. Everyone can project force -- so if you want to invade Madagascar, by all means...
Beyond that, it's an excellent game. I played Columbia, eradicated the drug trade, boosted the infrastructure, and ultimately invaded and absorped Ecuador (but not without a substantial hit to international reputation). Venezuela was next on the list, but I was so afraid of international intervention I couldn't do it.
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