You Can Be Mitch McConnell for a Day

[Celerity]

A new video game will let players pretend to be the politicians they most admire — or despise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/us/politics/video-game-political-arena.html



Politics is serious business. It often feels existential. Exhausting. Infuriating. Bone-dry. Confusing. Can it also be fun? Eliot Nelson insists it can be. And to prove it, he’s turning politics into a game. A video game.

For the past three years, Nelson has been working on Political Arena, which he bills as “the first truly in-depth video game about American democracy.” For those of a certain age, think SimCity meets The Oregon Trail — with a little Grand Theft Auto thrown in. Nelson wants to educate the masses about the ins and outs of how their government really works. And entertain them, too.

“Politics is gripping,” Nelson told us. “It’s one of the most popular subjects across time. The thrill of wielding power is inherently exciting.” As one early online ad for the game puts it, “Seek fame or infamy in a fully simulated political world, complete with high stakes campaign strategizing, backroom deals, scandals, special interests, and the press. Be the politician of your dreams (or nightmares).”

From D.C. in-jokes to storyboards



Nelson spent the early part of his career as a journalist in Washington. His much-loved newsletter on Congress, HuffPost Hill, was an extension of his personality — a blend of earnest wonkery, serious legislative coverage and lots and lots of wisecracks. “It was the one tipsheet that I would recommend to my friends who were not in politics,” said Jess McIntosh, who was a press secretary for former Senator Al Franken and is now advising the video game project. “I still miss it.”

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