Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games - Bush vs. Hillary: Power Politics III

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Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

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Bush vs. Hillary: Power Politics III

by Ian Bogost February 26, 2004

categories: Political Games

Thanks to Randy Chase at Kellogg Creek Software for reminding us that the release date of their forthcoming game Power Politics III is set for April 5.

Randy also designed the original Power Politics in 1992, as well as the Doonesbury Election Game in 1996. This third version is entirely distributed online. I'm looking forward to seeing how direct distribution plays out for them; this is one of the best options available for indie developers.

Comments (2)

Ian,

Thanks for the mention. Appreciate the exposure to your readers.

I've been a very vocal evangalist for the potential of the Internet as an alternative channel for small developers since the early 90's. (The Doonesbury game was actually developed to be updated and modified by online files, but my publisher decided to drop not support that feature after the game's release.)

Aside from the marketing potential - and the very real survival opportunity for us small developers - the dynamic relationship between developer and player is an amazing benefit. I'm as proud of the sense of community surrounding SpiritWars (my first online-only game) as I am of the game itself.

Having done my first two political sims for publishers, I never really had any contact with the folks who have been playing them for the last twelve years. We'll be opening the Power Politics chat community in the next few days, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know some of the folks who have been sending me emails for years.

Randy

Randy Chase on February 27, 2004 8:35 AM

lietwbi

kgeemzav - kgeemzav on October 24, 2004 12:24 PM