Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games - Frontrunner in USA Today

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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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Frontrunner in USA Today

by Ian Bogost May 1, 2004

categories: Political Games

USA Today just ran a story on Frontrunner, from Lantern Games, previously discussed here on WCG (1, 2). Some more information about the game appears in the article, including the clarification that the game puts the player in the role of a campaign manager during the final 90 days of the campaign.

Comments (6)

I just stumbled on this game that is also a campaign manager, perhaps you know it already it is called "The Political Machine"?

ibogost W on May 1, 2004 5:32 AM

Yep, I saw this one a couple months ago and posted about it here with a little commentary. Randy Chase, designer of Power Politics III, also offered a comment in that post.

It does seem that there are quite a number of these types of games this year.

Ian Bogost on May 1, 2004 7:01 PM

Which game is supposed to be better- Frontrunner or Political Machine?

Glenn on June 8, 2004 11:32 PM

Hi Glenn,

I think Frontrunner and Political Machine are just totally different games.

Political Machine, as well as the other election games out there all look great! And each have their own distinguishing qualities that will appeal to different audiences.

The qualities that set Frontrunner apart from the other political games is that Frontrunner is:

* 3D -- showing support for candidates via the 3D map which changes daily

* Gameplay is realtime -- you can adjust the speed of the passing of the days, but time clicks away whether you are active or not

* in Frontrunner, issues are used like poker chips -- which polarizes the campaign among the different camps

* finally, we have focused more on political leanings: far left, left, right, and far right -- which makes it more than just a two-party game.

Frontrunner will be downloadable and is scheduled for release this summer.

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