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Election Games and the 2008 Election in Games

Posted by Elena Haliczer on 11-01-08

Like other election years, this one has seen the usual collection of interactive toys and candidate shooter-type games. We've chosen to highlight one election game – President Forever 2008, which we feel offers a more in-depth experience than these others, as a reminder that games can deepen one's overall experience and understanding of the political.

In addition to this game we wanted to call attention to two interesting developments in the overall universe of elections and gaming. The first was the news of the Obama campaign's in-game ads that provoked some very lively discussion across the blogosphere about gamers, games and politics.

The second was the growth of election-related machinima, whose notable examples include a satirical take on the Republican ticket and an attempt to poll World of Warcraft players to determine whether Azeroth is a red or blue state.

The combination of election games, in-game advertising, and machinima has brought more focus on the role of games in politics and vice versa. Because of this attention, it is ever more important to examine the meaningfulness of the game play and the power games can have to enliven our personal socio-political engagement.

"President Forever 2008": This in-depth strategy game allows the player to choose a candidate from the 2008 presidential primaries and set up their campaign strategy from turn to turn, adapting it according to successes and failures and relative performance of the other primary candidates. Comparable to ImpactGames' "Peacemaker" in its attempt to engage players in the complexity of a long-term peacemaking process, game play in this case aims to deepen one’s understanding of the impact of each strategic decision during a political campaign.

Obama's In-Game Advertising:

Obama Ad Screen Shots: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_obamascreenshots.html

Game Politics Report: "Obama Ads in Burnout Paradise": http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/10/09/report-obama-ads-burnout-paradise

GameSpot Article: "Obama Campaigns in Burnout, 17 Other Games": http://www.gamespot.com/news/6199379.html

Global Kids post: "Is Obama modeling a vision of youth engagement via its Xbox campaign ads?":

Election-Related Machinima:

"Election Duel: McCain Vs. Obama--Who Get's Pwned?": http://machinima.com/film/view&id=30491

"Repuffs": http://www.machinima.com/film/view&id=29691

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