A great game in which you run your own
nation.Managing all aspects via multiple options, forcing your will on your innocent citizens.
It is at nationstates.net, currently it is very very slow due to the server being thoroughly overrun especially during peak times..
Overview
From the site:
"Jennifer Government: NationStates is a nation simulation game. You create your own country, fashioned after your own political ideals, and care for its people. Either that or you deliberately torture them. It's really up to you."
People are controlled and choices are made via multiple options, this creating a slight limitation but the options being wide and controversial enough to find out more than is simply answered in your response.
For Example:
Last night the respected tabloid TV show 60 Minutes ran a report on the rising divorce rate. What is happening to the nuclear family?
Options
A "There's a simple solution," says Pastor Felix, of the Catholic Church. "Divorce should be illegal. 'For better or worse,' anyone remember how that goes? We should return to the good old days, when you got married for life and stuck by your partner no matter how much of a drunken, abusive, adulterating disappointment they turned out to be."
B John Black, author of the hit book, 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Some Whole Other Place,' has a simpler solution. "If couples would just call each other 'darling' once in a while, there would be far fewer relationship breakdowns. A little affection is all it takes. So the government should make it mandatory: call your spouse 'darling' at least once a day, or face a fine."
C "There's a simple way to boost the marriage rate," says gay rights activist Zeke Fellow. "Abolish those arcane laws that discriminate against same-sex marriages. It's obscene to treat people differently because of their sexual preference. Besides, everyone knows gay relationships are more stable than straight ones."
Over time a detailed view of your country and your politics is built up allowing an always entertaining summary to be shown on the first page viewable by all.
Example:
The Incorporated States of Decesses is a very large, economically powerful nation, notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 96 million are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.
There is no government in the normal sense the word; however, a small group of community-minded, corrupt individuals is mainly concerned with Education, although Commerce and Social Welfare are secondary priorities. Income tax is unheard of. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Book Publishing, Pizza Delivery, and Gambling industries.
The tenet of free speech is held dear, corporations donate huge sums of money to favored politicians, marijuana is legal in the privacy of your own home, and guns are banned. Crime is moderate, and the police force struggles against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Decesses's national animal is the poochy, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the bucks.
Countries are also given a broad UN Catagory, as well as being rated in terms of Civil Rights, Economy and Political Freedoms.
Interaction
If one wants to control more than your own little slice on the planet it is possible to join the UN and vote on various issues than affect all UN members. Generally these issues are less controversial than private issues, for example, ending slavery or dvd zoning. If you have a popular nation you can get peoples nomination and gain a large amount of power in the United Nations.
Success
All nations are divided into continents, all new nations start in the South Pacific. From here various rankings are showen, both for the continent and for the world. Examples are biggest coke machine, and largest social welfare bill.
Reasons
This game was developed by Max Barry to promote his new book Jennifer Government. His plan was to use the internet to go from a unknown author to selling millions through a simple addictive game. In an email to players he stated his goal was to reach the New York Times Best Seller List.
Jennifer Government (the book) has just been released and the first chapter is available for reading online. Me thinks this is a smart and new way of advertising and hyping a new book.