I enjoy suggesting features for games like these. Here's one I've shamefully recycled from a game I used to play.
There's a game I play called Elite Dangerous, which is a space sim. The game has an almost to-scale representation of all star systems, which are governed by various political factors. Throughout the lifespan of the game, the political influence can be built or destroyed, with additional star systems being added to one party and removed from another. This is an ongoing shift in political dynamics throughout the lifespan of the game, which is influenced by the coordinated efforts of individual users to either undermine or promote their chosen political faction.
Over time, some political territories expand and others contract.
If such a system was introduced here in Torn (and if it isn't already, I'm still relatively new and learning all the time), this thread is my proposed use of it.
In short, the idea is:
- Political influence is driven at an NPC representative level
- The NPCs hold power over a region of the city and campaign against other would-be representatives to retain or achieve power
- The NPCs personal or party agenda influences the way that those within its remit operate, customising the player experience depending on where they are based
- Users would seek to either:
In the context of the below detail, these terms apply:
The "Candidate" is the NPC representative who can be promoted or undermined to achieve or lose their position of power, respectively
The "User" are ourselves, the player characters
Factions are factions
Regions are not Territories
Set Up
The concept would operate around areas of the city being designated as a region which, if a player faction is based there, will change the way they experience the game.
- Perhaps crime pays out better as the local PD is corrupt due to the backhand payments they receive from The Candidate
- Perhaps it's harder to commit crimes as the Candidate is ruthless and leans heavy on the PD due to losing a family member to a violent crime
- Perhaps rent rates are higher, flight times are longer, education options are limited etc etc. The variables are almost limitless when it comes to the existing functionality which is impacted
At first I thought political influence could be managed on a Territory basis, however even though this is already a way to divide up the city, obviously not all factions own a territory. Maybe this only affects those which own territories as a late-game mechanic to consider?
Anyway, either we cut up the city into chunks of regions and give each a political rep and ask all factions chose a location they are "based" at in the city, or we use the existing territories.
So at this point, we have established:
- Areas of the city which are under influence of a political Candidate
- The type of influence they might have over that area
- The types of activities Users could engage with using this system
How?
How would this happen? I propose quarterly or monthly elections, and in between each one there is the option to perform activities or crimes which change the balance of support in a given region.
[background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]The number of Promotion or Undermining activities the candidates supporters/detractors have completed will depend how popular they are.[/background][background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]
[/background]
After this is decided, whichever candidate in whichever region has the most support will be voted into office and begin their reign of terror over that section of the city/region/collective of Territories/Factions
There is a ton of potential for how this system could work, the impact it can have and the activities it introduces. Here's a few I've scoped.
Why
Why would we want to do this?
[background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]The reasons why faction leaders would want to back certain candidates would be dependent on their policies and the pro/cons to users of having that person in office. Maybe some candidates bring greater benefit to younger players than the old? To higher level users than the lower? To faction members rather than faction leaders?
Navigating this political minefield will be an interesting dynamic for the userbase as Faction leaders try to reap the benefits of certain candidates while encouraging their members to support someone that might not necessarily benefit them.
[/background]
Examples might help.
It is the end of the quarter in Region "West Side" which covers 14 Territories. The below candidates are up for election.
Candidate #1 is Martin Eden
Labor Union Party
Mr. Eden is a jumpy soul who is easily intimidated by the higher ups within the city of Torn. He feels pressured by his poor background to support business owners and is spineless, so lets the police force run itself.
Conservative Vision Party
Mr. Rutt is of the opinion the higher ranks of the factions have too much power. He's got a cocaine habit so stays in touch with overseas dealers, and goes easier on those who associate with them that are not too involved with the underworld.
Progressive Party
Ms. Howells is a ball buster and an ex-prison warden. She expects the best from the police force which makes them efficient in some areas but not others. She understands the balance the factions bring to the streets, so largely stays out of the way.
These are by no means polished examples, but more a taste of what we could affect by having a political influence in play. Once the candidates and their associated party's are known, the users will begin to coordinate efforts to get one of them elected.
Promotional and Undermining could exist as new crime options.
EXAMPLE TIME.
Political Crimes cost a negligible amount of money, as much as the smaller crimes make you
Ultimately this idea is about finding the balance of benefits to drawbacks, while finding something which splits opinions so there is something to battle over. Depending on how deep you take it, there could be much more detailed areas of mayoral influence. This means the player groups that benefit or are impacted by the results of the election could be diverse in the way of which groups of people the candidates target:
There's a game I play called Elite Dangerous, which is a space sim. The game has an almost to-scale representation of all star systems, which are governed by various political factors. Throughout the lifespan of the game, the political influence can be built or destroyed, with additional star systems being added to one party and removed from another. This is an ongoing shift in political dynamics throughout the lifespan of the game, which is influenced by the coordinated efforts of individual users to either undermine or promote their chosen political faction.
Over time, some political territories expand and others contract.
If such a system was introduced here in Torn (and if it isn't already, I'm still relatively new and learning all the time), this thread is my proposed use of it.
In short, the idea is:
- Political influence is driven at an NPC representative level
- The NPCs hold power over a region of the city and campaign against other would-be representatives to retain or achieve power
- The NPCs personal or party agenda influences the way that those within its remit operate, customising the player experience depending on where they are based
- Users would seek to either:
- Promote and support their chosen representative based on the perks they benefit from within their region
- Undermine the representative in power in their region so their candidate has a greater chance as taking power
- Instead chose to target another region in the city which does not affect them, however detriments the residents of that region
In the context of the below detail, these terms apply:
The "Candidate" is the NPC representative who can be promoted or undermined to achieve or lose their position of power, respectively
The "User" are ourselves, the player characters
Factions are factions
Regions are not Territories
Set Up
The concept would operate around areas of the city being designated as a region which, if a player faction is based there, will change the way they experience the game.
- Perhaps crime pays out better as the local PD is corrupt due to the backhand payments they receive from The Candidate
- Perhaps it's harder to commit crimes as the Candidate is ruthless and leans heavy on the PD due to losing a family member to a violent crime
- Perhaps rent rates are higher, flight times are longer, education options are limited etc etc. The variables are almost limitless when it comes to the existing functionality which is impacted
At first I thought political influence could be managed on a Territory basis, however even though this is already a way to divide up the city, obviously not all factions own a territory. Maybe this only affects those which own territories as a late-game mechanic to consider?
Anyway, either we cut up the city into chunks of regions and give each a political rep and ask all factions chose a location they are "based" at in the city, or we use the existing territories.
So at this point, we have established:
- Areas of the city which are under influence of a political Candidate
- The type of influence they might have over that area
- The types of activities Users could engage with using this system
How?
How would this happen? I propose quarterly or monthly elections, and in between each one there is the option to perform activities or crimes which change the balance of support in a given region.
[background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]The number of Promotion or Undermining activities the candidates supporters/detractors have completed will depend how popular they are.[/background][background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]
[/background]
After this is decided, whichever candidate in whichever region has the most support will be voted into office and begin their reign of terror over that section of the city/region/collective of Territories/Factions
There is a ton of potential for how this system could work, the impact it can have and the activities it introduces. Here's a few I've scoped.
Why
Why would we want to do this?
[background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]The reasons why faction leaders would want to back certain candidates would be dependent on their policies and the pro/cons to users of having that person in office. Maybe some candidates bring greater benefit to younger players than the old? To higher level users than the lower? To faction members rather than faction leaders?
Navigating this political minefield will be an interesting dynamic for the userbase as Faction leaders try to reap the benefits of certain candidates while encouraging their members to support someone that might not necessarily benefit them.
[/background]
Examples might help.
It is the end of the quarter in Region "West Side" which covers 14 Territories. The below candidates are up for election.
Candidate #1 is Martin Eden
Labor Union Party
Mr. Eden is a jumpy soul who is easily intimidated by the higher ups within the city of Torn. He feels pressured by his poor background to support business owners and is spineless, so lets the police force run itself.
- He would lower the jail time for users over level 85
- He would grant additional revenue for company owners under level 40
- He would place little limitation on the police force, which makes them a wildcard and could either:
- Go over the top with crackdowns on crime, making crimes, jail breaking, general illicit activities harder to get away with
- Go soft and let things slide, resulting in greater chance of stealth muggings and higher success rates
Conservative Vision Party
Mr. Rutt is of the opinion the higher ranks of the factions have too much power. He's got a cocaine habit so stays in touch with overseas dealers, and goes easier on those who associate with them that are not too involved with the underworld.
- He would crackdown of higher level user success rates
- He would reduce the amount of respect made from Organised Crimes
- He would make drug prices higher overseas for those over level 50
- Level 30 and below would have greater defense boost variables from higher level attacks
Progressive Party
Ms. Howells is a ball buster and an ex-prison warden. She expects the best from the police force which makes them efficient in some areas but not others. She understands the balance the factions bring to the streets, so largely stays out of the way.
- She would cause the police force to slack in catching basic crime attempts, and other general arrests. Drugs prices overseas would go up
- She would have her contacts at the jails make it harder to bust
- She would have the police clean up the streets, making large numbers of Deserter targets immune to attacks
These are by no means polished examples, but more a taste of what we could affect by having a political influence in play. Once the candidates and their associated party's are known, the users will begin to coordinate efforts to get one of them elected.
Promotional and Undermining could exist as new crime options.
EXAMPLE TIME.
Political Crimes cost a negligible amount of money, as much as the smaller crimes make you
- Promote
- Small time crimes that you build up to through level. Examples: Distribute Fliers, Provide Security for political aid or Fund a campaign rally
- Undermine
- Larger crimes that you build up to through level. Examples: Deface campaign HQ, Intimidate officials, Commit arson at a campaign rally
- Political Organized Crime
- Large scale crimes with multiple users, make significant dent in the promotional/undermining of a candidate
Ultimately this idea is about finding the balance of benefits to drawbacks, while finding something which splits opinions so there is something to battle over. Depending on how deep you take it, there could be much more detailed areas of mayoral influence. This means the player groups that benefit or are impacted by the results of the election could be diverse in the way of which groups of people the candidates target:
- Users of a certain age group
- Users of a certain stat (defense, wack, stealth answers)
- Certain factions or Territories
- Coordinated efforts of one Region's factions to undermine the election in another Region . Force election of a candidate that weakens the Region
- Extending influence of a candidate to multiple Regions
- [background color=var(--bbc-body-bg-color)]Assassination or intimidation of a candidate, the cost and effort required[/background]