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Test Subject
#26 Old 20th Oct 2018 at 12:56 PM
In my heavily-populated Riverside Municipality, the government is heavily intertwined with the SCIA and, to a lesser extent, the military. Like many others in this thread, I am averse to putting real-life political issues in my game. Instead, I use more Sims-specific politics in a storytelling manner -- not just to cause tension between certain people in the 'hood, but also to flesh out my hoods' history, and link together the numerous reinstalls I've done over the years.

These politics are mostly centered on the supernatural states, and specifically, the improving acceptance and support for Sims living with these conditions. Take, for instance, lycanthropy -- first discovered and documented decades prior by the doctor August Lilygrove of Pleasantview, who may have failed in his lifelong endeavor to contract it, but paved the way for his successors with his extensive research into its theoretical pathology and connection with wolves (in other words, 12 year old me's desperate attempts to create their first in-game werewolf in 2009). Raised awareness for lycanthropy resulted in the first local clinics specialized in treating and advising Sims with lycanthropy (which, at this point in the timeline, is incurable, but a chronic condition). Thanks to continued medical research (amply funded by the government), today's werewolves have access to effective treatments to minimize the discomfort of transformation, and to prevent the once-inevitable psychological changes that would gradually drain the affected Sim's Niceness and Neat points to zero (thank you mods ).

The breakthrough in awareness of lycanthropy paved the road for increased acceptance (and accommodations!) for other supernatural conditions. Almost a decade ago, the Riverside government passed a legislation that requires all colleges to accommodate students with vampirism by providing windowless dorm rooms, as well as the option to study from home (as classes take place during daylight hours). The most recent medical breakthrough provided a cure for zombieism (again, thank you mods), giving hope to a previously untreatable and arguably most stigmatized supernatural condition. Riverside is in the lead with its integration and equality for aliens, or PEAs (Person of Extraterrestial Ancestry), with Strangetown being the last stronghold of prejudice towards them.

When it comes to seeding conflict within a 'hood, nothing is more gratifying than officials with secret motives. While corruption (the political kind, not game) definitely occurs, I find it more fun to play with transgressions born of good intentions. In my current Riverside, for instance, the government keeps files of every inhabitant. Currently, the files include information on any individual's supernatural conditions, including any instances of death and resurrection. Jannike and Irah Irismere, both honored head figures in the leading Council of the SCIA, intentionally keep the information of their son's untimely death by satellite and his subsequent resurrection out of his records. Beyond their fear for their son's safety (and for the state's knowledge of his circumstance turning him into a potential guinea pig), they are very much aware of resurrection being illegal, having been deemed unethical on top of being the leading cause of zombieism. If word of them using it were to get out, it would put not only their careers, but their lives, along with that of their son, in jeopardy.

After reading this thread, I am yet again appalled by the creativity in this community. :lovestruc People have managed to do so much with so little, and it's inspiring as all heck. I very much enjoy the idea of government-funded composts, and might just snatch that for my own game.

Do you ever hear a song so beautiful you want to financially support the artist, but you can't because the artist is a common wood pigeon?
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Mad Poster
#27 Old 20th Oct 2018 at 3:38 PM Last edited by Zarathustra : 20th Oct 2018 at 4:24 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by FranH
I've always wondered why that was done-in RL, running for Mayor precedes (usually) running for higher offices such as Governor, Congressman and the Senate.I guess Maxis liked sticking to their old SimCity roots by doing so.


I think there's probably some SimCity ties, certainly, but if you consider that SimCity is a huge metropolitan area like New York, then the position of Mayor arguably does surpass congresspeople or maybe even senators in importance... Think about how often the news talks about the mayors of cities like New York or London, compared to senators from places like Wyoming or Nebraska...

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Alchemist
#28 Old 20th Oct 2018 at 7:56 PM
As someone who lives in NYC, yeah, that makes sense, but only if you're in the city. Level 10 would still be Senator or Governor. I would agree that the mayor of NYC is more well known than any of our congresspeople, but Senator and Governor are also well known (our NY Senator is actually the minority leader in the Senate right now) and you could argue they actually have more power, especially in the case of Governor. The NYC mayor, whoever it is, is constantly fighting the Governor, no matter who is in the office (it's the classic city vs country/rural areas struggle, as though NYC brings in the money and has more people in one area, it's only one part of the whole state) and needs the Governor's support to get things done. So Governor is definitely a step above mayor.

It's hard to be sure exactly how the Politics career track should go, because irl, politicians don't always take the same paths and popularity often has to do with who can win what, but... Realistically, Judge wouldn't be on the Political career track at all--that'd be on the Law career track (which is another issue, really, because while Attorney General would make a good #10, so would Supreme Court Judge). Ideally, the last few tracks of Politics should go Mayor, Governor, Senator, or even Mayor, Governor, Senator, President.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#29 Old 20th Oct 2018 at 8:08 PM
Thanks for all ideas So far I am still thinking about different alternatives that are easy to incorporate in-game. Regarding social classes my hood is quite free from bias regarding money, sexual orinetation, careers and skintone. Mostly because I can leave those things out

Sims does take sides in conflicts between sims, such as sims promptly taking their spouses side when the spouse get into a brawl with one of their relatives. Prime example was when Io Ny romantically hugged Johanna Girardet after she lost a fight to his brother Regor.

But election processes involving social groupings and parties would suit my playstyle well. And hobbies/interest for the sims without a personal relationship to either candidate. About 40 sims in the hood are in the ages from YA to elder and therefore possible to vote, with 85% voting population that is 34 sims. The hard part is going to be to decide the five or six sims that wont care to vote. They might just forget I suppose.

High interests in fashion and culture might lend itself to an increase in the demands for better architectual quality in the newly built houses.
Mad Poster
#30 Old 21st Oct 2018 at 11:00 AM
Well, there are other countries with different systems and different political stuff - so some ideas:from my country

StateCapture: Two or 3 sims plus the mayor (all in the political career) overtax other sims and then use all that money to buy all community lots and vacation homes available for themselves. All owned businesses now belong to them and all jobs have to be given to their relatives.

GreatBankHeist: Mayor and friends convince people to invest in their bank and then steal all the money again. The friend who influences the most people to invest gets most of the money and the bank closes down.

Poligamy: Mayor is a man with 6 wives. One divorces him, one tries to poison him and gets kicked out of the family home and then he marries the 7th one when he is very old and she is very young He has 23 kids in total but not all of their mothers are or were married to him. The non-political sims have to pay enough tax to keep all of them in a very comfortable lifestyle.

Besides the majority and the opposition, there is a 6% party holding both the big parties hostage but putting their votes where it suits them and not the voters.
Mad Poster
#31 Old 21st Oct 2018 at 5:23 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Phantomknight
As someone who lives in NYC, yeah, that makes sense, but only if you're in the city. Level 10 would still be Senator or Governor. I would agree that the mayor of NYC is more well known than any of our congresspeople, but Senator and Governor are also well known (our NY Senator is actually the minority leader in the Senate right now) and you could argue they actually have more power, especially in the case of Governor. The NYC mayor, whoever it is, is constantly fighting the Governor, no matter who is in the office (it's the classic city vs country/rural areas struggle, as though NYC brings in the money and has more people in one area, it's only one part of the whole state) and needs the Governor's support to get things done. So Governor is definitely a step above mayor.

It's hard to be sure exactly how the Politics career track should go, because irl, politicians don't always take the same paths and popularity often has to do with who can win what, but... Realistically, Judge wouldn't be on the Political career track at all--that'd be on the Law career track (which is another issue, really, because while Attorney General would make a good #10, so would Supreme Court Judge). Ideally, the last few tracks of Politics should go Mayor, Governor, Senator, or even Mayor, Governor, Senator, President.


That's true... I realized that while I was putting my theory together, so yeah, it's not flawless, but it at least sort of justifies the progression? Maybe your Sim lives in the SimCity equivalent of the Connecticut or New Jersey suburbs when they become Senator, and only move into the official city limits when they decide to run for mayor? Who knows... for the most part, yeah, it doesn't really make sense.

And while I'd love to be able to agree with you on Judges, my state elects judges in pretty transparently partisan elections (despite all claims to the contrary), and you absolutely see judges getting way more involved in politics than the idea of an impartial, nonpartisan judiciary would ideally allow for...

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Alchemist
#32 Old 21st Oct 2018 at 9:12 PM
Oh, I didn't mean that judges were impartial! Definitely, not. It's just that, for a career track, it would make sense to have Judge in the Law track, as becoming a judge is often a natural progression after being a lawyer for a while. And while some judges are elected, they still have to have law experience. I don't think there's judges elected who have no experience whatsoever with the law or being a lawyer. But, you know, I probably shouldn't be surprised if it turns out there are.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
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