~ Local Voter Turnout and Local Politics ~

Day 275, 09:37 • Published in USA USA • by Lukasz Makowski

Some citizens of the eUSA, are interested in domestic issues such as food prices, the housing market and elections, but that is only a slim number of individuals taken from a constantly growing percentage of users who enroll in this game for the sake of being here. In short, involvemnt in politics in this game needs to improve, especially on the local side.

Low voter turnouts reflect, as they similarily do in real life, the actual interest in local politics and beyond. It is an inconsistant realtionship between the voters and thier locally elected officials, which is perticualrylly strange, as it is after all a political / economical simulation game. Thus, to understand this in any logical way, we need to understand that there are many users who are dormant in a game that calls for political activity. Being a member of a party and not being active at the local level is analogous to having a membership to a spa and not going to it. In short it is irrational and illogical.

Fixing this issue would require a stronger GOTV campaigning by the local parties, as one solution to this question. While many users might get involved, we also need to "market" the importance of the positions held by other users who are involved in local and national politics. While abuse of "in game power" is not what I mean by this, a stronger showing of authority by the goverment in users life might be beneficial to politics overall.

Also, while eRep is still growing and so is eUSA, the avaliability of political positions will shrink. While the national goverment can create new departments and offices, the job of placing people in these positions rests on the local parties, as people will need to be exposed to more experience to get involved at the national level. Thus, I believe, parties will need to expand and force eRep to create more positions on the local level, such as city councils and and treasurers.

ERep is growing and so will the demand for political appointments and power. This is one issue that will need to be addressed soon, if not now.