ABSTRACT
The Candidate is an attempt to marry elements of journalism and gaming into a format that both entertains and educates the player. The Google-AP Scholarship, a new scholarship award that is given to several journalists a year to work on projects at the threshold of technology and journalism, funded the project. The objective in this prototype version of the game is to put the player in the shoes of a congressional candidate during an off-year election, specifically 2014.
The goal is to navigate the demands of interest groups, voters, and campaign money to successfully win the election. The election takes place in a fictional congressional district equally split between all voter groups. The game uses a choose-your-own-adventure-style to allow the player to pick various “challenges” that advance them in the game, such as confrontations with different voter groups or fundraising initiatives. For the player who wants to just play, they can bolt through the game no problem and not read any of the in-depth material. But for the player who does want more context into the challenges and overall game, it is available.
The game in this prototype version relied heavily from the Pew Research Center and Gallup in order to get polling data on various issues and voter groups. American National Election Studies was referenced for particular questions, like impact of media on voters, but a more comprehensive and recent study covering 2012 will be made available this summer. At that point, the game’s backend will be updated to represented the most accurate depiction of congressional races as possible.
I think that is where the real test will occur once this is published: do players actually retain knowledge they learn from a game? It would be interesting to learn how effective the game is at both entertaining and teaching a player about congressional races through just playing the game. Time will tell.
RESEARCH
Pew Research Center for the People and Press Political Typology 2011
http://www.people-press.org/typology/
Pew Forum on Religion and Life
http://features.pewforum.org/abortion-slideshow/
http://features.pewforum.org/same-sex-marriage-attitudes/
Pew Research Center
http://www.pewresearch.org/2013/04/30/immigration-tip-sheet-on-u-s-public-opinion/
http://www.pewresearch.org/2013/03/13/gun-control-key-data-points-from-pew-research/
On The Issues
http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/26/sunday-review/a-new-guide-to-the-republican-herd.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/02/sunday-review/a-new-guide-to-the-democratic-herd.html?ref=sunday-review
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2006/10/01/opinion/a-guide-to-the-2006-democratic-herd.html?ref=sunday-review
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2005/04/02/sunday-review/a-guide-to-the-republican-herd.html?ref=sunday-review
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/how-opinion-on-same-sex-marriage-is-changing-and-what-it-means/
Center for Responsive Politics: OpenSecrets
http://www.opensecrets.org/
American National Election Survey
http://www.electionstudies.org/
Center for Voting and Democracy
http://www.fairvote.org/voter-turnout#.UZGYdCvF10c
Democratic Party Platform
http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform
Republican Party Platform
http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_home/
Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/marriage.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/9904/Public-Opinion-About-Abortion-InDepth-Review.aspx
Congressional Appointments: US Census
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-08.pdf
MetroWest Daily News
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1272751770/Election-2012-Robo-call-in-Holliston-tries-to-mislead-voters
NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/04/01/175928963/opposition-research-boot-camp-learning-to-dig-for-political-dirt
Treehugger
http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/57-americans-think-government-should-do-great-deal-combat-global-warming.html
Political Mailers Report
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~marcmere/workingpapers/PersuasiveMail.pdf
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
http://www.afscme.org/
American Gas Association
http://www.aga.org/Pages/default.aspx
Wellpoint
http://www.wellpoint.com/
Americans for Tax Reform
http://www.atr.org/
National Rifle Association
http://home.nra.org/
ART
Democratic Party Logo
http://www.democrats.org/
Republican Party Logo
http://www.gop.com/?source=logo
Noun Project (all the following)
http://www.nounproject.com
Postmodern Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/iphone/#icon-No1506
Blue Collar Bloc Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/hard-hat/#icon-No7065
Tea Party Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/tea/#icon-No1817
New Coalition Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/people/#icon-No2300
Main St Conservatives Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/family/#icon-No8199
Media Challenge Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/camera/#icon-No7104
Issue Challenge Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/talking/#icon-No12625
Operative Challenge Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/hide/#icon-No8013
Candidate Challenge Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/user/#icon-No10231
Money Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/dollar/#icon-No7453
Gun Issue Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/gun/#icon-No2459
Energy Issue Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/energy/#icon-No478
Same-Sex Marriage Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/marriage/#icon-No8226
Foreign Policy Icon
http://thenounproject.com/noun/world/#icon-No6502
