IamA member of a government simulation group AMA!

whats the biggest scandal in your simulated government?

Biggest scandal is when we had our own little Watergate situation and got the president impeached

How much would it take to buy you off to agree to a plan to start a war based on false evidence of weapons of mass destruction?

about 271 electoral votes

Is there anything specific you are trying to simulate within the government, or is it a general sim?

What got you interested in doing this?

First question: As of now the simulation is just that of the United Federal, State, and Local governments, but we're planning on adding more nations into the mix such as Britain and Canada.

Second question: I remember when I was 10, we just moved to Canada and there was an election on. Wanting to learn about the country I was so sour to enter I began learning about the politics of that nation, after which I moved on to that of my birth nation. I wanted to participate in those politics while still pursuing other careers, and I found quite a few others who shared my interest. We decided that a simulation would be perfect for such a goal.

Are you aware of /r/ModelUSGov (americans) and /r/cmhoc (canadians)? It's reddit political simulation and I'm pretty involved in both (I'm the head mod of the canadian version).

It does seem like we are way more relaxed than your simulation though.

As a Canadian thank you so much for this! I had no idea these existed!

No problem!

I'll consider looking into it

Not American and have never heard of a government simulation. ELI5?

Basically LARPING for civics nerds

Have you tried "kill all the poor"?

it was attempted...it failed

How about "kill all the poor, lower VAT?"

Wow that might actually work!

Is this sim going to be playable like republic? (Cos that was awesome) or just a tool for stupid news corps

It already is playable actually! I myself am the ghost of Adam Smith (cause fuck actual politicians)

With the face of Michael Dukakis! Love it!

ye

“Because fuck actual politicians” ... yeah you’ve got my attention.

Is there a part where I pretend to suck off Donald Trump?

Oh yes

A Canadian who was born in the US? Sounds like an American-Canadian.

Murica

No vowels, M'rc

Do you have any systems in place to prevent trolls/outside groups from joining and sabotaging the simulation?

The simulation itself has grown so complicated that it would be impossible to sabotage all of it. Sabotaging one part is what one person tried to do recently, and response was super quick. The irl equivalent of what we did is exile

Based on your simulation experience, just how fucked are we?

If you consider having Connor McGregor as president then very fucked. McCain was also president in the simulation for about 10 years (2 years after a president resigned + two terms)

What about law making? Have anyone tried to change the constitution yet?

Like 30 people have. We have so many amendments to the constitution now that it's hard to keep track of lol

Can we hear some notable amendments please?

XXX (failed) tried to move marriage licenses over to state governments. (that was our most controversial one)

What the hell is that!?

A government simulation?

Another question:

Have you guys considered marrying this with some kind of monetary reward system, for instance using your own cryptocurrency? I'm sure you would get some very interesting behavior and mechanics if all the agents who are playing has a motivation to work in their own self interest. Perhaps it would also reflect the real world better? Edit: spelling

we actually have our own system of currency that acts just as you've described, but to my own experience it works as a monetary incentive only with new members

What do you simulate??

Looks like it's all on Instagram. Check the website. Seems that it similates US government from as low as local level to State and Federal. Everything from Mayors to Senators and Supreme Court Justices.

^best answer

Are we also one of your simulations? If so, how have we been doing?

You've been doing poorly

Haha! Well thank you for this, ive become a fan of your work.

:)

What is government simulation?

Check their website. It's basically a game of pretending to be a politician and then reacting to scenarios. This can change things like the Simulated US Congress passing amendments to the Constitution, or paying off politicians and sending the military to war. There was even a scenario I saw in there about a man being arrested for hiring a prostitute from Nebraska to have sex in Las Vegas (where it's legal) and appealing up to the Supreme Court.

So it’s people pretending they’re in an official role and reacting to scenarios? Or a highly sophisticated and specialized algorithm program that runs scenarios?

A mix of both

So what exactly is this thing? An instagram-based government doesn't really make a lot of sense. Do you just try to get as many IG accounts to vote for you whenever there's a mock election?

Many other replies answered, its essentially presidential LARPing online

yep

How did you guys decide you had enough data to run the simulation with relaible and realistic results?

We were confident when in tests it turned out to be playable. It took a lot of time and work, analyzing everything from obscure congressional races to exact measurements of county population rates based of race/religion etc. It took about a month of constant work to make the first version of the simulation, 2 years and 1000 players to perfect it into what it is today.

Have you seen the Verne Troyer sex tape?

I have not. Should I look it up?

Have you ever played NationStates? If so, do you see any similarities/differences with that sim?

Many, it was actually one of our inspirations for AGS

Hey I used to be a part of this like 2 years ago! I used to be on the SCOTUS, and I ran my own satire newspaper called The Daily Libel. Do you recognize any of these (probably really old) names of people? I haven't been on in a long time and I don't know if any of these people are active.

-Jameson

-Sparkman

-Orozco

-Soltysik

-Goldberg

-Boyle

-Harper

I recognize Boyle, Goldberg, Harper, Jameson, and Orozco

Hey! I'm interested in joining the simulation. Do you have supreme court justices as an option? How much time does it demand for you to have a meaningful experience?

Oh it's very easy to join and fall in love with. Do you have an Instagram account?

You guys ever think of partnering with groups like American Milsim or MilSim west? I imagine that would be a good way to emulate military action.

We've considered it but Milsim won't have any of it

Is simulation a hobby or is it supposed to provide some sort of behavioral analysis for the real government?

A bit of both

Why not just participate in actual government? You're probably more qualified than a lot of people, after simulating it.

I want to finish my Economics degree before I go for a shot at office

If you were born in NH wouldn’t that make you an American too?

Yeah, though I revoked my American citizenship recently

This seems pretty cool. I'm in my schools model UN so we kinda do stuff like this. How do I join?

Do you have an instagram account?

Yes

Then DM @americangovsimulation

Thanks

My pleasure!

Do you need to have scales and a forked tonge to be involved?

Yes, it's part of our background screening process

I'm in one too and I got into it by being approached by some shady guy, how did you get into yours?

Do you have an instagram account?

How accurate do you think your game is? If it is a simulation, what data is being fed into the simulator when politics is not a solved system and is in no way deterministic?

It's part game/part simulation, and i'd say for the most part that it's pretty accurate

Can you elaborate on why you can claim that?

Through my experience all results that came out of the simulation could be plausible irl

Which deodorant do you use and why?

I use Old Spice because I like how it can last for a long time even when applied hap-haphazardly as deodorant usually is in mornings

What’s your favourite event that has happened throughout the simulation?

When we had a "watergate" situation but with Bernie Sanders that led to him being impeached

Are you guys going to create a military?

We have!

When is it over?

2135

What is a government simulation group and whats your favourite adam sandler movie?

Political LARPING. And my favorite sandler film is Click

This sounds eerily similar to something I was a part of many years ago. Started off of a Star Wars RP forum of all things. Just curious, what is the development history of this project?

It began as a political simulation and stayed as a political simulation

Soooo model UN?

Yeah basically

What's your most favorite/interesting event that took place in your simulation?

Dropping a nuke on Turkey because our president was dumb and power hungry

Would you say that there's a bit of crossover with Megagames?

Do you feel any of this could be applied to realistic simulations of political organisations, or is it more of a 'just for fun' type thing?

It's a bit of both so it could work

Could you expand on this answer?

Like, when you say that this is a simulation of government, are there any systems in place that drive a mechanical simulation of a government? Do you have to worry about party finances, people not doing what they're told, polarised bases and stretched resources?

We tried to make it as accurate as possible to the real US government so yes, all of those things would be a problem and must be taken into account. However it's primarily a hobby so while all those things are a problem there isn't tons of paperwork that goes with it so that the simulation can actually be playable

I'm looking at some of your other responses and this feels like- a hobby grade thing, like you say, rather than a simulation grade thing? I might just be coming at it from the point of view of someone that's taken part in large scale simulations run by governments and civil services. What's the kind of granularity in simulation that you're hoping to find in this?

Well it's a simulation, but it is an enjoyable simulation and I would consider it a hobby still

Using your system can you find out how to turn the inefficient American government system into something more beneficial that is run by people who know what they're doing? I mean how can we get there?

It's very ineffective at regulating pollution, due to lobbying groups Florida's water supply is now 20% waste. The only way pollution controls can be enacted is if one party who is set on doing so has a supermajority

When does the world end in the simulation and why?

It ends if participation goes under 50 people a month, or if we reach the year 2135 and the CC doesn't nullify it

Thanks for your response :)

No problem!

How does this work logistically? Do users primarily use Instagram to communicate/campaign/whatever? I feel like that's not the easiest platform for communication or party organizing?

How much of this do you take seriously, as like an experiment with how the political system works, and how much just feels like a game.

Also, what's the most interesting scenario you've run into during the simulation? Any really good stories?

It's a very serious endevour for it's creators (such as myself) and Instagram is mainly just used for communication and campaign work. We had one scenario recently that set the whole country into a deep recession, it was fun seeing people try desperately to pass any legislation that would any way help the problem, which just made it get worse, much like the real US government

Can you add Australia? Also great job.

Thank you! And yes we are considering Australia

Soooo.... digital risk? Sweet. When's the world exploding?

in 2135 (that's when our calendar ends)

Whats the reason of ending in 2135?

It's when our calendar ends lol

Have you ever tried a simulation where all members of government get elected by sortition from the population of an entire country? If so, how'd that turn out?

At the very beginning we tried it. Didn't work though

What would the writers of the Constitution have done differently with today's technology?

They would have made it a google doc

Does the simulation include scientists? I mean, what if scientists assume the roles of some politicians?

Scientists usually make up the CC (a sort of layer above the federal government in charge of regulating elections and the actual simulation part of the sim)