PLYMOUTH, Mich. (WXYZ) — Plymouth-based software development and game company Stardock is launching a 2024 version of its computer game "The Political Machine."
In the locally-made game, players are asked to stretch their political strategy muscles, playing as real-life presidential candidates vying for the White House.
Game creators tell us that in past elections, the game has even done well using its artificial intelligence to predict who will win the presidential race.
William Erdman is the lead designer of "The Political Machine."
The political strategy game lets you choose an existing presidential candidate to run as.
"Are there strategies in the game that mirror real life? For instance, in real life people say running as the incumbent gives you an edge, is that true in the game?" I asked.
"I do believe it’s true, primarily because they have that little bit of enthusiasm boost," Erdman said.
I decided to try the game out. As a first time player, I chose to run as the incumbent.
Watch a playthrough of "The Political Machine" in the video below
Erdman designed the game so you can play solo, multiplayer, or even AI vs. AI. There are difficulty levels, and each candidate has characteristics listed that Erdman says are based off of real life.
"Joe Biden’s stamina is on the lower side that is a little more humorous, he’s called Sleepy Joe Biden by some of his opponents," Erdman said.
At the same time, Biden's charisma is listed as "medium," his media bias is listed as "liked," and his experience is listed as "expert."
As far as his opponent, former President Donald Trump...
"You can see his charisma is on the higher end, he has a little more stamina, but his media bias and experience is still down there. Because he did serve as president which is some experience, but not quite compared to a lifetime of politics," Erdman said.
When we started playing the game, you can see the country is laid out like a game board with each state as its own region. It's up to you to try and win over the states in a strategic way with different tools like giving targeted speeches, making ads, and hiring people.
Brad Wardell, the CEO of Stardock, said each election cycle, they re-release the game and have AI play itself over and over. By doing that, he says they've had success predicting what candidate will win the upcoming election.
"Will you update the game as the real time election cycle is going?" I asked.
"Absolutely. For example, Donald Trump is in a number of different trials, how those come out with significantly impact what issues people are paying attention to," Wardell said.
Something new this election cycle – their research shows that mail-in voting has affected voter enthusiasm, so candidates will have to overcome that.
The game will continue to update, but Wardell tells me every cycle, one aspect remains the same. It seems when push comes to ballot, candidates will seemingly do what it takes to beat the political machine.
"There’s a lot of controversial issues that people hold dearly in their personal lives," Wardell said. "People will flip-flop in order to win a video game so it’s not surprising when the stakes are really high that candidates will frequently alter their positions in order to win."
