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Authority

by Eva Vikström

2005
Inform 6

(based on 4 ratings)
Estimated play time: 45 minutes (based on 1 vote)
Members voted for the following times for this game:
1 review7 members have played this game. It's on 1 wishlist.

About the Story

Authority - Life in a Central Government Authority; the game depicts life, objectives, events and language in a contemporary central government authority. It's localized to a west European country, probably in Scandinavia or UK.

You are to be engaged on a special project in a department of a fictitious authority, The National Board of Sustainable Development (NBSD). The department is called The Department, and the unit where you work, The Unit. In the game you play the role of an observer. The overall puzzle is to find your way in the world of contemporary bureaucracy.

This game is partly inspired from a novel, Roeda Rummet/The Red Room by August Strindberg (1879, English translations 1913 and 1967). Arvid Falk, protagonist and a publicist to be, tells a journalist about his experiences in The Board for Payment of Civil Service Salaries - a fictitious Swedish authority.

Awards

6th Place - Spring Thing 2005

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
(2)
2 star:
(1)
1 star:
(1)
Average Rating: based on 4 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1
Mundanity simulator--government edition, November 27, 2024
Related reviews: about 1 hour

This game seems to be designed to be as mundane as possible while subtly poking fun at it. Here's a typical line:

"My job is to analyse how authorities can meet the challenge of sustainable development by putting people at the centre and turning current examples of good practice into established common practice, to achieve a better quality of life for all."

"I see... What does that mean?" Yasmin looks doubtful.

You work in The Unit in The Department at The Agency for a government. The game just has you talk to people, open doors, get new keys, get new cards, go to meetings, etc. It's just a depiction of average office life, complete with mergers and coffee rooms, etc.

As a concept it's pretty funny; I definitely think the writer did this all intentionally. There are some occasional flaws in the implementation (mostly the game saying 'Try something else' in situations where that's probably not best). I beat it without hints.

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This is version 4 of this page, edited by JTN on 24 February 2024 at 5:34pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page