Social Democracy: An Alternate History

Monopoly is one of the most popular games in American history. There's something telling about modern culture's inattention to history in the fact that many years passed between when I was first introduced to the game as an enjoyable pastime and my discovery that the game's designer intended it to be an object lesson-in-action of the inherent flaws in capitalism as an econonomic system.

If one actually plays Monopoly according to the rules as written, it is inevitable that from among a group of players all starting on an objectively even playing field only one will emerge as the sum holder of all wealth in the model universe. That result is simply baked into the system -- there's no avoiding it, and that's what playing Monopoly is supposed to teach the player. It also teaches various skills related to improving the chances of being the player who comes out on top, though the nature of the game ensures that there's never any real certainty until late in the trajectory of a particular play session.

Social Democracy: An Alternate History feels very much like Monopoly, both in that it plays like a board game and that it has a lesson to teach. Here the lesson seems to be about the essential fragility of democracy-like government and the functional priority of economic concerns in determining societal stability. You play the animus of the SPD, a "moderate" and "socialist" party that, despite a plurality of popular support at the outset, seems inevitably doomed to lose as the country suffers a series of economic and political shocks.

I've only played Social Democracy a few times, on normal difficulty. As other reviewers note, the simulation feels well-grounded in historical research -- I have learned a surprising amount about the Weimar era just from following up on key people and events online, and the work presents an extensive bibliography that invites more serious study. Needless to say, this work does not present the History Channel style of faux history that usually paints Hitler's rise as the result of some mysterious magical power over the German people; instead it shows the confluence of many trends in interwar history -- including the history of the SPD itself -- and how they shape both the choices available and the consequences of each decision.

As with Monopoly, both strategic choices and lucky breaks compound over the course of time. As the political pressure builds, the player will inevitably come to the point where the party's mode of survival is threatened. The resolution of that threat can take various forms, each imposing tradeoffs that will shape the range of viable strategies available in later parts. Will you sponsor strong socialist approaches involving state control of the means of production and the pruning of private wealth? OK, but then the "conservative" elements of the "centrist" coalition will become enemies, and support from the communist party is likely to be restrained at best. Will you throw in with the right wingers in an attempt to prevent the far right from gaining a foothold? OK, but then you will soon find yourself an ineffectual puppet supporting policies that are in direct opposition to your base's desires, and they will react accordingly. Will you stick to your historically "middle ground" position and try to ride out the storm? OK, but you will in all likelihood find the storm to be stronger than you anticipated and your steersman skills to be insufficient to come through intact.

These are just a few of the trajectories supported by the game's system. The list of achievements and various clumps of related cards suggest that there are many more. I'm looking forward to trying quite a few of them, and seeing what unconventional strategies are supported by the system that author Autumn Chen has created. Mike Russo's comparison to one of Paradox Entertainment's grand strategy games is apt, and if you like that sort of thing then you won't want to miss this. For those looking for something more directly comparable, Chen has also just released a similar treatment of the Russian Revolution.

While I don't personally think this game falls under the label of "interactive fiction," it does fit under the broader umbrella I assign to the phrase "text games." It's worth emphasizing that the label is secondary to the thing itself, and that this thing, whatever you choose to call it, is well worth your time. I'm giving it a rare 5-star rating in recognition of its singular value as edutainment; it is surely the apex of that category for works found on IFDB.