Politics by Other Means
Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 4/8/1996
Need more political debate in your life? If the real-world governmental cauldron isn't enough to satisfy your itch, the Markle Foundation and Crossover Technologies have launched two multiplayer political simulation games that mimic both the issues and the processes of the genuine American electoral contest. President '96 (http://www.pres96.com/) presents a slate of fictional candidates that cheerfully resemble the real ones, and players become campaign managers advising their hopefuls on actual world issues. Reinventing America (http://www.pathfinder.com/reinventing/) allows players to do just that. Want to legalize marijuana, or do away with welfare or the B-2 bomber? It's all possible in RA's cybernetic states of America, where players can debate and vote on health care, the environment and a variety of legislative issues. Both games are free, and the Web sites are resource centers for political information, live chats with political figures and constant updates -- RA even has its own newspaper, News of the Nation, with tongue-in-cheek coverage of debates between the likes of Dwight Draconian, a budget-cutting conservative, and Ruth Libstein, the "liberal conscience of congress."
