Civic City is a virtual environment in which players select from policy options to address various social, cultural, and economic issues. Players develop a visual map of their choices that correlates with the policies of four major political parties proposed in the United Kingdom General Election (2015). A player’s choices can be exported to generate statistics, which is intended to be used as a means of education (of democratic systems) or as a simulative process of canvassing public interests in policies.

Civic City was inspired by a ‘policy politics’ approach to democracy, influenced by the Scottish Independence Referendum (2014) which resulted in a turnout of 84.5%, an abnormally-large voter turnout in comparison to General Elections within the United Kingdom. The game is intended to provide a space in which young, first-time, or disenfranchised voters can engage in self-identifying play rhetoric.

Publications

• Reid, A. J. (2015) Playful Politics: Developing a Framework for Designing Video Games for Political Participation in the United Kingdom. Press Start, 2(2).

• Reid, A. J. (2015) Designing Video Games to Encourage Political Participation in the United Kingdom. [Dissertation] Abertay University.

Presentations

• Policy Engagement through Digital Participation (presented at TICTeC, 2016)

• Playful Democracies (presented at Public Engagement and Serious Play Workshop, 2015)

Coverage

• Civic policy the aim of the game for developer (Scotland on Sunday, 2015)