Among the fun quirks of sandboxes is the political intrigue they can spawn. One such drama is currently unfolding in indie sci-fi sandbox Ascent: The Space Game, which boasts a full-fledged political election system. Players can run for colonial mayor, planetary governor, star system senator, and even president of the entire playerbase. Such players actually claim powers within the PvE game, such as the ability to rename planets, control terraforming efforts, and even approve gates. I think you can probably see where I’m going with this.
“We’re faced with a stark choice for their latest Presidential elections,” Fluffy Kitten Studios writes tonight, on the final eve of the in-game election.
“A candidate by the name of Donald Trumpet, or a more established player named Leprosi. Donald Trumpet aims to ‘Make the Inner Nine Systems Great Again!’ by building a wall to keep pirates out and making the pirates pay for it. He plans to fix the economy ‘I have the best economic plans’ although it is unclear how any of these goals will be achieved. Promising to grab Developers Fluffy Kitten Studios ‘by the kitten’, Trumpet suggests he will force the developers to fix more bugs. Previously completely unknown to the playerbase and with no apparent government or political experience, Trumpet is pitching against against establishment candidate Leprosi, who has been a Star System Senator for several terms and has numerous achievements and alliances within the community.”
It’s funny, see, because this is just a game.
There are actually other candidates in the running, including Mizuk, RAM, Moneyman, and incumbent president Hubes. It’s a little disorganized and clearly folks aren’t taking it entirely seriously, but still, it’s nice to see content like this in an MMORPG in 2016.
Here’s something else I found out while surfing the forums looking into the election: Players actually set up a GoFundMe, all on their own, to help Fluffy Kitten raise money to keep its ultra-indie staff working on the game. They’ve raised $1,485 in the last two months. o7, gamers.
