Fantasy Sports Turn to ... Politics?

Xiaoxiaofreak2 writes "Via Joystiq, Reuters is reporting on a new fantasy sports title that draws on a new source — politics." From the article: "Fantasy Congress plays a lot like any other online Fantasy sports game. The game, officially launched on Monday, is a new spin on the popular online fantasy sports games where players chose a team of real-life players and tally points based on their statistical performance. In Fantasy Congress, found at http://www.fantasycongress.us/fc/, a player drafts a team of actual U.S. lawmakers and then competes against other teams. Andrew Lee, a senior at Claremont McKenna College in the greater Los Angeles area and one of the game's creators, said lawmakers were ranked based on the progress of their proposed legislation, picking up points on its journey to possibly getting passed into law."

Once again...

[r_jensen11]

...this just goes to show how out of touch politicians are from reality. On a side-note: Can we have something go on like for March Madness and have an actual prize, or is that now illegal because of the online gambling law passed by Bush & Co?

Re:

[ack154]

It could be November Madness (or a suitable word that starts with N)... and you could win points in a pool for picking people that win their elections.

Re:Once again...

[mossmann]

November Nightmare?

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[rolfwind]

And it would have the benefit of actually motivating people going and voting (to help win their bet).

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[ack154]

Ya, it may actually make me more interested in voting if there were something almost fun about it. At least, more interested than I am now... which is not at all. Sorry.

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[Overzeetop]

Oh, there are lots of options:

- over/under on the control of either house and senate
- number of incumbents losing
- number of incumbents winning
- net seats picked up by (R/D)
- State Wars: how many states will have more repubs than dems (+ or -)
- pick the state with the lowest (or highest) % voter turnout
- Pick the Lock contest: choose ten guaranteed winners and losers, tie breakers based on percentages for the winners/losers

There's just so many options. It's a shame I only have three people in my office, I t

Knowledge is a dangerous thing

[EMeta]

The problem is, knowing much at all about how politics plays out can have a very demoralizing effect. Once you get down to the nitty-gritty, most politicians compromise here and there (which is good, it does make stuff happen), and so without a lot of information about the big picture of compromises, investigations into politics is quite likely to get people turned off to it.

Of course, that hypothetical big picture might not help either, but that's a different problem.

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[Jonny do good]

This does sound like it could turn most people off.

On the other hand it could be interesting if they added a few touches to it. Make pork act be a detractor. Blocking a bill could be like defense. Getting involved in a scandal could be another detractor. It might work out that the highest scorer ing legislators were the people that never showed up.

Re:Knowledge is a dangerous thing

[Marko DeBeeste]

"The less the public knows about how law and sausages are made, the happier they'll be."

Otto Von Bismark

All-Repub team

[Captain Splendid]

lawmakers were ranked based on the progress of their proposed legislation, picking up points on its journey to possibly getting passed into law

So...I guess to win you'll pretty much need an all-Republican team, then?

Full-Contact Politics

[jazman_777]

People would pay more attention to politics if we had canings and duels, like in the old days.

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[WilliamSChips]

We'd have a lot less incumbents if it were legal for politicians to duel...

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[frosty_tsm]

Can we make an amendment out of this even if the incumbents oppose it?

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[TranscendentalAnarch]

Bush would be out of office. Not because the Democratic challenger shot him in the duel, but because Cheney did.

This is fantastic

[mossmann]

Points are awarded for getting legislation passed with no regard whatsoever for the quality of the legislation. No points are awarded for voting against bad legislation. No points are awarded for repealing bad legislation.

It's just like the real thing.

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[rotor]

Yeah, but who decides what the good or bad legislation is? Legislation is always good for *someone*...

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[Reziac]

Exactly... and given that, I'm wondering what could be done to tie an online SIM game to this Fantasy Congress, where life in the SIM reacted to legislation the way we all WISH we could/dared react.

Would probably be enlightening, from a French Revolution point of view ;)

This could be fun

[ErikTheRed]

Although most of my political fantasies involve lynch mobs...

It was coming...

[Flailmonkey]

Oh. My. God.
I knew that this idea was something that was needed to bring all the real details about today's politics to peoples attention.
I did not expect to see it posted on Slashdot a week after thinking of it...
The elements are all there, with a huge amount of statistical data to use and a variety of levels allowing localities to each have their own "home players," while at the same time there's the bigger National picture going on as well.
As "cynical" as it may seem, packaging politics as we alr

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[Firefly1]

I knew that this idea was something that was needed to bring all the real details about today's politics to peoples attention.

I am reminded of an argument Michael Moore makes in one of his books ('Stupid White Men', I think): basically, he looks at the amazing retention and attention to detail that is associated with sports and concludes that it would be a good thing for civic involvement if politics could be as interesting and engaging.

Cool concept but buggy

[Mr.Dippy]

I just made an account and the website definitly needs some more work. I'll probably come back to this after it comes out of beta. The form registartion is confusing to say the least. It clears out all form data if you submit it without filling a required field. There is no confirmation page for registering. When I went in a setup my "fantasy team", my team, 50% of the time didn't show up on screen. I tried to join a league but my team name, once I got it setup never showed up. Great concept for a we

This won't help...

[KnarfO]

No big surprise, too many citizens already treat civics like a big game. Partisan politics helps turn every election or vote into a contest of "them vs. us", instead of what it really should be: what's best for everyone.

It's just one more indication of how broken our political system is, and how too many people treat it as a spectator sport, rooting for their "team" to win at any cost, instead of participating to achieve a common goal.