this is pretty cool.
Make a virtual trip to Iowa and help campaign for a Dean win in the important Iowa Caucus. Recruit your real friends to join you in Iowa, where you'll canvas neighborhoods, pass out pamphlets, and wave Dean signs to encourage Iowans to attend the caucus and stand in support of Howard Dean.
here's the NY Times' take on it.
Of Mice And Caucuses
THE Dean campaign's Web site can boast another innovation: "the first video game officially endorsed by a presidential political campaign."
That is the claim of the game's designers, and who's arguing? The more interesting question is why more than 40,000 computer users, according to the campaign, have tried the Howard Dean for Iowa Game since it was put on the campaign's Web site less than two weeks ago.
To win, you "make a virtual trip to Iowa" and quickly maneuver little figures on the screen to drum up sufficient support for Dr. Dean. You start by placing campaigners across a map of Iowa, then send them out to wave Dean signs in people's faces and to knock on people's doors (while surviving barking dogs). The game's co-designer, Ian Bogost of Persuasive Games, said it was intended to "help citizens understand the experience of outreach."
Virtual Iowa has certain undeniable advantages over the real Iowa in January -- like no frostbite, no four-hour drives to meet three people -- but some players find it more tedious. So far, the online reviews of the game have ranged from "awesome" and "addicting" to "good for about 10 minutes" and "the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen." One player, who reported a stiff mouse arm from his extensive playing, said the game was proof that "Dean will always win because Deaniacs are just so much more fun than anyone else." Or maybe some of them just have way too much free time.