Is this a game or a brave new world?

Virtual Politics provides an environment where you can promote and debate political issues. Each member becomes a citizen of our virtual community, and is able to take part in shaping the accepted rules of that society.

Our society is not bound by the conventions we are used to seeing in the real world. We allow a free exchange of views on any topic you choose.

Virtual Politics uses a form of micro-voting. That is, instead of providing a conventional form of executive government (i.e. house of representative, legislature etc), each citizen can personally indicate support or opposition to policies, and policy and personal popularity is derived from that.

Where do I start?

1. If you have not yet registered, please do so in order to see additional features, such as your membership, policy portfolio status, and messaging.
2. My Details allows you to review your membership details, policy portfolio, voting history and capital account. Virtual Politics uses the concept of Political Capital to provide a currency that is used to transfer power between citizens. New members are given a starting balance. Each time a vote is cast, political capital is transfered from the voter to the policy in question. The owner of the policy is then able to use their acquired capital as they see fit.
3. Review the Policy Directory and locate existing policies that are of interest to you. Express your opinion using the 'Support' and 'Oppose' options to register your opinion for each policy.
4. If you wish to change your vote, or withdraw it, use the appropriate 'Support' or 'Oppose' option, or 'Withdraw' to reclaim your vote. Changing your vote does not affect the political capital already transferred, but withdrawing support returns the capital from the policy to the voter.
5. If you are unable to find a suitable policy, or take issue with an existing policy, you can create your own and see how popular it becomes. Find an appropriate category in the Policy Directory, and choose 'Create Policy'. Policies usually perform better if they are well worded and include links to supporting information elsewhere on the internet. External links can be embedded in the policy text by starting them with http://
6. We do not at present provide a traditional discussion forum for our members. Instead we encourage our members to use the internal messaging facility to communicate with the policy owner to see if you can influence their approach to the issue. If you wish to make a public comment towards a policy, whether it is in support, opposition or to provide clarification for the benefit of other citizens, we provide the ability for citizens to write 'Editorials' which are published on the homepage of the site, as you might see them in a newspaper. Editorials work best if written in a journalistic style that addresses the issues raise by the policy, rather than as a personal attack on the policy author. Virtual Politics Administrators retain an editorial control over the published editorial content.

Can I shape the Virtual Politics environment?

Virtual Politics is a platform for you the citizen. We are always interested to know how the environment can be enhanced to provide our citizens with the best platform for promoting and voting on the issues that affect them.

Some of our members are already forming political parties and special interest groups to help promote their own ideal, and we hope to provide functionality in the future to help with those goals.

If you have ideas for how Virtual Politics can be enhanced, please see the Virtual Politics category of the Policy Directory.