My single longest game design project has been political.
That is to say, that since 1993, morphing through three different game systems, and seeking inspiration from many others, I have been seeking to make a game about civilizations and politics in order to make it possible to more easily wrap my head around why people (as groups) do what they do. Certainly, all the standard adventure, mystery, and horror stories that have informed my gaming across those years has held my interest. Hero stories are, I believe, essential to inspire living a rich and full life. But heroes do not exist in a vacuum. They live connected to societies, and though they may end up not quite belonging because of their experiences, they are heroes because of what they have sacrificed for their societies. The cowboy, the ronin, the knight errant... these are the essential characters that societies can neither live without, nor allow to live within them. But I am also interested in the drama of humanity, and it is the interplay between societies that has in many ways fueled academic and personal study of history, geography, and culture.
Most of my political reading is poured after the fact into the stew of my game design brain. I am really just trying to make thought models to understand and communicate ideas like serious political scientists, anthropologists, and historians... I just want to have fun with it too.
That said, one of the issues that has simmered over time, is the foundational question:
What is essential to make a group of people draw together and become a cohesive society?
Having revised and revised this list, and pared down continuously over time, I think that the following has sufficiently held up as a rubric in my brain to warrant a formal list (bum, buuumm!).
1) Language
2) Race
3) Religion (or Worldview)
4) Culture
5) Social Structure
6) Strong Government
These are all elements that draw groups of people together, and they go from the most cohesive element to the least. They feed or draw from the other elements up and down the chain, and for every element missing, the society is weaker. From a game design standpoint, they might be viewed as the thing that holds the place of hit points for a society, as they make the society resilient.
Language
This one is the foundation for the rest, since a society that cannot broadly and effectively communicate with itself will fall apart in confusion. Those who have resources (material or immaterial) and know how to speak the language will be able to get things done while those who cannot speak the language will at best be isolated and left to whatever comforts their resources can provide. Thus it is essential that a society be able to speak together from bottom to top and across any functional divisions.
Race
This is the most paradoxical element, being both extremely superficial and at the same time a critically instinctual marker that identifies who is part of the group from who is not. In very basic biological terms, the human animal is distinguished by physical traits of size, shape, and coloration that in simple terms are what we call "race". Those traits provide an easy marker for who is related and who is not, and therefore who is safe and who might not be. As such, this is an element that on it's own, is perhaps the most ingrained to the human animal for bringing together a society. However, as human interaction between races blurs lines, other elements make this potentially a very superficial element if there are explicit mitigating factors to make it so. But lacking those other elements, race is an extremely powerful force for pulling societies into distinct, cohesive groups.
Religion (or Worldview)
This is a powerful element because given the fundamental ability to communicate, the worldview of the society provides the basic thought framework for the beliefs and values the society holds. What they believe to be true and good informs behavior of the individual and the social pressure to reinforce it. The most basic type of worldview is now and has been Religion in one form or another, and this has been the most durable, since religion not only answers where we come from and where we are going also what it all means. Non-religious worldviews have also existed (e.g. communism/Communism) and held together states even when they have not done so as durably as ancient and still extant religions. However, unlike language or race, worldviews may cross groups and provide a unifying force where the others are lacking. I would suggest that lacking the language to communicate however, two groups with a like worldview are more likely to separate for more practical reasons, namely the inability to work out basic things like how to conduct trade among persons, or when one can go to the well.
Culture
This covers the day to day practices that are not necessarily explicitly and exclusively covered under the purview of another element and includes, at least, such things as the clothing, the food, the music, the art, the traditions, and the holidays that a society holds. There is clearly overlap with Religion here, but many things (like chord structure in music) are not addressed in moral or theistic terms, but nonetheless matter to identifying a culture. and culture is very much influenced by it's geography (Polynesians lack the iron culture that the ancient Persians had, but were consummate navigators). I suggest however, that culture is primarily about the hundred comfortable, familiar things that are shared by groups in common which act as a unifying force. Without them, a society has to work harder to come together.
Social Structure
This is about the organization of roles within a society that make it run smoothly as a unit. Who has authority and responsibility over the activity, procedures, and production required to make a large group function over time. It is concerned first with horizontal social relationships, and second with vertical relationships in the society. This element, like race, is a two sided issue and can be either unifying or divisive since it has built into it who has material and social resources. Furthermore, it also overlaps with religion and culture, with those potentially informing roles and responsibilities. If this element is not strong, and the society members feel it is an unfair social structure, then it becomes a liability. Note that a broad range of social structures is possible, and can well include everything from a very egalitarian society in which everyone has some authority in social decisions and shares similar wealth levels, all the way to extremely stratified societies in which a single ruler possesses 90% of the wealth and legal authority over the masses of the rest. If the individuals of the society perceive that their needs are being met, social structure can be highly diverse. Conversely, human nature can corrupt the most idealistic social structure if the people give in to their baser instincts.
Strong Government
A fair bit of overlap exists between the government and the social structure, but this is distinguished by a narrower function. While social structure is primarily horizontal, this is mostly vertical, and has little necessary relationship with the other elements. It is unlikely to be sufficient alone to maintain a lasting society, but may act where a vacuum exists in another area. It is about defined authority from the top, not about assumed or understood social contracts, and is enforced by the sword tacitly or directly. In concert with the other elements of society where they are strong, this is a far less necessary element, but where they are weak, this can act as a unifying force even if it is a unity woven of fear, desperation, and defeat.
Using this set as a touchstone, I have been able to see how the pursuit of or eschewing of each of these elements has strengthened or weakened societies that I have studied in history or observe in today's news. While not a perfect, or all encompassing model, it is nonetheless a model I have found to be consistently accurate in the broad strokes.
Seeing that, I am working on how to use it to create verisimilitude for the political game I have been looking for for decades.
HERE is my current thinking in action.
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