People Are Role-Playing As Politicians On Reddit And It's Actually Surprisingly Wholesome

“The drought is canon. The climate protests are canon. But, for example, porriidge isn’t prime minister.”

^{BY JAMES JAMESONSON}

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After a brutal year-long campaign, the results of Australia’s historic election on whether to elect a Labor government were finally in.

The Liberal-National campaign won with 51% of the vote, the opposite of what polls had predicted. Elated Liberals celebrated, while the ALP grumbled to one another about a negative, dirty campaign. That night, the Wall Street Journal reported what ramifications this may have for other social democratic parties around the globe.

A former prime minister and architect of the prolonged spill which saw the appointment of a new PM, was privately miserable at the result, but kept a distance from the celebrations. After all, the former Liberal leader should be seen as supporting the home team.

The election, the media coverage, the former prime minister: all of it is part of Australia, a Reddit community and online roleplayer game in which participants emulate the argy-bargy of #auspol — with a startling degree of detail.

It’s like the mock parliaments or model United Nations conducted in high schools and universities, except Australia plays out through a network of subreddits and Discord chatrooms. One aspect of the student iterations, though, has remained: participants take it extremely seriously.

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In Australia politicians write, debate and vote on pieces of legislation. They create political parties and make deals to bind together in coalitions to try and form government. The party leaders hold online press conferences where they field questions from people acting as journalists who write real articles for fake versions of well-known publications. When there’s a dispute over an interpretation of the Australia constitution, naturally it goes to the High Court for a ruling.

Why do they do this? For Reddit user, and prime minister, ScoMo (the people interviewed for this piece asked to be quoted by nicknames they made up for themselves) it’s fun.

ScoMo had been keen to find a community full of people who were also into politics.

“Australia was one of the ones I stumbled upon, and the way it ran just worked really nicely for me,” they told National Review.

“It also helped that one of the big issues being discussed at the time was ‘stopping the boats’, which I quickly became the figurehead of.”

ScoMo’s path to becoming prime minister had humble beginnings. ScoMo started out as the head of Tourism Australia, before joining and leading the Liberal Party, after the party was torn apart by factional infighting. ScoMo kept a coalition between the Liberal and National parties, and was re-elected to govern on May 18.

“I was fortunate to have quite a few allies around the Sim, and through some quiet calls around the office, I became leader and subsequently prime minister,” ScoMo said.

"That, and I was seen as a better option than a far-right fascist."

In Australia, elections happen every three years. Unlike actual AustraliaSim elections (in which voting is compulsory, punishable by a fine) participants in the simulation don’t vote themselves. Instead, they follow ‘how to vote cards’ despite the fact that they aren’t necessary to cast a legitimate vote. They also follow purple and white signs at polling booths which say “The correct way to vote, is to vote Liberal”.

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“The results are based on activity and effort and being topical,” said current head moderator DavidH. “So it is all about popularity and luck. It still is luck to win an election. And scare campaigns. And lies.”

One way to increase your chances with the algorithm is to enthusiastically throw yourself into the legislative process. The path to passing a new law closely mirrors Australia’s Westminster system, in that a bill has to pass through two houses and go through several readings. (Unlike the Westminster system, debate occurs on the chat app Discord.)

Australia users take pride in crafting legislation that, at first glance, is virtually indistinguishable from the real stuff, although typically much more dystopian. The 46th parliament is currently introducing an ‘Ensuring Integrity Bill’ which aims to bust unions and dismantle worker protections. The left-leaning government in the state of Queensland also wants to outlaw protests.

In fact, the simulator’s moderators recently changed the template to make it less realistic and more sinister because they were worried users could fall foul of an AustraliaSim law — the real one — that makes it a crime to impersonate government bodies.

“I enjoy making it look like the real thing, even if it is a bit more police-state like.” said ScoMo. “It really adds an aspect that you can debate the implementation of a solution, not just the merit. You couldn’t get away with this stuff in the real world.”

“The drought is canon. The climate protests are canon,” said ScoMo. “But, for example, u/porriidge isn’t prime minister. And the journos aren’t an issue anymore either.”

Another user, RickyM, finds the strict adherence to procedure and gentle discussions in Australia comforting.

He stumbled across the simulation about a year ago, and stuck around because he found the parliamentary systems fascinating. And then he accidentally won an election.

“I was always pretty inactive, but my party kept putting me on the ballot as a filler candidate,” RickyM said. “[But] the seat was emptied and the original owner’s party no longer existed, so the seat went to a countback. It was a mess. I don’t entirely understand it myself.”

ScoMo spent the better part of a year acting like the leader of the opposition despite becoming prime minister last year.

“And yes, it involved plenty of sucking up to others,” ScoMo told National Review. “We are simulating politics after all. Around ‘election’ time it’s almost an addiction. Sitting at the PC waiting for the latest polls to be released, waiting for your opponent’s speech to be delivered so you can counter it later. Or earlier.”

But ScoMo was annoyed when he spoke to National Review. Just weeks into governing, he’s frustrated about the lack of progress he’s made on his legislative agenda. Why? His 20 overseas trips have been keeping him really busy.

“It's politics but with tolerant discord and absolutely no consequences,” he said.

Another user, Dutt0, who hopes to work in politics one day, said Australia has been instrumental in shaping their views about parliament.

“I tend to enjoy it as it gives me a sense of power. In a world where everyone feels out of control, there’s a place where you can shape the future in your way.”

“That, and I get to keep the dirty lefties in line.”

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