A legislative watchdog group on Thursday unveiled a tabletop strategy game, No. 1 Zhongshang S Road: The Scene of A Bill, that simulates the activities of the Legislative Yuan.
The game puts players in the shoes of party whips, who must pass or block bills by mustering votes and leveraging the rules of the legislature, Citizen’s Congress Watch said.
The game originated at Soochow University’s Legislative Research Center to teach students about government, said Hwang Shiow-duan (黃秀端), a Citizen’s Congress Watch member who is also the dean of the university’s School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tabletop game designers assisted the group in developing the game, which was crowd-funded through donations and tested by legislators, she said.
Students should learn about parliamentary rules if they are to be informed citizens, said Citizen’s Congress Watch director Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), an adjunct associate professor of Hakka language and social studies at National Central University.
Through the game, players learn about legislative procedures, which can help them judge the legality of real-life parliamentary maneuvers and understand the value of persuasion and zealous advocacy in a democratic system, he said.
The set costs NT$1,500, but can be purchased at a discount with the Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers, Tseng said, adding that schools should consider using it as a teaching aid.
New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said he played an early version of the game against Citizen’s Congress Watch members in his office.
“I played the whip of a big party and got to know what it felt like to crush small parties,” he said, adding: “I believe this game will help educate the public on the workings of the Legislative Yuan.”
The scenes of chaos that have played out at the Legislature over the past few days showed that Taiwan’s democracy has a long way to go, he said.
“That general interpolation session was so rowdy I could not even hear myself talk; six minutes in the middle of a speech my microphone simply disappeared,” he said in a reference to a legislative session on Tuesday that descended into a shouting match.
Citizen’s Congress Watch works hard in its role, and the game is a creative idea to educate the public, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said.
Many young people who are interested in politics have been disillusioned by the media’s selective use of exposes, he said.
The game could help people learn that creating a functioning legislative culture takes the work of generations, he said, adding: “People must not lose hope when things are not as they should be.”
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