Politican for a day

Politician for a day is the Danish Parliament’s new roleplaying game for visiting schools, ages 13-15. The game was designed by Workz, Mediafarm and Metronome.

The Challenge

The future of democracy is threatened. The democratic confidence of young people is declining. They don’t believe their opinions matter or that they can make a difference.

This has massive implications for the future of democracy. Low democratic confidence leads to lower engagement in political debate, society and democracy.

Politician for a day is a key component in the Danish Parliament’s strategy for improving young people’s democratic confidence. The game is designed to empower students to discover their opinions and express them from the rostrum in the Parliament, in negotiations with their peers and on live TV.

The game and accompanying tour of the Parliament is free. In total a visit takes 3 hours and 45 minutes. It will be played by more than 15.000 students annually. To put that into perspective, this is around 25% of all students in a year group in Denmark.

An Immersive Roleplay

Politician for a Day is an immersive roleplay experience where scenography, tv news, interactive media and the game’s story all contribute to the experience of being a politician.

Politician for a day is a unique hybrid of analogue roleplaying and digital game. It is a blended learning experience where media is used to facilitate interaction between the students and create the fictional world reacting to their actions.

Students get to experience the legislative process: They consult experts, debate their position internally in the parties and present it in the Parliament, propose amendments and negotiate with the other parties before they finally vote on the proposals.

Throughout the game, the fictional world reacts to their actions in the fictional tv news in the game. The students meet experts in interactive interviews, virtual politicians in committee meetings, participate in a live tv-debate and see themselves on the news.