As part of MTV’s Power of 12 project, MTV teams up with tech, political, and social media companies to create a Fantasy Election 12 game with real-world implications.
One aspect I really like about Fantasy Election 12 is that it basically awards (or penalizes) points based on how candidates and politicians behave: are they telling the truth? Are they representing what their constituents really want? Do they present political courage? Are politicians simply behaving well and doing their job? Do they discuss issues and policy rather than just talk about themselves? (Given those criteria… I wonder how many times Mitt Romney will be the last kid standing in line to get picked for the team… )
(side note: the average person spends 40% of their speaking time talking about themselves during any given day…)
Moreover, the Fantasy Election 12 players get additional points by being involved in the political process as well; not just the politicians and candidates who they drafted on their “team”. Using social media apps and checking in at applicable locations during political town hall events, watching debates, and of course voting in the General election on November 6th all are possible ways to earn points in the Fantasy Election 12 game / project.
So a new and creative way to get younger people involved in politics, but I’m also very curious to see how the ratings and points “earned” by the candidates as a result of the ongoing results play out in the “Real World”… (those old enough will acknowledge that reference)…
Let’s hope that Republicans and Democrats alike (since we’ve seen in the last couple years how…. adept… they are at using social media to “share” things… let’s hope that politicians might start to care a little bit about the sort of numbers that this project will generate: not opinion polls, but hard points based on what they do, how they behave, and what truth or lies they tell.
