Democracy / Voting System

Ludic Organisational Structure · II – Political Order power · Tipping potential: medium

Democracy turns individual preferences into collective decisions: power is distributed broadly – at the price of coalition dynamics, strategic voting and questions of legitimacy.

Design question – How do agents in your game make collective decisions when every vote counts?

Reference example – Avalon: each mission needs majority approval of the proposed team – and how people vote gives something away. Among Us: at the emergency meeting, everyone votes on who must leave the ship. Werewolf: by day, the village decides by majority who is out.

Ordering domain

Orders collective decisions through the aggregation of individual preferences.

Emergent behaviour

Coalition formation and breakdown, strategic voting, agenda-setting power and voting paradoxes (Condorcet cycles) that admit no stable majority.

Core Mechanisms

• Voting (MEC-28) – Voting mechanism.
• Communication (MEC-16) – Campaigning, persuasion, debate.
• Selection (MEC-07) – Selection among options/candidates.

Dynamic Mechanisms

• Negotiation (MEC-26) – Coalition building, vote trading.
• Role Assignment (MEC-32) – elected offices, allocation of mandates.
• Coordination (MEC-25) – Faction discipline, bloc formation.
• Monitoring (MEC-19) – Transparency of the vote.

Feedback architecture

• positive – Coalition stabilization: coalition → majority → advantages → stabilization. (Coordination)
• negative – Voting out: advantages only for the coalition → discontent → voting out → new coalition. (Voting)

Design parameters

• Voting mode – simple majority ↔ unanimity
• Vote weight – equal (one person, one vote) ↔ weighted (by resources/rank)
• Transparency – open ballot ↔ secret ballot
• Agenda control – free ↔ controlled
• Frequency – one-off ↔ permanent (every round)

Risk profile

• Runaway leader – medium
• Kingmaking – medium
• Stagnation – high
• Complexity ceiling – high

Compatible with

• Faction System (ST-07) – Compatible: factions as voting blocs.
• Alliance System (ST-12) – Compatible: coalitions.

Tension with

• Hierarchy (ST-05) – Tension: sharing of power vs. concentration of power.
• Combat System (ST-11) – Tension: voting vs. fighting.