[silvarilon]

I could imagine "good politics" without ass-kissing or guild applications.

I can't particularly imagine political intrigue between players, as that gets competitive, is mostly hidden, so it appears on the surface like one player suddenly smashed the other player in what probably appears to be an unfair way (since nobody else saw the preparations.) - The players who don't log in regularly would be at a severe disadvantage in that sort of game.

I *can* imagine the game staff setting up a political situation, and obstacles. So the players band together to sort out the political situation. Invading armies, an aggressive diplomat causing trouble, PCs being asked to act as jury in a trial, etc. could all be very fun political situations where a player who logs in for 10 mins a day could jump into the middle of the scene if they happen to be online while it happens, and don't lose anything if they aren't online.

I dread to imagine the amount of staff work it would take to maintain a game like that, though. Since all the gameplay has to be generated by staff, rather than players generating it for each other.

Then again, for other people, "politics" just means that the mob they are slaughtering is wearing a different colored shirt, because of the "plot" where redshirts have taken over the woods, and chased out the blueshirts. Y'know? Like how you could say "Mass Effects had good politics" because there was a story about politics, but when it came down to things, the story would continue essentially the same, and most of your political choices just mean you end up on a different mission where you still just shoot things. (Not criticizing ME, I enjoy the game. Just comparing the different sorts of "politics" you get in games.)

And yet for other people, politics means OOC-popularity-contest. Or it could mean that there are guilds to join. Or it could mean that the characters attend court and deliver flowery speeches to change the in-character city policies. Or it could mean...

I'm trying to build a "political game" and I'm still amazed at how everyone has a different idea of what "politics" are in the game