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The "SIM" was a successful educational tool for many young people interested in the workings of the US Congress and American politics. "Sim Senators" could write legislation either from scratch, or by copying legislation submitted in the U.S. Congress. The legislation would then go through committee, and if approved, would be debated and voted on by the full Senate. All players of the Senate Simulation joined initially as Senators, representing a US state of their choosing and one of 4 recognized parties ( Democratic , Republican , Libertarian and Independent). The SIM later expanded to include the pro- Free Market Conservative Party and the Socialist leaning Progressive Party. Regular elections were held to elect a President and Vice President in order to simulate aspects of the executive branch, such as signing or vetoing Legislation . The first President of the Senate Sim was Mark Liakakis, a moderate Independent from Michigan. The first Vice President was a Republican. The simulation collapsed and was removed from AOL in the summer of 2003 during the presidency of Rachel Faith Anderson. The collapse was blamed on infighting between members. The core of the fighting was centered around accusations that both sides had artificially inflated their voting roles by creating fake or cloned accounts. A similar short lived simulation on AOL had been created using a bicameral format, and the supporters of Anderson advocated this type of system for the Senate SIM. Many members on the right also opposed the system of "rules challenges" that had been implemented when the Senate left was in the majority. This system removed the Supreme Court from the process of settling disputes between members over the interpretation of the complex rules of the game. The rules had been greatly expanded since the inception of the game. Those opposed to this system claimed that it was being used unfairly by a partisan elected Rules Committee. The simulation was the first of its kind on the internet, and since its collapse, many others in the same vein have sprung up, such as Qpawn , Politics UK and POLISIM |
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