Ideology Tenet Names

I got BNW last month, and I am loving the expanded ideologies. They help me get into the mindset of an oppressive, megalomaniacal dictator, which for some disturbing reason, is a plus for me.

I'm not sure about all the tenet names, though. Some of the names have no obvious relation to the effects, they're a little too USA/Germany/Russia-centric, and a couple don't seem to fit their ideologies. My unfocussed opinions and observations follow:

Skyscrapers. What could be more iconically capitalist than skyscrapers? But order gets them and freedom doesn't, for some reason.

I love that everyone gets Universal Healthcare." It's clever, and historically accurate - a couple other shared tenets might be cool - but what does it possibly have to do with national wonders?

New Deal - very US-centric, and it has no conceptual connection to great person tiles that I can think of. It needs a better name - I don't have any great ideas, but it'd be hard to do worse. "Celebrity
Culture?" Maybe. "Fifteen Minutes of Fame?" Nope. "Founding Fathers?" Very US-based again, but OK. "Intellectual Property?" I dunno.

Their Finest Hour - We get a freedom tenet that recognizably references a non-US country, and the effect fits the name. Cool!

Young Pioneers - weren't those the Soviet Boyscouts? Another tenet name that doesn't fit the effects.

Cultural Revolution - At least it's not from Russia, but wasn't the Cultural Revolution a worldwide public relations disaster? Oppressing the people most capable of writing articulately about their suffering was not a bright move. The only other Chinese communist policies/slogans I can name are the Long March and the Great Leap Forward. The latter was also a disaster and might be too controversial and horrible to use, but the Long March is decent tenet name (for some other effect of course).

Elite Forces - cool ability, and the name fits fine. To me, the name is a little bland though, and it seems like a good place to sneak in a Japanese-themed tenet. Of course, it's pretty similar to the Japanese UA, and the only authoritarian Japanese phrase I can come up with is "Co-Prosperity Sphere," which would better suit a CS-based tenet, and is anyway too controversial and offensive in Korea and other Asian markets to use. "Banzai Attacks," maybe? Probably best to leave it as it is, really.

Gunboat Diplomacy - Great ability, great name, and they match perfectly! Historically though, I don't associate either the term or the strategy with fascist/corporatist/authoritarian states.

Cult of Personality - Sure, the term works for autocracies I guess, but it's much more associated with communist countries. It doesn't make a lot of sense as a name for a foreign influence effect. Historically, personality-cults have been much more about inspiring the country's own people and keeping them loyal.

Well, you have to be fair to the developers, who are indeed American.

American media has always portrayed them as THE free country, despite the fact that in reality it's not quite as unique to have a representative democracy with a fetish for capitalism as America thinks . Therefore it makes sense for the developers to display things from an American point of view when it comes to freedom.

You also have to realise that when you're talking about Order, there's a limited array of notable examples to choose from, of all the self proclaimed socialist countries I can think of there's the Soviet Union, there's Communist China and there's satellite states in the third world. So it seems obvious that they had to choose Order tenets from the previous 3 (unless you go after abstract marxist concepts that have never occurred).

As for Autocracy there are endless examples, but due to the nature of and timeframe of Order and Freedom in game, they had to choose examples from WW2 to the end of the 20th century, and what not nominally socialist dictatorships are there in the 20th century that come to mind more than Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy?

With the intent of creating a good expansion with the resources they had available that their target audience would understand, the examples they chose seem quiet sensible.

Sure an Australian like myself has no reason to know what New Deal is, and I don't suppose the majority of citizens in many other similar countries such as ones in Europe do either, but since the developers are American, and Americans with only a vague interest in history are the target Audience, the examples they chose seem alright to me.

The ideologies are inspired by the World Wars/Cold War so it makes sense that they'd primarily draw inspiration from the major players there.

You also have to make some adjustments for gameplay with some of the mechanics. Gunboat Diplomacy is a really good example of this; it could have just as easily been an American UA under the name of "Big Stick Diplomacy", but the point of Autocracy is to use your army to solve your problems, even ones that aren't necessarily tied to war, so the tenant makes the most sense for autocrats.

Carptime said:

Skyscrapers. What could be more iconically capitalist than skyscrapers?

Click to expand...

Maybe it refers to Stalin's skyscrapers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(Moscow)

or constructivist architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivist_architecture

I object to the false equivalence of capitalism and democracy in the freedom tree. Also, the Chinese never have, and never will, understand Marx and Engels. Including any policy of the CCP is a terrible idea and unrepresentative of socialism.