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If you're looking for a brainless casual game to kill 10 or 15 minutes, don't play Democracy. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a thoughtful game that will require you to balance the conflicting desires of a voting populace in a democratic society so that you can stay in power, you might want to give Democracy a closer look.

I will admit that I was a bit thrown when I got my first look at Democracy. There are tutorials, and you do get a lot of information, but there's just so much of it to process. You're not going to see any flashy graphics. Mainly, you have a large screen full of little circles. Mouse over a circle and you'll see red and/or green lines connecting it to other little circles. As you continue to study the screen, you'll notice the circles are arranged into zones on the screen. My first instinct at the sight of all the little circles was to scream and run (OK, maybe it was just to back slowly away and promise to try again later). I'd like to say there's an easy way to get comfortable with the screen, but there isn't. You just have to jump in and get started.

Democracy offers you the chance to play the democratically elected ruler of one of 12 different countries. You can wield your power (such as it is) in the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Canada, Germany, the United States, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Russia, Poland or Spain. Before you choose your country, you get a little information. You'll learn the level of overall debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product, length of term, percentage of unemployment and current population. You have to have won the hearts of at least 51 percent of the populace to be elected for another term.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49."

— Thomas Jefferson

My first year in office (I chose Australia) was probably the most confusing, because I didn't yet understand what I was doing. It turns out that it was actually one of my easier years. You see, initially you start with a clean slate — kinda. The people don't totally hate you, but they aren't all that excited about you either. You also don't have any campaign promises that you have to keep at this point.

As each three-month term begins, I get a little feedback about how my beloved populace is feeling about me. I'm shown any new events that affect the country, new situations that I need to deal with, and sometimes a policy dilemma that I have to solve. At this point, I had enough political clout to make two policy changes for the next three months.

The new events option is pretty much just information. If it makes people happy or unhappy, I'll see which people and how big of an effect it has. Situations usually require some sort of response. The dilemmas are usually some sort of moral dilemma that engenders strong feelings on either side of the issue. I think the first dilemma during my tenure was a question of whether to permit or ban gay marriage. Another dilemma that came up was whether to allow stem-cell research. Yes, the situations that come up are going to sound awfully familiar to anyone that follows the news in the real world.

There are actually 21 categories of people in your country, and people can belong to more than one category at the same time. You'll see everything from socialist, religious, parent, liberal, conservation, patriot, and retired, to smokers and drinkers. Your citizenry is arranged in the middle of the screen. You'll know how happy or unhappy they are at a glance. You won't know why someone is unhappy at this point, but at least you'll know that they are. (You'll also see bars in this area showing your overall level of support and how many policy decisions you have available to make.)

The 14 different areas that affect these people are lifespan, air quality, literacy, working week, crime, GDP, violent crime, Internet access, poverty, car usage, average income, productivity, equality and unemployment. Each area affects different groups in different ways. You're pretty much guaranteed that what makes one group happy will piss off someone else. These areas are arranged across the top of the screen so that you can keep an eye on them at all times.

The screen is divided into different regions: foreign policy, welfare, economy, tax, public services, law and order, and transport. All of the current active policies for a given area will be shown as little circles. Mouse over the circles to see their interactions (where the red and green lines link to). Click the circles to adjust funding levels or how you want them supported. Circles with exclamation points have problems in that area. You can't make any changes directly to a problem. You have to tweak the things that interact with the problem to try and prod it in the direction you want it to go.

As you near the end of your first term, you'll get the chance to make two election promises for your campaign. Really study the state of your country before you make these promises, because if you haven't kept them, come election time, you are so going to pay the piper. If you already have astonishingly low unemployment in your country, don't promise to cut unemployment. Each little change will be much harder to make than if you tackle an issue with bigger problems. I have seen eight potential campaign promises as I've played. I don't know if these change as the game goes on, but they include the following: cut income tax 10 percent; cut unemployment 10 percent; cut poverty 20 percent; reduce violent crime 15 percent; increase lifespan 10 percent; improve air quality 20 percent; cut corporate tax 20 percent; and increase equality 10 percent.

I have to admit that initially I struggled quite a bit. I was getting a little stressed out trying to balance the wants and needs of everyone. I carefully watched the polls and studied the effect of each little tweak in tax rate, budget expenditures and policies. I barely squeaked through my second two elections — especially as I wasn't able to keep all of my campaign promises. For one awful term, I swore to reduce violent crime. Every freaking thing I did raised it. It was so frustrating. I think we went from double-digit violent crime to over 400 percent. Trust me: I never made crime a campaign promise again.

I found myself winning by a narrower margin every time. Both the liberals and the religious hated me. I managed to survive three assassination attempts. Yes, if you make a group angry enough, they will try to get you out of office any way they can. You'll know when things are heating up. You'll hear the group is writing letters to the editor, calling radio talk shows, picketing with signs, throwing vegetables at your ministers — you know, the usual.

Finally, as I was getting tired and decided there was no chance I'd win the next election, I completely ignored the polls and just did what I wanted. The truly hilarious part was that I won that election by the best margin ever. I had 77.85 percent support of the populace. I had a powerhouse economy. OK, the budget wasn't balanced and we did have a growing debt, but the people were happy with me. (OK, not the religious folks — between refusing to ban gay marriage, allowing stem-cell research, legalizing cannabis, gambling and prostitution, and blocking the teaching of creationism in schools, they had their issues with me.)

So what have I taken from this experience? Governing is hard work. Sometimes you'll make decisions that you aren't happy with, but it's because you have to choose the lesser of two evils. If someone has found a way to make everybody happy at the same time, they should be running for office. I've never seen it happen.

This isn't a shooter. It isn't action-packed with flashy graphics. The graphics do what they need and nothing more. The music actually is just right for the tone of the game. If you've ever cursed the news and the elected politicians and thought, "I could do a better job than that idiot," you should give Democracy a try. You won't have to deal with campaign fundraising issues, mudslinging with an opponent or looking good on television, but you will get to take a hard look at how a lot of decisions, big and small, go into the running of a democracy.