Ahhhh …. After a few months waiting around for new politicians and software upgrades, Fantasy Congress is ready to roll. Although my email notification on this past week’s release of a spiffy new version of the web-based game probably got trapped in spam filters, I did check back in to find lots of great improvements are now part of the site.
CongressSchmongress is now recruiting members from my immediate social circles and the public at large to join the community in this great application of the fantasy sports model. This first league is meant to be a wading-in-the-shallow-end kind of experience, with no exclusive control of individual Congressfolk or customized scoring systems. There are five categories of officials — Allstars, Supporting Lineup, Rookies, Upper Senators and Lower Senators — with three drafted in each to make a roster of 15. The league runs through the spring session, ending on May 27. Points accumulated in that time determine a winner.
The changes to the site include an in-place drafting interface. It’s a bit clunky to manage on a small laptop screen because the text areas are too tall, but it is a rather intuitive and carefree way to select officials for the roster. When we try the exclusive draft, there will be the ability to pre-rank legislators and let the draft happen on its own. For exclusive selection, though, there is a hard cap on the number of teams and size of rosters, so 16-20 may be the practical limit for such a league. This upgrade also allows for great control in the scoring system and criteria used to determine points earned in Congress. As “Citizens” learn more about the performance of their representatives, the league can be configured to emphasize attendance over cosponsorship, for example, or even come up with new categories for credit. The duration of the season is also extremely flexible.
So, enjoy the football-free weekend and draft some senators for CongressSchmongress.
2 replies on “CongressSchmongress”
Ah, got your email. I need to do a time assessment and see if this possible new obsession is something my life can afford.
I think there is a lot of potential with this to become more aware of how active legislators are, but there are also some nice features in the site for understanding the legislation, too. 15 minutes a day, Vulcan. And The first sample is free …