Whacko Mode
| Setting | Persona Mode, the Whacko option |
|---|---|
| Where | Setup screen, the Persona Mode box |
| Options | Off, Whacko, Tweeter is not real life |
| Default | Off |
| Premium | Yes |
| Career Mode | Not offered |
What it does
Whacko Mode is one of three choices in the Persona Mode selector on the setup screen. With it switched on, the voters in the focus group still judge each policy on the same scale as usual, but each of them speaks and reasons as an exaggerated caricature of the type of voter they represent, rather than as a realistic one. The setup screen describes the difference as realistic voter personas when the option is off, against satirical caricatures of political archetypes when it is on.
The exaggerated voice is used wherever a persona speaks: in the monthly focus group's verdict on the President's policy, in reactions to Pentagon commands and to the aftermath of a war, on the Tweeter feed and in replies to the President's own tweets, in direct messages and chat with a persona, in exchanges between two personas, in special-action proposals, and in interviews for the Fourth Estate. In every one of these, only the voice changes; the underlying judgement of the policy does not.
The 2000s cast of voters does not yet have an exaggerated voice written for it, so a game set in that era plays in the ordinary, realistic voice even with Whacko Mode switched on.
The selector
Persona Mode is a single choice between three options, so turning Whacko on turns Tweeter Is Not Real Life off, and choosing the other way round does the reverse. The Tweeter feed's own voice is already exaggerated by nature and has no separate Whacko version.
Access
Whacko Mode is premium. A free account is prompted to upgrade if it chooses anything other than Off, and a free account's game always plays with realistic voters regardless of what is selected on the setup screen. Persona Mode is not offered in Career Mode, which always uses realistic voters.