Citzalia.eu €4million - I don't believe it.

[CookieMonster]

The European Parliament is financing the development of a role-playing and networking website modelled on the European Parliament, named 'Citzalia'. The project appears to be financed from €4 million allocated to European Service Network (ESN), a Brussels-based communications agency, from the European Parliament.

Jon Worth Citzalia – the virtual ghost European Parliament (really, why spend money on this?)

Citzalia is democracy in action. It is role playing game and social networking forum wrapped in a virtual 3D world that captures the essence of the European Parliament. You may even recognise parts of the building [...] Current Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and European officials will be on hand to guide you through the procedures and provide background information.

About Citzalia citzalia blog

Comment from John Worth's blog (which I have just come across because of this but looks like it will make it into my bookmarks):

The question I simply cannot answer is why is the European Parliament spending money on this?

Thanks to the research of some fellow EU bloggers we reckon this is financed from €4 million allocated to ESN in a 2008 budget line from the EP – see page 21 of this PDF. In the same period ESN has done this project for the EP, presumably under the same funding line? The only other similar line is this from the Commission, but Citzalia looks like an explicitly EP project. If someone knows the precise answer to these funding questions please do leave a comment.

All of this seems especially poignant just now as the European Parliament seems to be doing its best to kill off the European Citizens’ Initiative – a way for citizens to have a direct (rather than a virtual) impact on EU decision making. How about using some EP money to deliver a simple to use, online petition platform for the ECI? Surely simpler to program than a virtual European Parliament!

Jon Worth Euroblog

[theObserver@hotmail.com]

Social experiment? Market research to see how people react to certain simulations? PR?

[CookieMonster]

Social experiment? Market research to see how people react to certain simulations? PR?

In that case they could have just started a EU-wide 419 Scam. Just input your credit card details, sit and watch as your account is drained while you can do nothing about it!

[MsAnneThrope]

Can I go for a virtual swim with Jim Higgins if I play?

[CookieMonster]

Can I go for a virtual swim with Jim Higgins if I play?

Swimmer Jim?
[COLOR="White"]Or "bubbles" as I came to know him owing to a poster we never released, but should have! [/COLOR]

[myksav]

The European Parliament is financing the development of a role-playing and networking website modelled on the European Parliament, named 'Citzalia'. The project appears to be financed from €4 million allocated to European Service Network (ESN), a Brussels-based communications agency, from the European Parliament.

Jon Worth Citzalia – the virtual ghost European Parliament (really, why spend money on this?)




About Citzalia citzalia blog

Comment from John Worth's blog (which I have just come across because of this but looks like it will make it into my bookmarks):



Jon Worth Euroblog

Give people a game to play and distract them.

[jmcc]

If they launched an FPS with European Parliament maps and characters, they might have a winner.

Regards...jmcc

[Bobert]

Why Citzalia? Citzalia is a means of understanding how the EU’s democratically elected Parliament works. By participating in debates on issues the European Parliament is currently discussing you will gain insight and expertise into how democracy works in the EU. It is an opportunity to hear how other fellow citizens feel about current issues and about the role of the European Parliament. It is also a platform for debate and discussion of the issues which have been, are or can be addressed by the European Parliament.

There are already countless websites, books, forums, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Youtube accounts that do this!

[Podolski1.5]

Bailouts & Circuses

[Libero]

Cookie, I don't know why but I get this nagging feeling that you'd oppose this sort of project even if it only cost €4.

Maybe there'll be some sort of mod one can download and turn it into a shoot-em-up. It's the one time we'll get to see Bairbe de Brún with a rocket launcher.