These games are tagged capitalism, but they use this wild version of capitalism where the person doing the work gets to keep the value their work creates. I think there's a name for that...
Being fair, capitalism works great in games. The system necessarily determines a winner, there are no externalities inside of a video game, and the people whose labor you're profiting from are NPCs.
Reading an actual book on economics makes it impossible for a benevolent individual to be a communist, at least without a physically painful amount of cognitive dissonance.
Oh, you sound really informed on this. What books of marxist economics have you read to come to this conclusion? What theory of subjective value based economics books?
I mean, I've just spent over a decade studying various schools of economics, maybe you have much more insight than me on this topic.
The only good capitalism sims are GameDevTycoon, which makes you complicit in the enshittification while playing a plagiarized game, and Roller Coaster Tycoon, which accurately depicts the tycoon mindset.
In the first game I remember charging about $5.00 or something for the bathroom. Easiest fake money I've ever made to fuel the construction of my psychopathic murder rides.
The fun thing most of these games aren't even truly capitalist. City builders like Cities Skylines, Tropico and Anno have little or no free market and you're just in control of a centralized planned economy.
The only truly capitalist games I saw on that list are X4 and Offworld Trading Company since you play as a single private owner competing with others on the market.
My friends who play PDX games with me and know my politics sometimes tease me about the game using currency or referencing profitability. And then I remind them that we're all meticulously planning our economies with virtually nothing left for a privileged class to decide. And our decisions, though made in a context of imperialism, aren't being made for personal wealth but state power.
Except when you're playing Victoria and the capitalists decide it's time to build the 34th arts academy with the building capacity it took you sweat and blood to build.
Cities skylines is definitely a capitalist economy as you literally make your earnings by changing tax rate and the only thing you control insofar as unmodded goes is zoning and city services lmao
This just in: America not capitalist. You have exactly as much control as the average American town/city does in that game. Control of zoning and road development isn't a "planned economy" lmaoo. The entire game is based in and around a capitalistic society and the demand created by said society in your town for it to grow that's the whole reason for the demand bars.
You also don't really have to worry about satisfying the demands of huge multinational corporations. So it's pretty idealized, as though capital has no undue influence on state-level political decisions.
I notice that 3 looks like a sideways ω, which is the symbol used to represent an ordinal number larger than all finite ordinal numbers.
In other words Valve might see 3 as essentially meaning infinity, and is thus unreachable. No matter how many new versions they make, they can never get to 3.
I feel old that I remember when people made this joke about Capcom - That they didn't know how to count to 3. Now it's just Valve, it's for all their games instead of one, and I feel like it's been true way longer than I could make the joke about Capcom lol.
For context, there was like a million versions of Street Fighter 2. (SF 2 : Champion Edition, SF II: Turbo, Super SF II: New Challengers, Super SF II: Turbo, Hyper SF II, it went on and on).
jokes aside, it's just not a really attractive title.
I've played 48 hours in one of the games in there, Traveller's Rest, about running a tavern. It has money, supply, employees, trends etc. But I'm not enjoying it because Yay Capitalism! It's because when you're running your own cute shop with virtual money it's fun. I do like the genre, but being reminded of the systems that are causing a lot of real world shit is just a bad title.
But I guess "Business Sim Sale" wasn't flashy enough.
Not only that but by necessity the money/credits in nearly all games (EVE Online a possible exception) is closer to a labor voucher of sorts than a commodity. And labor vouchers are a potential avenue for transitioning a society away from currency.
Came across this game too. I took a peek in the discussions for the game and oh boy was that a trip. I’d suggest making some post in there about his court cases or something. IMO steam probably shouldn’t allow anything about jones on their storefront period.
On the bottom right of the page, next to "Share" and "Embed," there's a flag icon. Click it, and you can report the product. I figured "Defamatory" was a likely category...
Because the capitalism isn’t flavored to your taste this week? I take it you would rather throw money at the corporations when they brand their products with hammer and sickle
Valve will be just as Capitalist when it ends. If you aren't okay with Capitalism for video games, or see it as a necessary evil while we live under Capitalism, you need to consume FOSS games and buy straight from indie devs, essentially.
My point is that this isn't Valve "at their worst," it's the exact same Valve. Valve has always been Capitalist, and always has functioned in a Capitalist manner. Valve taking a brand new stance, like "fuck trans people," would be Valve at their worst.
Basically, there's no difference in how much Valve supports Capitalism between last week and now, but if Valve changed their stance for the worse then that would be cause for a shift in consumer sentiment.
Piracy also works quite well. But my stance isn't capitalism bad (it is bad though) but rather that I don't want to support marketing that is politicised.
88 Comments
Amphobet@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 139 pts · 2y
Communists shaking and crying right now.
Capitalism is a very common/popular tag for games on Steam. Of course, it's a fantasy version of capitalism where you can actually get ahead.
reverendsteveii@lemm.ee · 56 pts · 2y
These games are tagged capitalism, but they use this wild version of capitalism where the person doing the work gets to keep the value their work creates. I think there's a name for that...
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 2y
Usually in these games I tell workers to do the work, I'm just the guy giving orders.
fosforus@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 2y
Anamnesis@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
IS A MAN NOT ENTITLED TO THE SWEAT OF HIS BROW?!?!
agitatedpotato@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 2y
Being fair, capitalism works great in games. The system necessarily determines a winner, there are no externalities inside of a video game, and the people whose labor you're profiting from are NPCs.
Kushia@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 2y
Just now I realized I'm the NPC in some rich asshole capitalists life.
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 2y
👨🚀🔫👨🚀
BlanK0@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 2y
Wake up sheeple 🐑
cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 2y
This is true for board games as well. The classic example being Monopoly.
fosforus@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 2y
OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y
Privileged, child, or petite bourgeois aspirations?
fosforus@sopuli.xyz · -3 pts · 2y
OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y
Yeah, to be a communist you have to be stupid enough to read books on economics.
fosforus@sopuli.xyz · -1 pts · 2y
OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y
Oh, you sound really informed on this. What books of marxist economics have you read to come to this conclusion? What theory of subjective value based economics books?
I mean, I've just spent over a decade studying various schools of economics, maybe you have much more insight than me on this topic.
DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe · 31 pts · 2y
The only good capitalism sims are GameDevTycoon, which makes you complicit in the enshittification while playing a plagiarized game, and Roller Coaster Tycoon, which accurately depicts the tycoon mindset.
Ulvain@sh.itjust.works · 23 pts · 2y
0.01$ super salty fries, 80% ice 1500% overpriced drinks FTW
InputZero@lemmy.ml · 20 pts · 2y
In the first game I remember charging about $5.00 or something for the bathroom. Easiest fake money I've ever made to fuel the construction of my psychopathic murder rides.
sirdorius@programming.dev · 59 pts · 2y
The fun thing most of these games aren't even truly capitalist. City builders like Cities Skylines, Tropico and Anno have little or no free market and you're just in control of a centralized planned economy.
The only truly capitalist games I saw on that list are X4 and Offworld Trading Company since you play as a single private owner competing with others on the market.
reverendsteveii@lemm.ee · 14 pts · 2y
idk, space warlord organ trading simulator seems pretty spot on for late capitalism
Allero@lemmy.today · 10 pts · 2y
The first game it has shown me is...
WORKERS & RESOURCES: SOVIET REPUBLIC
Gabe knows some irony
Lesrid@lemm.ee · 10 pts · 2y
My friends who play PDX games with me and know my politics sometimes tease me about the game using currency or referencing profitability. And then I remind them that we're all meticulously planning our economies with virtually nothing left for a privileged class to decide. And our decisions, though made in a context of imperialism, aren't being made for personal wealth but state power.
SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
Except when you're playing Victoria and the capitalists decide it's time to build the 34th arts academy with the building capacity it took you sweat and blood to build.
therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip · -5 pts · 2y
Cope
GiveMemes@jlai.lu · -6 pts · 2y
Cities skylines is definitely a capitalist economy as you literally make your earnings by changing tax rate and the only thing you control insofar as unmodded goes is zoning and city services lmao
OmenAtom@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y
Its not capitalist, its a planned economy. Taxes can exist outside of capitalism
GiveMemes@jlai.lu · -5 pts · 2y
This just in: America not capitalist. You have exactly as much control as the average American town/city does in that game. Control of zoning and road development isn't a "planned economy" lmaoo. The entire game is based in and around a capitalistic society and the demand created by said society in your town for it to grow that's the whole reason for the demand bars.
Anamnesis@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
You also don't really have to worry about satisfying the demands of huge multinational corporations. So it's pretty idealized, as though capital has no undue influence on state-level political decisions.
BmeBenji@lemm.ee · 54 pts · 2y
That is a really funny theme to pick
Custoslibera@lemmy.world · 60 pts · 2y
I hope next week is the Socialist and Communist Fest.
DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe · 17 pts · 2y
Tetris clone week would actually be pretty sick tbh
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
Do we have enough games on that theme? There are some and I would love it.
Custoslibera@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Sure there are others
effward@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Does Atomic Heart count?
JustUseMint@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Yes
danciestlobster@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
I mean disco Elysium you CAN be communist. They also sprinkle on their fair share of satire targeting communists. Such a good game though either way.
In the socialist category we also have not for broadcast
Allero@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 2y
Isn't it celebrated every week on torrents
dessalines@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 2y
JoYo@lemmy.ml · 53 pts · 2y
when is valve gonna release capitalism 3?
TheBat@lemmy.world · 59 pts · 2y
bi_tux@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
I think it's some kind of indian luck rune
blind3rdeye@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y
I notice that 3 looks like a sideways ω, which is the symbol used to represent an ordinal number larger than all finite ordinal numbers.
In other words Valve might see 3 as essentially meaning infinity, and is thus unreachable. No matter how many new versions they make, they can never get to 3.
Shyfer@ttrpg.network · 3 pts · 2y
I feel old that I remember when people made this joke about Capcom - That they didn't know how to count to 3. Now it's just Valve, it's for all their games instead of one, and I feel like it's been true way longer than I could make the joke about Capcom lol.
For context, there was like a million versions of Street Fighter 2. (SF 2 : Champion Edition, SF II: Turbo, Super SF II: New Challengers, Super SF II: Turbo, Hyper SF II, it went on and on).
Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 17 pts · 2y
Right after Capitalism 2: Episode 2
Klear@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 2y
And Capitalism: Alyx
ICastFist@programming.dev · 5 pts · 2y
Upgraded to run on the new GoldSrc Engine 2
JoYo@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 2y
communists will disagree but this is capitalism 3.
Chriswild@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Valve would have to go to mom before Google would let them have a turn on the capitalism 3.
misnina@lemmy.ml · 43 pts · 2y
jokes aside, it's just not a really attractive title.
I've played 48 hours in one of the games in there, Traveller's Rest, about running a tavern. It has money, supply, employees, trends etc. But I'm not enjoying it because Yay Capitalism! It's because when you're running your own cute shop with virtual money it's fun. I do like the genre, but being reminded of the systems that are causing a lot of real world shit is just a bad title.
But I guess "Business Sim Sale" wasn't flashy enough.
rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 2y
You can run a private business without engaging in capitalist exploitation. That's something a lot of people would probably find enjoyable.
cosmicrookie@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
Games showing us that it has never been about the monet/credits. It's about making and experiencing
Lesrid@lemm.ee · 3 pts · 2y
Not only that but by necessity the money/credits in nearly all games (EVE Online a possible exception) is closer to a labor voucher of sorts than a commodity. And labor vouchers are a potential avenue for transitioning a society away from currency.
bi_tux@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
I mean they got our attention, so they've done it right ig
agressivelyPassive@feddit.de · 2 pts · 2y
Also, these games are not about failing, fear and hunger. Capitalism is.
It wouldn't be fun to play, if you'd have to grind 16h a day and be in danger of homelessness or starvation if you lose.
People play CoD all the time, but I'm sure a substantial percentage of the players would decidedly not enjoy bleeding out in an abandoned cottage.
thesporkeffect@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 2y
I keep noticing an alex jones game selling for 20 bucks on steam and wishing I had a way to deface it or harm him personally in some way
CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y
Came across this game too. I took a peek in the discussions for the game and oh boy was that a trip. I’d suggest making some post in there about his court cases or something. IMO steam probably shouldn’t allow anything about jones on their storefront period.
MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 2y
Choices you can make before you sell a game called "Sex with Hitler."
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y
I wouldn't buy it if he gave me money.
DarkMessiah@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
I would buy it if he gave me money.
I need to eat, fam.
grue@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y
On the bottom right of the page, next to "Share" and "Embed," there's a flag icon. Click it, and you can report the product. I figured "Defamatory" was a likely category...
thesporkeffect@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Thanks Grue, I reported it for defamation. I wonder if it would be possible to land a DMCA claim against the game on top of the report
Spesknight@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 2y
Buy Kapital and Soviet Republic en masse
NeuronautML@lemmy.ml · 15 pts · 2y
Seize the means of unproductivity.
Custoslibera@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y
That’ll show those capitalist pigdogs!
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
Good point, piracy better
PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 2y
I have Soviet Republic on my wishlist, so it was literally first game i saw just below the "Capitalism and Economy Fest" sign.
Allero@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 2y
Same
Thcdenton@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 2y
I was confused until I saw the games for sale. Well played, Valve.
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y
I considered uploading this as well, under the title "How to break a Gabe Loving Communist brain"
Glad to see I wasn't alone lol
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 2y
I'm anti-war and guns, I play a lot of war games and shooters.
fosforus@sopuli.xyz · 11 pts · 2y
BlanK0@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y
Based take ngl
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 2y
World End Economica isn't even in this sale. I feel cheated.
HowMany@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y
That sounds horribly painful. How on earth can it be remedied.?
retrieval4558@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 2y
The American dream right here
Spesknight@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
They heard us! Soviet Republic is now on sale!
therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
Good post
drasticpotatoes@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -3 pts · 2y
Cowbee@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 2y
Valve itself is Capitalist, it isn't a shift in positions.
squid_slime@lemmy.world · -16 pts · 2y
Won't be buying any games while this is up
GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip · 43 pts · 2y
Because the capitalism isn’t flavored to your taste this week? I take it you would rather throw money at the corporations when they brand their products with hammer and sickle
Jknaraa@lemmy.ml · 23 pts · 2y
Try some lube next time Satan.
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.de · 1 pts · 2y
Or they just think the theme is in bad taste? But hey, csn't make a snarky zinger out of that hm?
GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
I already did that.
By the way, fix your federation
squid_slime@lemmy.world · -10 pts · 2y
No I'd rather not fund politically themed marketing from any company of any political alignment
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 2y
"Capitalism and Economic tagged games" is no more political than "War games fest" or "First person shooter fest".
It's just a genre of video games that the sale is focused on.
Cowbee@lemmy.ml · 24 pts · 2y
Valve will be just as Capitalist when it ends. If you aren't okay with Capitalism for video games, or see it as a necessary evil while we live under Capitalism, you need to consume FOSS games and buy straight from indie devs, essentially.
drasticpotatoes@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 2y
Cowbee@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 2y
My point is that this isn't Valve "at their worst," it's the exact same Valve. Valve has always been Capitalist, and always has functioned in a Capitalist manner. Valve taking a brand new stance, like "fuck trans people," would be Valve at their worst.
Basically, there's no difference in how much Valve supports Capitalism between last week and now, but if Valve changed their stance for the worse then that would be cause for a shift in consumer sentiment.
drasticpotatoes@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -5 pts · 2y
squid_slime@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y
Piracy also works quite well. But my stance isn't capitalism bad (it is bad though) but rather that I don't want to support marketing that is politicised.