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.
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...
Usually in these games I tell workers to do the work, I'm just the guy giving orders.
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IS A MAN NOT ENTITLED TO THE SWEAT OF HIS BROW?!?!
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.
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.
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.
idk, space warlord organ trading simulator seems pretty spot on for late capitalism
The first game it has shown me is...
WORKERS & RESOURCES: SOVIET REPUBLIC
Gabe knows some irony
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.
Cope
when is valve gonna release capitalism 3?
3
What's that funny symbol?
- Valve
I think it's some kind of indian luck rune
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).
Valve would have to go to mom before Google would let them have a turn on the capitalism 3.
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.
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.
You can run a private business without engaging in capitalist exploitation. That's something a lot of people would probably find enjoyable.
Games showing us that it has never been about the monet/credits. It's about making and experiencing
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.
I mean they got our attention, so they've done it right ig
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.
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
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.
Choices you can make before you sell a game called "Sex with Hitler."
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...
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
Buy Kapital and Soviet Republic en masse
Seize the means of unproductivity.
That’ll show those capitalist pigdogs!
Good point, piracy better
I have Soviet Republic on my wishlist, so it was literally first game i saw just below the "Capitalism and Economy Fest" sign.
Same
I was confused until I saw the games for sale. Well played, Valve.
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
I'm anti-war and guns, I play a lot of war games and shooters.
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Based take ngl
World End Economica isn't even in this sale. I feel cheated.
That sounds horribly painful. How on earth can it be remedied.?
They heard us! Soviet Republic is now on sale!
Good post
The American dream right here
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Valve itself is Capitalist, it isn't a shift in positions.
Very few people realize that Valve just barely managed to get enough votes to pay lip service to BLM, and then their CEO overturned it.
Won't be buying any games while this is up
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.
