Personally, I think it’s pretty tone deaf. Lots of people are suffering at the hands of both currently.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As fun as that is, I love a game that starts out innocent fun then slowly reveals as you progress that you were always a monster, the only difference is now it’s starting to impact the world in a way that you can’t ignore anymore. It’s up to you when you want to stop.
Baldur’s Gate?
That is a really funny theme to pick
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.
Cope
The first game it has shown me is…
WORKERS & RESOURCES: SOVIET REPUBLIC
Gabe knows some irony
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
Its not capitalist, its a planned economy. Taxes can exist outside of capitalism
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.
idk, space warlord organ trading simulator seems pretty spot on for late capitalism
Buy Kapital and Soviet Republic en masse
Seize the means of unproductivity.
Or just hoard your actual wealth like Scrooge McDuck and play openttd without paying a cent.
Probably a better game than 99% of that junk too.
Based take ngl
Good post
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.
Openttd, the communist utopia, where you personally lay out the tracks and drive the trains.
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.
RCT does a really good job emulating the massive desire to drown your guests that all tycoons eventually get.
0.01$ super salty fries, 80% ice 1500% overpriced drinks FTW
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.
World End Economica isn’t even in this sale. I feel cheated.
That sounds horribly painful. How on earth can it be remedied.?
when is valve gonna release capitalism 3?
Right after Capitalism 2: Episode 2
And Capitalism: Alyx
Upgraded to run on the new GoldSrc Engine 2
communists will disagree but this is capitalism 3.