Take a Proper Gander at Post/Capitalism

Here’s some delightful facts about capitalism:

•  It allows you to buy projectors in the shape of adorable trash-can, R2-D2
•  It regularly dropkicks you in the soul, then feeds off your pain
•  Like, fifteen different kinds of Mayo
•  It laughs in the face of malnutrition, smothering itself with exploitation avocados and gargling sriracha
•  I mean, Drogon is pretty dope
• Actual, genuine environmental devastation at a scale that would probably make the Night King himself switch to Tofurkey

Unfortunately, actually learning the details of this stuff usually involves a bunch of dry lectures, statistics, journals, and political philosophy. If there’s one thing capitalism has absolutely nailed, it’s distracting you from its nefarious ways with increasingly shiny things. That minimum wage job you have to do to literally be allowed to exist? Exhausting, right? We got you fam. Go order some food. In the ten minutes it takes to get here, 82 new Adam Sandler films will be uploaded to Netflix. 3 of them will even feature some jokes.

Bright Lights, Small City

Post/Capitalism – by Colestia – is a lucid, colorful essay. A minimalist, interactive think-piece and a systemically-driven infographic you can play in your browser. It asks you to explore the inner workings of a city, and trace the causalities between paradigms of exploitation, production, destruction, and want. As you attempt to untangle and balance the cross-pollination of negligent profiteering, you’ll be treated to lush chill wave track ‘Ghosts’ courtesy of producer Onda Suave. It’s conducive to an atmosphere you don’t see much in games exploring these topics. I recently covered the Spinnortality Kickstarter for Cliqist, and while that game implemented humor to great effect, its hyper-stylized, hyperbolic representation of free market tyranny seems to be the go-to for games that tackle these issues. Post/Capitalism, for all its dark subject matter, is infinitely more hopeful. It’s also very short, and very free.

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Nic Reuben

Nic Reuben likes to pause games every five minutes to ponder the thematic implications of explosive barrel placement. When he’s not having an existential crisis over CAPTCHA verifications that ask him to prove he’s not a robot, he’s reading sci-fi and fantasy short stories, watching cartoons, and mourning the writing standards in Game of Thrones.

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