Challenging the Status Quo

Thirty-one years ago, PC Gamer issued a challenge to readers to try out the economic simulator Capitalism. This game, released in 1995, was touted as ‘good enough to make a convert out of Karl Marx himself.’ I, one of the few reviewers who have covered The Communist Manifesto for a major gaming publication, decided to take up the challenge and see if it could convert me.

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My plan was to build a business empire on the back of a single department store that sold three products and a silica mine. I was warned by advisors that it would never work, but I was determined to prove them wrong. In the end, they were correct, and I ended up bankrupt.

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A Glimpse into the Past

Capitalism is a game that takes place on a procedurally generated pseudo-region of an Earth-like planet. Players can choose to build their business empire on a vast archipelago, a single contiguous mega-landmass, or anywhere in between. Cities like Lisbon and Chicago will be just a short walk from each other, mirroring their real-life counterparts.

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The game is big on supply chains, which means that all goods sold must come from somewhere. In my first foray into the world of business, I built a department store in central Jakarta and filled it with laundry detergent. However, I soon discovered that the people of Jakarta were not interested in buying my suds, and I ended up with a massive surplus of detergent.

I tried to expand my business by adding cookies and leather shoes to my department store’s roster of goods. However, this only made things worse, and I ended up with a net loss of $300,000 a year. It wasn’t until I added an advertising unit to my department store and partnered with a TV station that my fortunes began to change.

Learning from the Past

Despite my initial struggles, I was determined to learn from my mistakes and find a way to succeed in the world of Capitalism. I tried again, this time paying attention to product quality and price. I built a department store in Guangzhou and sourced a thick gush of shampoo from the nearby port. By fidgeting with the price-per-bottle, I was able to establish a neat equilibrium between supply and demand.

As my business began to thrive, I expanded my product line to include air conditioners and jumpers. I was charging people double what I was paying for them and raking it in. Before long, I was making $5,000,000 a year and had built factories, invented the video camera, and purchased my competitors’ jeans and sold them at a mark-up.

I even started mining silica again, just for old times’ sake. Pretty quickly, I hit $12 million a year and realized that I was simply too good at Capitalism for anything funny to happen ever again.

A Fascinating Simulation

Capitalism is a game that presents a vision of the world where consciously-held ideology is dead. In its place, ranks of men with big phones and suits chasing ever-greater numbers on ever-bigger spreadsheets. The game does not sing the praises of capitalism the concept, nor does it criticise it. Instead, it reflects its era, where good and bad were outdated relics of a past where people deluded themselves by believing in things rather than chasing stuff that is concrete and consumable.

The game’s simulation is impressive, taking into account factors like climate and environment. It consistently surprised me with the things it took into account and the things it asked me to take into account.

A New Perspective

Capitalism is a game that offers a new perspective on the world. It challenges players to think critically about the economy and the role of business in society. It is a game that is both fascinating and thought-provoking, and one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in economics and simulation games.