Greed is good.
Have you ever noticed how so many games put the player in the role of a tycoon? It’s one of the oldest settings, going all the way back from Monopoly to classics like Acquire and the 18xx series. It’s a simple concept: the most money wins. In modern designs, it’s more common to represent amassed wealth and power in the form of some kind of victory point, like in Imperial. So the structure changes, the settings shift, but the message is always the same: financial success translates directly to victory. Of course, most of these games aren’t really interested in making any kind of economic or societal comment. Games are usually about competition, so money is just another metric by which we can compete, like taking over the world in Risk. But what if a game actually used that trope as a way to reflect back on our society, all while still making an absorbing game experience? That’s exactly what Greed Incorporated does, and the result is impressive. Continue reading
The Rumpus Room 