What Video Games Get Wrong (And Right) About Capitalism
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- When video games try and grapple with real world economics, politics, and history, there's a lot they get wrong. There's also a lot, surprisingly, that they get absolutely right.
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On the lack of organized labor in Cyberpunk. I've already seen some comments giving examples. I'd like to add that there is also news coverage of a dock worker strike. The news coverage mentions unionizing is illegal and that the strikers will soon be killed by Arasaka security forces. There's a more high profile example though: the Mox. They're portrayed as a gang but in effect are a highly weaponized and militarized sex worker union in a world that requires that of them. And their characterization as a gang isn't weird as the previously mentioned dock worker's union is also characterized as such in the news report.
I never thought of that and holy shit that's so fuckin cool.
A prostitute union is the _idea_ and origin of Mox, but as of 2077 they are a gang - not a union. Membership is non-negotiable and enforced at gunpoint, and the way they act is no different from the way Valentinos and other gangs act.
There is also a crime where you kill militech people who killed people striking
Also let's be honest, just a few decades ago unions were org labour gangs.
And it was based.
Spot on analysis of the Mox
My favorite line about capitalism from Disco Elysium is when Joyce comments on critiques of capitalism. How capitalism subsumes everything, and critiques only end up reinforcing it instead. Its bleak and from what I've seen since then, its true.
Fr it's 100% true
Read some Mark Fisher if that’s interesting to you. He looks at capitalism and its effect on culture and how everything gets subsumed into it
Capitalism is a lovecraftian entity, so big you cannot comprehend it entirely, and whatever who throw at them just reinforce they grasp on the world.
But you also need to recognise she is saying this from a position of being a capitalist who benefits from capitalism.
Recuperation
"Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next product" - Jay Bauman
Thats Corporatism-materialism. Not capitalism
@@whendarknessfalls6969 I'll have to look up that term but it sounds pretty accurate, thanks.
That's RIGHT, Jay!
@@whendarknessfalls6969 It looks like it would fall under Corporatocracy more than Corporatism according to wikipedia.
@@whendarknessfalls6969 corporatism-materialism itself is just a product of the inevitable and current oligopoly produced and envisioned by capitalism, so the comment still applies
There are shards you can find in cyberpunk talking about unions and how they're essentially synonymous with criminality allowing corporations to either use the npcd directly as enforcers or wipe them out directly
The problem is the way 'Capitalism' won the current battle, by convincing the world that Capitalism and Economy are the same thing, when it's not. *Economy is economy,* there are fundamentals that every economy 'theories' have to follow, it exist before people put pen to paper and codify what is whatever 'ism'. I once seen a comment saying 'he doesn't want Communism, he just want stringent regulations'. Without ever realizing that every ideological systems about economy are stringent regulations, towards very specific purpose. Economy is the sandbox, the 'ism' are the merely the method you choose to play. Western right-wing narrative convince people that anything they don't consider 'capitalism' are somehow a completely alien way of thinking and therefore has no place in economy, when really, they are all about improving economy.
There we go someone finally said it
Untill 20th century central planning is denounced by the far left they do kind of have a point
It's always odd how your ways of improving economy always end with hundred million dead.
@@AndrewFrancisIlyrian I believe it's not as simple as that
@@AndrewFrancisIlyrianCompared to the billions weve lost and are currently enslaved to the current system? Id say anything else is worth a shot. Republicans and neo-liberals have had over 40 years since Reagan to prove their crap works. It doesn't
9:50 unions are obviously gone. Killed off (literally) by corporations. Erased to such a degree that people agree to work on horrific terms which more closely represent the slavery than anything else (if you find any contracts or ads for corpos hiring people). Quite an obvious question
It's so bad in fact that being in a union is considered an act of terrorism
Pretty much. Its not even an era of capitalism, though it carries all the poisonous elements, but corporate feudalism or else the chain between master and slave. 'Rights' assume you have any sort of bargaining position at all, the ability to threaten or at least go elsewhere with your labor or coin, but the powers that be are willing to throw armies or monsters like Adam Smasher at anything that even risks eroding their stranglehold. Even if they weren't, its a poisonous and dead world that can't even produce natural food in meaningful amounts and you have no choice but to pick between warring devils.
The tabletop makes it very clear that, for as bad as Night City is, its better off than most places and its doing better than anyone has seen for ages. You might even be able to eat something that isn't kibble for once.
You don't even have to be in a union. I scanned a random guy last night and the first listed "crime" under his name was "slandering a corporation." You get put on a wanted list for just publicly saying corpos bad lol
Valid ass thread
There are some extra encounters about this, you can find dead union members.
Trying to get people to "see" capitalism has proven to be one of the most braincell draining exercises I have ever engaged in. People often are incredibly adverse to seeing the world around them. Like really *seeing* it. Gets real frustrating real fast cause they act like you're a lunatic for talking about how the system demonstrably works .
This person barely touched on how capitalism works lol
@daedesmonk7143 okay? I never said he did
fish can't see water, you can't see air and interchangeable economic agents can't see the... you know what, nevermind
@@paltry7415 You can either talk about these vague metaphors to the philophy of Rauls, Engles or whatever. Does change the fact that most people dont even know what they are talking about with markets or even philosophy and still have the guall to act so pretentious about it.
Punks have been screaming against it since the 80’s. It’s only gotten worse, and punk got assimilated into pop punk for the corporate machine.
Disco Elysium was actually, factually, that hard line marxist leninist writing you described. It was written by MLs with that philosophy as an important lens they were writing thought. Like this isn't to get into the question if that was a good thing or not or if they're right or not, just saying that like that is in fact the base philosophy they are working with and that is in line with their political leanings. That game was written by that sort of communist, explicitly.
yet they are critical of marxist leninism hense the bloody uprising that led to a short lived communist state soon to be butchered by the international liberal coalition. they have a marxist lens but they arent leninist
Is there any examples you can give to show that it was written with a Marxist Leninist lense exclusively ?
are you sure they were leninists and not marxists?
@@kx7500 agree, a lot of the hyperbolized critique of communism was centered on the leninist insistence on a vangard party and government control. the game is great because it's a commentary on where any political extreme can go wrong. It's explicitly trying to display to people the dangers of going with one ideology wholesale, making it their entire outlook, and failing to take elements from all parts of history and more than your own perspective.
The devs also claim Scooter, the band, as an inspiration. And as an avid Scooter fan, I just enjoy someone else recognizing Scooter as philosophy: The undying insistence of having a good time, reacting to the depression-inducing state of the world by loudly paving it over through embracing sheer nonsense and absurdity and a (happy) hardcore beat. Even after thirty years.
Well. yes, liberalism benefits a whole lot from the viewpoint that art and ideas are what really change the world, not collective struggle. But it's not just collective struggle that's kneecapped by this framing. Turning art (as in, artistic creations of culture) into objects of investment--whether that's paintings or game studios or whatever else--is also an attack on folk art (as in, pretty simplistically, art for the people by the people) and an attack on art's place everywhere other than in galleries, museums, and investment portfolios. Including art's presence as a component to every and any political struggle.
I would argue that the quest line with Judy attacking Clouds is also Union adjacent, while they never outright say the word, Judy literally unites the dolls at Clouds to try to take over from the Tiger Claws so that they can have better working conditions. The game's message is pretty clear considering no matter what you do the dolls get fucked over in the end.
Yeah like the dynamic really changes when the corporation can just kill the people unionizing without real backlash
Cyberpunk doesnt owe you a solution to society's ills, Cyberpunk 2077, 2020, and even 2013 were all written by Mike Pondsmith under the basic idea of "Cyberpunk isn't about saving the world, it's about saving yourself". Critiques of capitalism aren't in 2077 because your role as V isn't to overthrow capitalism, your role as V is that you're a greedy mercenary who's terminally ill and out to save your own skin.
Johnny Silverhand is portrayed as an asshole with no morals about nuking a shitton of people because he too lives by the philosophy of "Save yourself, its too late to save the world" as a protagionist of CP2013, its just he lies to himself it's anything but selfish. The flashbacks literally discuss this, he goes to save Alt not out of altruism or to fight arasaka but because he thinks they're doing it to make a fool out of him, his bandmates are calling him an asshole for announcing his plans to fight arasaka because they know he's really selfish deep down, etc.
Exactly
Right, which is why it is worthy of critique. By its own author’s admission, 2077 & “Cyberpunk” are fundamentally entrenched in bourgeois ideology, completely shackled by “capitalist realism” & Nietzschean aristocratic pessimism, both of which serve to reinforce the status quo, and it has no interest in moving beyond that. These ideological fetters prevent Cyberpunk from actually discussing class struggle in any meaningful way, and given the genre, I think it is worse off for that. A far more interesting & compelling Cyberpunk game would center class struggle and refuse to let itself be trapped by bourgeois ideology. That it was “designed that way” is exactly what is worthy of criticism, given that all media existing under capitalism is designed that way, and we should demand better.
@@wizardunionizernot everything has to be a vehicle for commie propaganda. Cyberpunk has a lot to say about identity and transhumanism and spirituality, as well as the perils that await a completely liberal society that has even liberated itself from morality.
@ not really. theres already a squintillion games where you go off and fight Evil Corporation. by taking place in a world that's irreversibly fucked up and having a character just trying to survive in it cyberpunk is more unique.
@@snom953 “Fighting an evil corporation” has nothing to do with whether a piece of media is moving beyond bourgeois ideology. As a matter of fact, fascists throughout history spout a lot of tripe about “fighting evil corporations,” yet no honest person would claim they are moving beyond bourgeois ideology.
A piece of media where capitalism is inescapable and there is no progress or answers being offered for genuine progress, much like Cuberpunk 2077, is actually the status quo, and even “anti-capitalist” media remains entrenched in bourgeois ideology, featuring “opportunistic” or “overly ideological” rebels as a cautionary tale against Marxism-Leninism.
Can you name a single major game title that fully embraces socialist ideology beyond subtext? Of course, this does not exist. Little, if any media in general exists about throwing off the chains of capitalism and building a brighter future. Disco Elysium comes closer than any other game in existence to this, yet it still works hard to not be interpreted as explicitly socialist or communist, though it obviously scolds the player for blithely accepting liberalism or embracing fascist ideology.
To answer the union question. If you watch the news in your apartment, they mention that the worker union was met with deadly force and submitted to the corporation as a result. They were also labeled as terrorists.
Yeah like he’s not getting the dynamic really changes when the WHOLE union can be killed in a military struggle by the company itself. Like it’s not quite like irl where some prominent union heads get killed and the union is weaker or something but still they exist and negotiate/the corporation can’t overtly tell them to shove it without looking mask off evil. The corporations will make them gone and all dead so they don’t even have to entertain any kind of demands even watered down ones.
@ryancialone3045 Yes, that is so true about the Cyberpunk 2077 universe. I've also noticed that almost all of the side or main missions that include going up against corporations are usually reported by the news especially ones that take place in public spaces or in the view of the public in some way. However, the new outlet's versions of the stories were always different from what really happened on the these missions or the conclusions would be way off, but then I remembered that the corps own the News outlets so they control the narratives in Night City to suit there best interest. The citizens, especially those of a higher class, will always believe the news, and the lower class workers will submit in fear of losing their livelihoods or being blacklisted in the future.
Check out Citizen Sleeper. The sequel is releasing soon. It's a great indie title where you find refuge on a dystopian space station trying to survive by navigating exploitative systems designed to dehumanise and discard you, literally. But it isn't completely fatalistic like Cyberpunk as even among the decay, the game highlights stories of mutual aid and collective resistance, showing that people can endure even under the heel of unchecked greed.
Great game, funny how radical optimism and humanism can seem in the genre.
Good game but tbh its themes and writing quality never beat cyberpunk or disco elysium. Gameplay was fantastic though, so rare to find such stressful, well balanced economies in a game. Did a good job of making you feel the stress of working gig economy as a second-class citizen.
@@glowerwormMan it's weird seeing people compliment the gameplay because I hated it. Last I checked there is no true game over state. I often felt like my choices didn't matter up until the endings. The other sleeper in the game for example will always die. I can figure out a way to live infinitely but the endings will say otherwise. It bugged me
@@Tuskbumper yeah that's totally fair. I personally didn't know that there was no failure state until well over halfeay through the game. So any tension was an illusion but i dont mind it being an illusion. I think it was a nice reprieve from the usual difficulty inherent to the cyberpunk aesthetic.
One of my personal favorite quotes from Cyberpunk or at least I think so is
"The system is broken and must be fixed"
"No the system is working exactly as intended and must be destroyed"
I am immediately reminded of the original Final Fantasy 7 and how relevant its message is even now.
What about the remakes?
@adeptdamage3669 Those games have a completely different story that sidelines the original message of FF7 and are completely different games. It is done so intentionally, though. So much so that calling them "Remakes" is often under debate.
@@adeptdamage3669 sequels*
There is a game called ff7 remake but it’s a sequel to ff7
They’re destroying the goddamn planet cloud
not done with the video but cyberpunk is hopeless as a genre i dont think its an issue with 2077, it serves as a warning, not instruction of "heres how you topple capitalism"
yeah dude never played the original, he just watched 2077 cutscenes on youtube.
"Cyberpunk isn't about saving the world, it's about saving yourself" - Mike Pondsmith on Cyberpunk 2020
Someone hasn't read the second half of Akira, and It shows
Really well written video, good shit man
One of the rarest of things, a sincere positive comment as a standalone statement. You get a like on that alone (and because I completely agree with you.)
Great video tbh, you did an amazing job
Did a dude with a monocle and a top hat snatch 1 of ur potato chips while u were gaming PS5 in the couch?
@@SolarPlayer what? 😭
kentucky route zero is one of my favorites but mainly for its depiction of alcoholism. never seen anything that dealt with what it feels like to have an alcoholic loved one like that. incredible game. also whatever that other guy said
oh god kentucky route zero was my gateway into actually good narrative games
@@MisterDillPickle It is just so fantastic.
The Outer Worlds was the most comically shallow and surface level satire of capitalism I've ever seen in a game. Reminded me a lot of bad modern writing where everything is surface level
Tbh its not too surprising. I like Obsidian, Pentiment was awesome. But Tim Cain's youtube channel shows a bit of the accepted sentiment within Obsidian. He constantly preaches that people should vote with their wallet and that leftists are destined to be left behind. In other words, he actively works to maintain status quo.
"A lot of bad modern writing where everything is surface level." This in itself is a surface level statement.
I actually liked their take.
It's not shallow, that's the point of their selected stylistic: overthetop and pompous. The Outer Worlds is a lighthearted comedy capitalism themed, not a serious deep dive into capitalism itself. The game deals little with the subject itself, only using it a a background for the main plot and a checkmark for the reason why something needs saving.
I wouldn't expect this games style work out as well if it also had Karlius Maximum explaining to you the labour value theory and if it focused on realistic depiction of exploitation
I'm sorry but how??? The literal thesis of TOW is that capitalists WILL starve us to death due to their ego and need to provide the flashiest option even if it's not viable. It's a response to those dude bros that go ermmmm what if Elon takes us to Mars! TOW is th4 answer
I think it's interesting that most empire building games with resource management mechanics don't simulate free market capitalism. It's all needs based planned economies
the fact you think empires are based means you arent a socialist just like the state capitalists who supported the soviet union
It's almost a contradiction in terms to make a free market system in an empire builder.
The more you act to actively command and plan the economy the less it could be free market.
That's because you as the Player are directly managing and controlling the system, it wouldn't make much sense to make a game where the Player cannot control it.
@@Sp00kyGuy127 Why not? It would be interesting to have a game where the player is forced to react to the whims of the free market.
Amazing insight.
Thanks for your closing words. I think a lot of media analysis these days puts a lot of pressure on artist, they have to say things and the right things or they are the worst thing ever. I do not fault media if it not tackles deep societal questions, in the end art can take many forms. But as you say, I enjoy it if they do. And again it doesn't need to be "right" in every aspect, just thinking about the situation is already a step forward. Art it not guilty of the way society works and it has not the task to change it. That is outside the scope of art. Art it a reflection of society as it is and a focus for people to think about it. But change has to come from outside art, from outside media, form people. Art can commenting on it, can show problem or show solutions, but it cannot bring on change. So it is refreshing to see someone not faulting media or art if it doesn't do it, just wishing more artist would try a bit more. Which I can agree to.
Also: the way capitalism coopts even it's criticism is shown brilliantly in another piece of art, the Black Mirror episode Fifteen Million Merits. This episode made me understand why Che Guevara T-shirts exist.
yeee i so agree. Art can maybe make people more aware of things, but often times, it only speaks to people who are already politicaly interested and therefore often already leftist or socialist. The same problem do all the arts have, even physicial like musuems or theaters. Its not our job and it also just doesnt work
There are multiple places in CP2077, both NCPD gigs and random world events you can walk up on, include the corpses of striking picketing workers killed by gangs or corporate mercs.
While it was built for a fun adventure, I found the story in Another Crab’s Treasure to be a decently fun take on capitalism. It makes an easy boss out of the one labeled “Mega-Capitalist” character, but then also reveals the central societal flaws even going beyond that one “worst person”.
This is great. I'm so happy I found this video. Keep up the good work.
In my opinion, this video falls short in engaging with the topic effectively. Especially in defining capitalism, using Wallerstein feels inadequate. Are you avoiding Marx because you fear being labeled a “commie” by your liberal or right-wing audience? Other than that, that book (WAS) were more focused on the structural analysis instead of class analysis, downplaying the class struggle, which makes many of your critiques feel shallow. Your criticism towards revolutionary potential on CP2077 is somewhat amusing considering that WAS is pretty much agrees with thematic theme of that game revolutionary defeatism. The reason so many yt commenters latch onto your point about the lack of organized labor is because much of the video feels abstract or non-committal. This is one of the few moments where you present a concrete and coherent stance, which makes it stand out.
Your section on Disco Elysium is pretty disappointing. Almost everyone who’s played the game, whether they're liberal, leftist, or centrist, would say the same thing. It’s such a broad commentary that it doesn’t really add much to your larger argument about whether video games get capitalism right or wrong. Your insights feel shallow (and yes, we all know that Joyce quote).
Lastly, this whole video seems to reflect your view of the world. The tone feels overwhelmingly revolutionary defeatist, especially in your conclusion. Your stance aligns more with the messaging of CP2077, whereas Disco Elysium takes a much more nuanced approach. I don’t believe their lead writers are all Marxist-Leninists, maybe some are, but what stands out is their self-critique when exploring these ideas, which sets them apart from the rigid, dogmatic perspectives unlike twitter leftist or all leftist i guess. There’s also a strong influence of left-communist critique, along with a touching homage to the Indonesian communists who were imprisoned, killed and raped by both internal and external capitalist forces in 1965.
edit: I think the term "capitalist realism" might be more appropriate in this regard, especially when the discussion is surrounding the cyberpunk genre, including CP2077 ofc. Imo, I don't think CP2077 is meaningfully anti-capitalist, considering they provided zero alternative to that system unlike Disco Elysium.
Wallerstein is not ignorant or dismissive of class struggle. He's very clearly drawing a Marxist interpretation of Braudelian longue duree historical analysis.
@@aryman6589 Sure, but Marx positions class struggle as the central force driving historical change, while Wallerstein incorporates it as one factor within a broader focus on global structural dynamics. While insightful, this perspective can obscure the immediate and transformative role of class struggle in specific local contexts.
For a video about capitalism in video games, I feel like referencing Marx should be essential, it’s hard to fully critique the system without engaging with its most foundational critique.
May i ask what your world view is? You mentioned that the maker of the video seemed revolutionary defeatist, so i'm interested on what your view is. I'm guessing you align more with marxism? I could 100% be wrong though.
they kind of did provide a small look into alternatives, look at the Aldecaldos
@ My worldview aligns with anarcho-syndicalism. While it draws heavily from Marxist theory, I don’t mind being called a Marxist. However, I recognize that, in the current material conditions, it’s nearly impossible to immediately transition to anarcho-syndicalism without engaging with existing state structures in practice. What sets anarcho-syndicalism apart is its emphasis on workers' democracy and collective ownership.
Man, this is some of the best written work I've ever seen. I'm going to be reading and watching every single video on here and study your style to try and learn from it.
I think Capitalism is best understood as an eldritch horror.
- Incomprehensibly Ancient ✅
- Intimate knowledge of it can drive people insane ✅
- It’s rules place people not in the center but as a byproduct of its own existence ✅
- Invisible to the common man ✅
That does make some sense. I've always been of the opinion that eldritch horror's appeal comes from a sense of despair and helplessness, rather than fear. The horrors are too great to even comprehend, let alone fight back, there is nothing you can do, and such. That does fit a lot with the general sentiment around capitalism as an unknowable, inescapable, unbeatable giant.
@@user-wq8iy4lu7eyeah but that’s because capitalism is the individual. You can’t stop capitalism without stopping the individual. Farmers are usually capitalists, one guy having a stand selling lemonade makes him a capitalist, and someone privately selling goods while owning the means of production is capitalism.
It’s all encroaching and unstoppable. Many feudal societies where proto capitalist to some extent and non capitalist societies usually didn’t discover agriculture so a lot of those societies didn’t have private ownership like those feudal societies have.
As a gamer who loves me some Daryl talks games, this was really well done. Great work!
I didn't expect Wallerstein to be the basis of the analysis here. That takes me back to IPE studies in university. xD
0:24 i have never heard this joke
Well now you have
Common dad joke
Laying down on the third rail and letting the train run straight over you is a great way of describing Disco Elysium
RIP ZAUM dev team, I hope to see more thought provoking stories from the people in new forms in other places
The power creep of that capitalism expansion DLC has been massive since the last patch
@10:46 not Jackie, Dexter asks you this the first time you meet him, 'a quiet life or a blaze of glory?'. Dexter himself says he chooses the quiet life after 'The Heist', and one of the endings to V's story is 'Path of Glory'.
i randomly stumbled upon this video and dude.. thats a really good video you made there
Night in the Woods is another good example of a video game with anticapitalist messaging but ends up focusing more on the main character’s internal struggles
In what way is it anti capitalist? I’m genuinely asking btw. There’s are various flavors of anti capitalist critiques and it goes from hating big corporations to hating the whole system.
I have a feeling this game is in the former rather than any where near the extremes of the latter.
Elder Scrolls does the same thing with its world building that you mention in this video. From Daggerfall to Skyrim we have past events defining the present and directing the future.
Dragon Age Origins also does the same with plenty of events being influenced by a past Conflict of Independence which now leads to a civil war.
Elden Ring is the absolute behemoth master of this. Cosmic-scale world building, generational societal trauma, the endless nihilistic flow of time, hyper violent and constantly swerving politics.
9:45 isn’t Judy’s questline all about unionizing clouds?
25:00 - It's like that stupid bird, the Phoenix. :sniff: Every time you, you know :choking gesture:, Capitalism comes right back. Anyway, what was I talking about...? I'm hungry. Let's buy something to eat. - Slavoj Zizek (paraphrased from memory)
10:44 Small nitpick, but it was actually Dexter who asked V this question rather than Jackie
one of my favourite songs starts with this verse:
Und weil der Mensch ein Mensch ist - and because a human is a human
Drum braucht er was zum Essen, bitte sehr - thats why he needs something to eat, please
Es macht ihn ein Geschwätz nicht satt - a chatter does not fill him
Das schafft kein Essen her - it does not bring food here (on the table)
Great stuff. Crazy to hear about how capitalism is a self-perpetuating system with built-in defense mechanisms.
Keep the videos coming!
I don't know why it never occurred to me until this video to consider police mecha as A. a cyberpunk staple (well, a later addition; they weren't really present in foundational works like Neuromancer or Blade Runner) and B. a logical extension of the real-world's police militarization and the genre's "Take the shit that sucks about high-tech late-stage capitalism and crank it up to 11" ethos.
Personally, I felt "the star" and "king of wands" endings of cyberpunk demonstrated acts of resistance against the settings antagonists. They weren't free of consequence, but they demonstrated Vs autonomy.
Also the Character of Yorinobu is worth investigating.
All video long I had expected for Cruelty Squad to make an appearance.
Huge amounts of people in the 2020 of R.Talsorian are not employed. They live in a grey scavenger economy outside the legit economy.
A bunch more are doing temp jobs or low end jobs to survive in a giant mallplex. They are poor but not on the raw, slummy bottom.
I’m sure you may have seen the video, but the RUclips video “The ideology of my house” I think does a great job of analyzing these systems and showing how everything has its flaws like we all know vegases factions does, but rather the focus of markets is followed so heavily
there’s a shard in cyberpunk, in one of the ncpd “assault in progress” encounters, that details how a labour strike was ended by the small construction company being “temporarily” bought out by Militech, Militech labelling the strikers as terrorists, and telling the “terrorists” to either surrender or be killed. needless to say you find the shard in a pile of bodies surrounded by armed Militech personnel
huh, neat new format. glad to see you branching out in this manner, kudos!
Hey, it's that guy from office space.
I'm only a couple minutes in and this video is incredible!! Great writing, excellent production, spot on editing, wonderfully eesearched. Feels like I'm discovering an indie band before they make it big. Keep up the amazing work man!
Imagine trying to explain to someone that the world they are living in is corrupted. Imagine trying to tell someone that something they base their life around was determined by someone else, and that they have little control over it while they _feel_ like they do.
Try telling someone that they dont need to base their life around how much money they make, or the car they drive, or the house they live in. That humans didn't evolve to live in cities, we evolved to live together in caves, then small tribes, where everyone looked out for each other.
Even the concept of money is such a recent thing, its like saying that "cardboard makes up the majourity of toilet paper" when all you can see is the last remnant of the final sheet, there is so much more to human life that is disregarded just because what you've seen is all you've ever seen.
There are several issues with your video:
1 Jackie doesn’t ask you about the quiet life or blaze of glory, it’s the fixer who hires both of you.
2. You say what replaces the governing system is already here but fail to give real world examples of how capitalism was around before capitalism took over things such as feudalism. You don’t even try to guess what could replace capitalism.
3. I quit watching after these mistakes. This is a long video of you just talking about games you played.
Outstanding video. Keep doing what you’re doing. Such a well articulated exposition of capitalism, done in such a way that nobody can accuse you of being partisan (this is a compliment, not a critique). I hope this video gets huge and opens many eyes.
Ehh I don’t really know about not being partisan. It’s pretty clear that he has a view of Capitalism being bad, just discussing how different games approach the topic, cover it and also all the discussions around what comes after.
The description of Capitalism as being like an Eldritch Entity that you can’t fight against, while in contrast to the more idealist revolutionary view of achieving a communist utopia, still makes a point about it being bad (it’s not like eldritch gods like Cthulhu are described as being good).
Coming from the other side of the iron curtain and moved to America. That joke is exactly how I feel when Americans say they’re being systematically repressed by their government lol
Yeah, spreadsheet bros acknowledged!
Great video!
Also Johnny, maybe misguided, rough for your taste, and, selfish to you, but I think "Loser" is a reach.
Yeah my read on his storyline is completely different from what the video talks about. I don't think he's mocked by the story for his optimism and radical ideology - I think he's mocked for the fact that he ignored and used the most important thing he had, the people around him.
The water analogy was neat. It's very apt, as it really seems like, for the vast majority of the global population, capitalism isn't a system, or a set of rules, or anything like that. Instead, it is vaguely regarded as some kind of 'default state' for human societies.
Which, of course, is utterly absurd. And that absurdity is what we have to cleave through in order to have a conversation about capitalism.
*It's exhausting.*
Man, I'm thankful for the algorithm for getting me here. What a great video, love your writing! I deeply feel the way you describe cyberpunk, it might not go super deep into the details but it gets the vibe. That also extends to the anime BTW, highly recommend even for those who don't like the media just because it's a story as good as the game and touches on the same strings.
I would argue that there is a happy(ish) ending to CyberPunk 2077, and it’s the one where V leaves Night City with the nomads, after recognizing that the original dream they had of climbing to the top doesn’t matter anymore, that the promises of “opportunity” in Night City are an illusion that just grinds people down, so V leaves with their adoptive family. The ending where V gets exactly what they want by becoming the “top merc” is a hollow victory because (a) V develops such a disregard for their own life because they want to die in a blaze of glory, and (b) most love interests can’t bear to stay with V while they throw their life away. It’s the classic situation of “you got what you wanted, but you failed to learn what you really needed all along.” The antidote to the loneliness and despair of the cyberpunk genre are the personal connections we make to friends and family. With cyberpunk worlds being defined by how little control people have over the system, the only thing anyone can do is focus on the things we do have control over, and that is the people in our lives, the ones who make life worth living, even when the objective quality of life is shit.
Now, does V throwing a wrench in Arasaka’s plans actually mean systemic change to capitalism itself will result? Almost assuredly no. No one has that kind of power, and anyone that does inherently benefits from the system as is. All anyone can do is carve out a little slice of existence for themselves, one where love and friendship keeps us going. I think Cyberpunk the game chooses not to deliver a false promise about systemic change and instead chooses to focus on the things we do have control over, and the choices that can be made.
Fascinating review of Disco Elysium. I'm a console gamer and I had not heard of this game. I just found it in the Xbox store, it's in my wishlist now... Usually RPG games are not my thing, but the way you described this game, as a Marxist, it seems like something I'd definitely be interested in. Thank you!
Your merit as critic of capitalism has revoked immediately you claimed to be marxists.
@normaal, I may not be a socialist (anymore) but to discredit a person entirely over their preferred economic system, is incredibly shallow.
@@katelawyer3689if someone preferred fascism i would disregard their opinions. Idk if I'm a marxist but marx is valuable and correct on many things, and capitalism sucks.
Fuuuuuuu I love that game AAAAAAAAAAAH
@ Entire thesis of Marxist critic of capitalist system is based on false premises and pseudoscience.
I think Tacoma is also an essential anti-capitalist piece of media. It does a phenomenal job highlighting just how little CEOs and corporations care about their workers and how expendable they are to them.
Video games can't execute capitalism, since they are designed as an escape from capitalism. Enter a world where you have no prior history or context and use what the world presents you to rationalize progress in that world. Video games are Libertarian, executing the fantasy of the "self-made man", where through resourcefulness and ingenuity the player progresses through the game. Video games are not only non-Capitalist in design ideology but often in aesthetics as well, with apocalyptic and pre-industrial themes so prevalent.
So-called "about capitalism" games like Mouthwashing still have an entirely Libertarian narrative structure, with the player having no problem progressing through and gaining knowledge. It's the *characters* in the game suffering from capitalism - the player is removed from their experience.
A truly capitalistic game would be designed to limit, exploit, and suppress the player, not offer the fantasy of liberation. A capitalistic game doesn't offer anything of value to the player unless its part of greater exploitation of the player himself. Such a game would be derided as a "scam" since we want video games to provide value to us, not exploit us. Our own needs, our own definition of what constitutes a "good" game prevents games from truly presenting capitalism.
one of the greatest youtube comment
One of the worst RUclips comments
@@shwackedgaming4186One of the bottest of bot comments
IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS, GIVE COOKIE RECIPE
"A truly capitalistic game would be designed to limit, exploit, and suppress the player," They do, that is game mechanics. A game with no resistance wouldn't be fun.
@@vulkanofnocturne That's not suppression though, that's just a factor of learning. 1+1=2 doesn't exist in order to offer one resistance, it's something we learn to better understand and operate within our world. Game mechanics exist in order to support the artistic and political aims of the developer. What I'm saying is that if those aims themselves were to suppress the player instead of benefitting the player (in order to get him to buy the game instead of calling it a scam) we could have a capitalistic game, albeit one that noone would play. Actual scam games, asset flips and the like, are the most capitalistic games in existence, but even those games intend to appeal to consumers.
Capitalism is a game of wealth accumulation. The purpose of capitalists is to transfer as much wealth from all external resources (humans, animals, minerals, etc) to themselves as can be managed. All effects on those external resources are irrelevant outside of their function as transfer conduits. So the worse one's position under capitalism, the more suppression one experiences.
None of this can apply to video games, because developers must make their game to appeal to consumers, preferably paying ones. The only people suppressed by video games are those too suppressed by capitalism itself to play them - they exist for a capitalist middle class to refresh themselves (hence the term "recreation") and get them ready to engage again with capitalism the next day.
Video games where the villain is an evil corporation tend to get the motivation wrong.
To the victims, it's incredibly personal.
To the villains, it was just business. The all-consuming quest for more profits leads them to commit unspeakable horrors, but they don't have any emotional connection to their actions whatsoever.
It's just business. If people die, then they die.
Great video!!! Def looking forward to more essays :)
25:32 you almost got it right, but it isn't capitalism what shapes people's lives and morality, is their own desires and needs, imagine if all your needs were satisfied by someone else, would you wake up in the morning to get early to do the "right things"? Do you think your neighbors would do it? Regardless of the economical system we would still have to work, to do something, and having to do something will take away our time and change our priorities
2:15 “let’s give a working definition of capitalism. “
4:49 “ it’s just what we’re experiencing now”
Amazing clear definition
I’m always interested in learning about capitalist critique. And this one like so many others failed to bring up anything interesting. Capitalism is everywhere, also capitalism changes form all the time so it stays in power… kinda like my first comment the video is just so wishy-washy with nothing form to say.
@@masterofrocketsIf you couldn’t figure it out from the video maybe the problem isn’t the video.
Capitalism is when the bourgeois class owns the means of production and therefore have an undemocratic control of society. That’s the simplest way I could describe it
@@masterofrockets Alright, I'll try and help first, run down on terms:
Capitalism, broken down, ideology of capital. capital is something like items to incur goods production.
Critique, the act of defining limitation.
When is capitalism the case? When the concern for productive assets is primary.
What are then it's limitations? Everything involved in it's 'other', for example production does not account for general maintenance on all items: put in clothing terms people do not patch clothes but buy new ones. Put in cultural terms, generations rebel but do not consolidate from the past. Put in agricultural terms, the lands are nutrient deprived from overuse.
my two absolutely favorite games! you nailed their philosophical appeal so well, especially cyberpunk, it's so much more than a dumb shooter and a lot of people gloss over the deeper themes
Dex, not Jackie, is the one who asks v if they want to die in a blaze of glory.
Human 1: Man, the air is cold today!
Human 2: wtf is "air"?
Interesting, though I recommend you to check Va-11, it does have a somewhat nuanced take on capitalism, so it should be an nice reading and analysis.
This video was masterful. Immediate sub
Can it get more ironic than when he said "We have to answer something" snd obviously is capitalism I got an ad? I wonder if it was in purpose bc it was quite funny
Lethal Company is also a game about capitalism. On the surface, it's a multiplayer that encourages teamwork but the lore of the game is that you have to collect random objects from abandoned space stations and colonies to fulfill the quota of a faceless company. The quota rises every time you complete it until you and your team can't meet the quota anymore and get shot out the airlock. The company is never satisfied and wants you to embark on dangerous planets with deadly monsters all for extra money so you can be more efficient at acquiring more. It's even implied that the company is an ever-hungry eldritch entity which is a good analogy for capitalism
4:59 I don’t know why you’re trying to be so vague about it. It is an economic system by which capital (distinguished between assets and liabilities) is stored and distributed between people as individuals as well as collectives.
All you did was define capital, not describe capitalism. You failed to describe any of the ways people relate to capitalism, its effects and causes, or evolution. You defined a single aspect of capitalism
This isn’t a very useful definition, apart from defining capital in a way which then asks for assets and liabilities to be defined.
No, capital is only one aspect of capitalism, the main defining aspect of capitalism is that its based on the private ownership of the means of production, instead of the workers owning it, which creates a class divide between the capitalst class (the private business owners) and the working class (aka everyone else). Capital itself isnt "assets and liabilities" its the monetary value those assets and liabilities are worth, and currency (money) itself obviously. Because capital is required to do pretty much anything under capitalism (since most things arent free, at least not without regulations and laws and government budget affordances for stuff like universal healthcare) this inherently puts the working class and capitalist class in conflict because both are trying to acquire as much wealth as possible. Workers do this by basically renting themselves out to capitalists for a fraction of the value of their labor (it by necessity has to be a fraction and not the full value of the labor because if the full value of the labor was paid then the business itself wouldn't really make any profits because that money would be going to the workers instead of staying within the business itself which is problematic ehen the worlers arent the ones who own said business). And capitalists do it by trying to extract as much profit out of workers and consumers as possible. Now considering this is a gaming video i think the effects of this arrangement should be fairly obvious lol, the underlying ideology and market forces of capitalism have completely ruined certain aspects of gaming over the past 15 years or so especially when it comes to AAA games. Lootboxes, microtransactions, timed content availability, locking content behind season passes, crunch times, games being ridiculously broken and unoptimized on launch, most of that is obviously caused by those profit seeking motivations i mentioned above
@@kewjubs7289 no, they said “capital is stored and distributed between individuals as well as collectives” and that’s exactly what it is. It’s not only by collectives. It’s not by states. It’s by individuals and collectives.
@@zacharynovak2180well a lot of definitions rely on other terms being defined elsewhere, so I don’t see the issue
Strong intro, nice quote!
Fish definitely know what water is. They feel the currents and move it over their gills to live. Just like how humans see the changing prices and purchase vital goods to live.
What an excellent video!
This is only tangentially related to the video, but I've heard a lot of critiques of other economic systems (socialism and communism specifically) saying that they have killed millions of people, which is ironic, because people die every day from the failures of capatalism. They put forth capatalism as the only 'good' economic system, when it is sustained by suffering.
Yes but have you considered, the Oldest House always wins ?
14:22 “Every world system, even capitalism, contains inside it a seed as to what is coming next”
As someone living under the crushing reality of capitalism, that statement is very inspiring.
eh, we have to make the soil fertile for it to grow though
From what I have seen it looks more like it's a seed for modern incarnation of fascism, though :
Fantastic work here. Subbed
10:25 There's one or two other mentions of unions/union busting in CP2077. The one that springs to mind is a scanner hustle side mission where uou come across a large group of workers who were engaging in some kind of indistrial action that were slaughtered by the corp or a gang they hired. I think theres multiple instances but thats the only one i remember off the top of my head.
Semi related are the armed resistance of the Mox and Judy's mission at clouds. The Tiger Claws are a gang but they function like a zaibatsu and have strong ties to Arasaka corp. They are involved in people smuggling, forced labour, sex trafficking, and own brothels. So that kinda counts too.
great vid!
“Holy carp, a talking fish!”
If you want a better understanding of capitalism, read Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Capitalism is, in a single sentence which highlights its main contradiction, the socialized production of goods and the private ownership of profits
@@gregtiwald marx is already good enough, no need to insert lenin where he doesn't belong.
No. Marxists are just fluff. it bases its analysis on pseudoscientific assumptions like value of work. water and diamond, and surplus value.
@@MiserableMuon lenin is a fair read looking into the struggles of implementing marxist ideals in a practial sense
“If you want a better understanding of capitalism, read Marx…”
I’m going to stop you right there, nearly any statement followed by “read Marx”, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong lmao
@@Cogito-r6n so have U read Marx?
Glad I found this channel.
Part 3 reminds me of that early Black Mirror episode starring Daniel Kaluuya. Where everyone slaves away with only a small chance to get out if they've earned enough. He tries to break the system and by the end, becomes so popular he turns into yet another cog in the wheel purveying his anti-system rhetoric from a fancy apartment funded by the system.
Really Great Video!!
We went from badredman to goodredman real fast, man.
What's the best way to overcome capitalism? Me personally, push forward worker co-ops. State socialism is wack. You just replace one ruler with another.
Not the best solution, i know.
Overcome capitalism? And how would those co-ops interact? Buy stuff and sell stuff? Capitalism...
@HxcTufty what's capitalism to you? I can't think of a system to allocate resources better than a market system but co-ops sound like the best way to tame the negatives of capitalism like worker exploitation, wealth inequality and power pilling up at the top. At least with co-ops it adds more workers in the decision making process and maybe someone else can come up with something better than a market system to allocate resources around.
As I said, it's not a silver bullet.
@@HxcTufty trade is way older than capitalism.
Real. State socialists had demonstrated again and again that their methodology only perpetuates state tyranny on the working class and have failed to give back to the workers, what they rightfully deserve.
The only way to emancipation is self-directed. Not by the promises of revolutionary vanguards or politicians who promise to tax the rich.
It still needs central planning
Thinking about capitalism is important to my life and takes up most of my time, and I can't relate to anything else that isn't similarly consumed by it"
Yeah wow dude we couldn't tell
Not understanding Disco Elysium and glazing Evrart right after admitting to that is the icing on the cake
9:40 You say conspicuously missing from C2077 is organised labour. Well yes but also no. In the West Rancho Coronado area heading towards the rich corporate southern section of Japan Town, there is a tiny NYPD side quest which shows the aftermath of a strike in night city which ended with all the workers being killed. In isolated instances, strikes fail as they are met with extreme hostile responses with no regards to the aftermath of what happens to the individuals. The epitome of "you are replaceable."
The people of Nightcity are highly individualistic so even when there are isolated attempts to unionised and make things better, because people are only looking out for themselves and are desensitised to the plights of others, instead of collectively joining in and working to improve things for everyone they turn the other way, keep their heads down and just keep hoping that they won't be next as long as they focus on themselves. A magnified reflection of our present day lives, no? Only we haven't quite reached the tipping point where the majority is disillusioned with things getting better.
you should try Suzerain, it's a masterpiece about these stuff.
Errm, it wasn't jackie, who asked you bout quiet life, it was dex
I would now rather like to play a well-written game within the universe of the film, Network.
i’m super curious what your thoughts on the Watchdogs trilogy are and how it fits into what you’re talking abt here
I am 59, just became a Marxist about 10 years or so ago. In the USA, we are awash in propaganda about how fantastic out system, capitalism, is. Of course, it is, if you're in either the ownership class or the PMC (professional managerial class). Capitalism does not want itself to be discussed and or scrutinized. It's amazing how truly affective the propaganda is. The ruling class has it down. Hopefully I see an overthrow of our current system, in favor of a people/planet system first, but I think we'll have full system and or climate collapse before capitalism goes away. So sad... 😢😭
something i wrote that is worth sharing from elsewhere in this comment section
"capitalism doesn't want to be seen"
this is extremely profounding in a lot of way that people don't realise. for example, the U.S is arguably the mascot of capitalism promoting free markets and democracy where ever it goes. Yet there is a double standard when criticizing the U.S, often Chinese or Russian news are labelled fake or propaganda but yet when people question american news its often defended as not propaganda and in most cases people will agree "they are misleading but not propaganda". Americans meme and mock the Chinese social credit system and Chinese surveillance yet Americans are surveilled more then then Chinese (for every 100 individuals there 15.28 cameras in America compared to china 14.36), most people point at china being a evil dictatorship for events like TSM 1989 yet people don't know the countless times the U.S has squashed protests (in 2020 trump wanted to send the military to get rid of the Washington protestors).
frankly the list can go on (and it can go for a LOOOOOONG time), but my point that i want to make is that in america you have rights, sure you can say "president X is a ****" and not get killed or "disappeared" and your rights are "Protected" but frankly they are not concerned with overt control of the people, they like to keep things a secret and as long as as you don't criticise what they don't want to expose you'll be fine. there was a reason why people like julian assange were politically haressed for exposing the u.s government, countless whistleblowers who are killed by companies who do terrible things that are connect with the u.s government. Capitalism likes hidden control and countries like america are huge hypocrits when they call out china or russia when they themselves are just as bad.
Perosnally I’m a cyberist (an economic theorem which I’m developing myself) but a socialist will nearly always be the more tolerable and reasonable kind than a capitalist.
Dude I can’t believe old heads are logically inconsistent.
Capitalism is the individual. Capitalism in the most simple definition is private ownership of the means of production.
If you want to be against capitalism then you have to be against farmers, working class business owners, and basically anyone who fits under that definition of capitalism. You can’t be for the people while being against the same people who your supposed to be fighting for.
First 5 minutes are just endless yapping that could be shortened into 1 sentence and nothing of valie would be lost
The author of cyberpunk is making a manga cirticising authoritarianism / the exact opposite of cyber punk [no name]
I would love to hear your take on frostpunk 2 and what is says about extremism and radicalization
great video