Curate of Curiosities

How many of you have already read my page on the works of Nicky Case? Of those, how many of you have thought, "Gee, if only there was a developer who made similar games, but more explicity political?"

Molleindustria, founded by Paolo Pedercini in 2003, is an Italy-based Flash game developer whose games have a strong left-wing political bent. According to their eponymous website, they state that it is both “a project for the reappropriation of video games” and “a call for the radicalization of popular culture.” This may raise a few red flags in some people, particularly those with little sympathy for their brand of left wing politics, but I believe that their games stand up well enough on their own that you shouldn’t dismiss them completely.

And trust me, these devs do wear their politics on their sleeves. To start with, their very name means "Soft Industry," as opposed to the so-called "hard industry" of mainstream gaming. Secondly, one of their most successful games is straight up called Democratic Socialism Simulator.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the site has an articles section (labeled "Theory") covering various topics relating to the gaming industry. This section includes such articles as Gaming Under Socialism and Videogames and the Spirit of Capitalism. Need I say more?

While most of Molleindustria's games ran on Flash, and thus, can no longer be played in the browser (something the site readily acknowledges), they have been converted to downloadable executables that can be played online. Alternatively, you can download the .swf files and run them with a utility such as Ruffle.

Now, let's go see what happens when you combine an extremely versatile development tool with unsubtle sociopolitical activism.

Sections:

1. Damn It Feels Good To Be A Bastard (Oiligarchy)
   Economic strangleholds have never been this much fun.
2. Work Fatigue: The Game (Every Day The Same Dream)
   Whoop-de-doo, another monochrome Flash game about Society(tm).
3. Of Burgers and Drones (McDonald's Videogame/Unmanned)
   Aw, what the hell? You already know what they're about at this point.
4. A Better Future Is In The Cards (Democratic Socialism Simulator/Green New Deal Simulator)
   Charging actual money for this is so unlike them.
5. Final Words
6. All The News That's Fit To Mock (New York Times Simulator)
   A browser game about our media? I'm getting the strangest sense of deja vu...