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(AKA 'a more interesting way to talk about my dreams...')
A few nights ago I dreamt of playing a game which had a slaveowner mechanic (probably because
A few nights ago I dreamt of playing a game which had a slaveowner mechanic (probably because
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(AKA 'a more interesting way to talk about my dreams...')
A few nights ago I dreamt of playing a game which had a slaveowner mechanic (probably because <user="celebestel"> has been listening to <i>Hamilton</i> a lot). How it worked was that you had a number representing your slaves, who were working for you. You were free to rent them out to others, or if you chose, to set them free.
One simple choice, right? Except that if you released <i>your</i> slaves, there was a decent chance that your neighbours/competitors would simply capture them for themselves. So unless you waited until the anti-slavery movement was in full swing, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot.
I think this could work very well as a game mechanic, or possibly even as a thought-provoking game in its own right.
<u>The Game</u>
You are a slaveowner. You have a number of slaves, and a plantation for them to work. To preserve the message, we'll abstract out the actual management (and the rape and murder and all the other parts that make slavery so horrifying): you press a button, and your slaves farm your fields.
You deal with them purely as numbers, not individually. You may be able to shift them around your fields (20% to cotton this season, I think!), but the primary mechanic I'm concerned with is your deals with the outside world.
You can:
-Buy more slaves. This costs a bit, but increases your productivity (and thus profit).
-Sell off slaves. This gets you money immediately, but obviously reduces productivity.
-Rent out slaves. This is a halfway stage: you lose the productivity, but get it back later, and make money now. Useful if your farm's going through a bad patch.
-Hire workers. The reverse of the above - cheap workers who go away after a while. Can be slaves or, for more money, freemen.
-Free (some of) your slaves. This obviously loses the productivity without any profit, but feeds into the anti-slavery gauge.
-Catch runaways/freed slaves. This is probably an annual 'you found X runaways this year, do you want to keep or let go on' box.
The goal of the game is to keep your farm afloat, obviously, but you don't just have money to manage. You've also got the anti-slavery feeling of the people - both as an abstract number, and specifically in the person of your neighbours. Think of it as a political aspect.
<u>Example</u>
You've been playing for a few turns, and anti-slavery feeling on the gauge is high. You decide that now is the time to make the shift to a hired-labour economy, so you go ahead and free all your slaves.
This decreases the amount you can grow, and introduces a cost for the labourers, but it also increases the price you get for your goods - you're no longer being boycotted by the anti-slavers. You probably lose a bit of income overall, but you've just boosted the movement, so your income will only grow.
Your neighbours are Messrs Lincoln and Lee. Mr Lincoln has a very high anti-slavery bias - he freed his slaves ages ago. He now likes you more. He'll trade with you, loan to you, and various other things that feed into the farming side.
Mr Lee is different. He's super pro-slavery. He captures a bunch of your ex-slaves, which boosts his profits despite the increase in boycotts. He also starts actively trying to sabotage you - by growing the same crops as you and selling them cheaper, by hiring up the entire labour pool to prevent you getting any workers, and quite possibly by actual sabotage. Of course, you can pull the same kind of tricks on him - and now you've got Mr Lincoln on your side, so you can coordinate your plans...
The goal of the game is to make lots of money. After that, you set your own goals. Do you want to end slavery? Good! Go for it. Do you want to make sure slavery <i>continues</i>? Bad! But you can still do it. You can try and drive all your neighbours into the poorhouse, or set up a friendly cooperative alliance. It's up to you.
And what's the message? I think it's one about not judging history too harshly. If you play this game with your morals set to modern, you should immediately free all your slaves - and then promptly starve to death while your neighbours recapture all your freed slaves. To keep your farm, you <i>have</i> to be a slaveowner, at least for a while.
I don't want to make it (I'm not sure I like that message, for one), and it would need a lot more work if I did, but the idea came, so I wrote it up. :)
A few nights ago I dreamt of playing a game which had a slaveowner mechanic (probably because <user="celebestel"> has been listening to <i>Hamilton</i> a lot). How it worked was that you had a number representing your slaves, who were working for you. You were free to rent them out to others, or if you chose, to set them free.
One simple choice, right? Except that if you released <i>your</i> slaves, there was a decent chance that your neighbours/competitors would simply capture them for themselves. So unless you waited until the anti-slavery movement was in full swing, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot.
I think this could work very well as a game mechanic, or possibly even as a thought-provoking game in its own right.
<u>The Game</u>
You are a slaveowner. You have a number of slaves, and a plantation for them to work. To preserve the message, we'll abstract out the actual management (and the rape and murder and all the other parts that make slavery so horrifying): you press a button, and your slaves farm your fields.
You deal with them purely as numbers, not individually. You may be able to shift them around your fields (20% to cotton this season, I think!), but the primary mechanic I'm concerned with is your deals with the outside world.
You can:
-Buy more slaves. This costs a bit, but increases your productivity (and thus profit).
-Sell off slaves. This gets you money immediately, but obviously reduces productivity.
-Rent out slaves. This is a halfway stage: you lose the productivity, but get it back later, and make money now. Useful if your farm's going through a bad patch.
-Hire workers. The reverse of the above - cheap workers who go away after a while. Can be slaves or, for more money, freemen.
-Free (some of) your slaves. This obviously loses the productivity without any profit, but feeds into the anti-slavery gauge.
-Catch runaways/freed slaves. This is probably an annual 'you found X runaways this year, do you want to keep or let go on' box.
The goal of the game is to keep your farm afloat, obviously, but you don't just have money to manage. You've also got the anti-slavery feeling of the people - both as an abstract number, and specifically in the person of your neighbours. Think of it as a political aspect.
<u>Example</u>
You've been playing for a few turns, and anti-slavery feeling on the gauge is high. You decide that now is the time to make the shift to a hired-labour economy, so you go ahead and free all your slaves.
This decreases the amount you can grow, and introduces a cost for the labourers, but it also increases the price you get for your goods - you're no longer being boycotted by the anti-slavers. You probably lose a bit of income overall, but you've just boosted the movement, so your income will only grow.
Your neighbours are Messrs Lincoln and Lee. Mr Lincoln has a very high anti-slavery bias - he freed his slaves ages ago. He now likes you more. He'll trade with you, loan to you, and various other things that feed into the farming side.
Mr Lee is different. He's super pro-slavery. He captures a bunch of your ex-slaves, which boosts his profits despite the increase in boycotts. He also starts actively trying to sabotage you - by growing the same crops as you and selling them cheaper, by hiring up the entire labour pool to prevent you getting any workers, and quite possibly by actual sabotage. Of course, you can pull the same kind of tricks on him - and now you've got Mr Lincoln on your side, so you can coordinate your plans...
The goal of the game is to make lots of money. After that, you set your own goals. Do you want to end slavery? Good! Go for it. Do you want to make sure slavery <i>continues</i>? Bad! But you can still do it. You can try and drive all your neighbours into the poorhouse, or set up a friendly cooperative alliance. It's up to you.
And what's the message? I think it's one about not judging history too harshly. If you play this game with your morals set to modern, you should immediately free all your slaves - and then promptly starve to death while your neighbours recapture all your freed slaves. To keep your farm, you <i>have</i> to be a slaveowner, at least for a while.
I don't want to make it (I'm not sure I like that message, for one), and it would need a lot more work if I did, but the idea came, so I wrote it up. :)
