That is exactly what Lizzy Magie, the inventor of Monopoly, wanted to achieve. However, she had assumed that people would realize how utterly wrong the rules of the game were once they had finished playing.
Unfortunately, this has never been the case, as evidenced by the fact that instead of Magie, an unscrupulous scumbag named Charles Darrow became the first multimillionaire in the board game industry because he bought the game idea from her for a ridiculously low amount and without any royalty rights, and then sold the publishing rights to the Parker brothers, who made even more money with it.
This explains why Monopoly, instead of being a game critical of capitalism as originally intended, became a propaganda tool for capitalism.
It couldn’t be more absurd, but that’s how our world is.
It’s funny because as a kid I always thought monopoly was bullshit and hated it. I felt vindicated when I finally heard that was the intent as an adult, but as a kid it was supposed to be taken as a lesson to be graceful whether you win or lose
The great and terrible genius of capitalism is its ability to commodify evening, including criticism of itself.
Sounds like Squid Game. I love the show, but selling merchandise, and going on to have more seasons and spin off defeats the point of the first season.
They had a cliffhanger and an unresolved plot line. There was always going to be a season 2. The surprise split into 2 small seasons was weird, but after the third the story is pretty much wrapped up.
I will have to respectfully disagree. Many people say the ending is a cliff hanger but I feel that it is open-ended. But i guess its phenomenal success was too good to pass up and decided to go for more seasons.
While I appreciate calling out predatory and unethical business practices, can someone explain why “Darrow bought the idea for a low price and no royalty rights” is different than “Magie sold for a low price and no royalty rights”?
By all means, if there’s a story about unethical coercion or misleading (that’s the foundation of capitalism after all), I’d like to hear more about it. But if Magie didn’t care enough about the idea and sold it for a quick buck to a capitalist to do with it what they would, I gotta say, I can’t really blame Darrow for buying something they thought had value that Magie didn’t think had value.
Reading Magie’s wikipedia page suggests Darrow ripped it off, despite several patents, and her game, The Landlords Game, being published by another game company, and he sold it to Parker Brothers (who had already published her games before).
Sounds more like Darrow stole the idea and Parker Brothers negligently (or willfully) disregarded patents because they were big enough to get away with it.
That is exactly what Lizzy Magie, the inventor of Monopoly, wanted to achieve. However, she had assumed that people would realize how utterly wrong the rules of the game were once they had finished playing.
Unfortunately, this has never been the case, as evidenced by the fact that instead of Magie, an unscrupulous scumbag named Charles Darrow became the first multimillionaire in the board game industry because he bought the game idea from her for a ridiculously low amount and without any royalty rights, and then sold the publishing rights to the Parker brothers, who made even more money with it.
This explains why Monopoly, instead of being a game critical of capitalism as originally intended, became a propaganda tool for capitalism.
It couldn’t be more absurd, but that’s how our world is.
It’s funny because as a kid I always thought monopoly was bullshit and hated it. I felt vindicated when I finally heard that was the intent as an adult, but as a kid it was supposed to be taken as a lesson to be graceful whether you win or lose
Your parents did you dirty. Lol
Mine said to let Grandpa win, he loves this game.
You’ll get his Monopoly money when he does anyway
That’s what most religion does: Teaches people to be good little peasants that should be happy with the nothing they’re given.
There’s a great line in Disco Elysium that describes this phenomenon. I’m paraphrasing here, but the gist of it is something like this:
Look at what they have taken from us !
That’ll be $5, please!
Fuck… I was paraphrasing and autocorrecting!
Sounds like Squid Game. I love the show, but selling merchandise, and going on to have more seasons and spin off defeats the point of the first season.
They had a cliffhanger and an unresolved plot line. There was always going to be a season 2. The surprise split into 2 small seasons was weird, but after the third the story is pretty much wrapped up.
I will have to respectfully disagree. Many people say the ending is a cliff hanger but I feel that it is open-ended. But i guess its phenomenal success was too good to pass up and decided to go for more seasons.
Which by itself is a reference to the book “capitalist realism”
While I appreciate calling out predatory and unethical business practices, can someone explain why “Darrow bought the idea for a low price and no royalty rights” is different than “Magie sold for a low price and no royalty rights”?
By all means, if there’s a story about unethical coercion or misleading (that’s the foundation of capitalism after all), I’d like to hear more about it. But if Magie didn’t care enough about the idea and sold it for a quick buck to a capitalist to do with it what they would, I gotta say, I can’t really blame Darrow for buying something they thought had value that Magie didn’t think had value.
Reading Magie’s wikipedia page suggests Darrow ripped it off, despite several patents, and her game, The Landlords Game, being published by another game company, and he sold it to Parker Brothers (who had already published her games before).
Sounds more like Darrow stole the idea and Parker Brothers negligently (or willfully) disregarded patents because they were big enough to get away with it.
Capitalism will monetize everything, even criticism of it.
It was made to defend Georgism, so it’s less “capitalism bad” and more “landlords bad”. But everything else, yes
The best leaat recoupable propaganda takes something from the capitalism.