One of the most educational experiences of my life was a game I played in AP European History Class in high school and I think everyone should have to experience it. The game was like this: the class was put into groups and each person got a certain number of points.
The game had rules to allow you to win or lose a small margin of points in a given round. Each round, the people with the most points would get to add a rule to the game. Over the rounds, a lot of stuff started happening.
First, the people with the most points started associating more closely with each other. The early rules added were just testing the waters, like this or that would get you a bonus hundred points. This started to create a disparity in points.
Churn was typical and people would rise in rank but after a bit mostly it was the same groups with all the points after a fashion. I quickly surmised I wouldnt win so I stopped playing and wandered around observing people playing the game.
Some of them were racking their brains trying to get their group to maximize their potential to win points. Others pooled points to let one of their members ascend the ranks. Others, like me, gave up, and were visibly upset by the way the game was going.
The rules got worse. Things like ‘the group with the most points gets 500 points at the end of each round. And then silly punishment rules like ‘Bart has to stand in the corner.’ For my part, I tried to use my status as a friend to influence the high ranks to try to win new rules
Others complained, tried to cause commotions and generate attention, some attempted to change the rules, others begged for more equitable rules. Others attempted to steal points through cunning or force.
I didn’t have points of course, but I could lobby these people. Only a few players did that. Plenty just gave up and stopped playing.
By the end of the game, most everyone was miserable except for the people with the vast majority of points. They had absurd surpluses.
By the end of the game, most everyone was miserable except for the people with the vast majority of points. They had absurd surpluses.
After the game we talked about it and the winners didn’t really second guess any of their actions. They were just playing the game, and they were winning, and so they did what the game incentivized. They changed the rules to make them continue to win.
And some of the people started to understand at that moment that some weird shit was going on. For my part I realized that early, that’s why I stopped trying to compete in the broken system. But then jones drove it home for everyone with a revelation:
He rigged the game. He seeded high points to the high ranked group so they started with an advantage that we never had, that they were never informed of. They thought they were just good at the game, that they got lucky. He picked winners and losers.
Of course we knew there were no stakes to the game, that had been made clear. It was meant to be a fun activity. since there were no stakes, that just made people worship the game itself for the system it was, never questioning it. Not considering the losers feelings or situation
By now it’s likely obvious that the game was a microcosm of capitalism. And it was! And it is! We get born as winners or losers and assume that means we’re good or bad at a game that has been rigged so far that it’s unplayable.
All the ways that people deal with this rigged and broken system are inevitable because we’re just vaguely sensing at the edges of this massive gaping problem facing us, this broken rigged game that gives them 1000 points every round while Bart stands in the corner.
Some people start to win and see themselves as elite and not lucky. Others lose and blame themselves or others around them. Others give up and find different games to play. Others give up and cast judgment on the players. Some groveled for power and others broke the law.
It was so visceral and enlightening and crushing and condemning all at once to see a classroom reduced to lord of the flies bullshit through 30 or so minutes of simulated economic behavior. You had to be there. Everyone should have to experience that in school. It opens your eyes
Afterthought: its just so crazy because all this stuff that doesn’t make sense, we invented it in the game! Corruption, lobbying, jingoism, privilege, white collar crime, protesting, civil disobedience, extreme wealth, even the concept of debasing yourself for attention and money
