Make the Corporations Pay!: Tax Evaders, 2013

From the Tax Evaders site:

"Incredibly, some of the wealthiest, most powerful corporations pay less than you or I do in taxes. While the rest of us pay our fair share, these corporate Tax Evaders are stealing nearly $100 Billion a year out of our national economy – every year. Meanwhile, drastic cuts to our public services are taking place, threatening social security, health care, education, and much more.

"It’s time to stop talking about cuts, and start talking about the corporations who have changed the laws in order to avoid paying their fair share. It’s time to make them pay."

Upon completion of the game, you are given the opportunity to "blast the tax evaders for reals", in the form of a Twitter bomb. For example, here is the message given me to deliver to GE: "GE has more money offshore than any other U.S. corp: $108 billion. Hey @GeneralElectric, pay your taxes!"


platform utilized: browser
genre: arcade-style action
where to find: You can make 'em pay, right here.

An Endless Humdrum of Monotonous Gray: Every Day the Same Dream, 2009

bedroom - kitchen - apartment hallway - elevator - street - commute - boss - cubicle - repeat

Every Day the Same Dream is another title from those scandalous individuals over at Molleindustria, though this one is a few years old. There seems no end to their pushing the limits of what is permissible to say within the realm of video games and I really like that about them. In this game's case, I found the themes at work to be less offensive but just as serious as their other titles. According to Molleindustria, Every Day the Same Dream is "a game about alienation and refusal of labor." I can see that. However, there is more to be said about this tale than merely isolation and rebellion (though I must clarify: I certainly see isolation as a major theme in the game).

The nature of every choice available to the player is alarmingly real. everything seems so actual and unoccupied as the character's choices contrast sharply with the blatant routine of the everyday hum.

The repetition is enough to drive you mad. With every choice presented to you in a monotonous fashion, it would seem that you are determined to choose as you will and must, as if no other option were possible. It is at this point that to not choose seems the most viable way to exercise your dominance over determinism--that is, to make choices that defy the conventional and available decisions.

The fascinating realization is that you are a suit, working in a building with hundreds of others that look like you. Your job is not unique. Your wife is uninteresting and prosaic. Every aspect of your life seems determined, and every facet of existence seems meaningless--except that facet where you deny what you are expected to do, to perform. This is the spirit of Every Day the Same Dream. It is where you deny the very logical conclusion of your vocation that your existence makes the most sense. It is empty and atheistic, but it is satisfying and nihilistic.

Lastly, a tantamount and most serious consideration must be made. The heart and soul of Every Day the Same Dream is in its amazing ability to touch and feel like a real human being. It is its stark disparity that cogently marks it as a human experience. It is in those moments of impotence that the human comes most alive: when driving to work, you stop your car in the middle of the highway and leave it to go put your hand on the muzzle of a gentle cow; when you stand at the base of a tree that is almost stripped of all its color to witness a single and final leaf drift toward you in utter sublimity; when the homeless man just outside your work complex confesses that he knows a quiet place he can take you--whereupon he takes you to a graveyard, which is truly the most satisfying and elating thing that has every happened to you in all of your dreary and bourgeois life. This the heart and soul of the game. This game is not about sticking it to the man. It is about being human in a world and a society that begs you not to be.

platform utilized: browser
genre: interactive story
where to find: Experience Every Day the Same Dream on your browser, right here. If you like, download it for mac or for pc.

Unnerving Simulation: Unmanned, 2012

There is something unsettling about war, especially modern war. I think this is because it's so near to us; it's personal, and at times, it's practically in our backyard. Personally, I have never served in the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, or any other branch of the United States Armed Forces. The closest I have been to a war is via the news, movies, and books.

Of course, war is not always thrill-filled combat. Oftentimes, I imagine, there is a whole lot of mundane in the world of the stationed soldier. This is precisely what Unmanned attempts to portray.

The game affectively cut through all of my expectations, as it intended. From the opening dream sequence, your assumptions are turned upside down. Nothing is exactly as it seems, and each mini-game is tinged with flared psychosis and serious emotional disturbance. I assume that this is what the creators were going for: a seriously disturbed look into the mind of an army drone.




platform utilized: mac
genre: action, simulation
where to find: Here is the download for mac; here is the download for pc; or you can play it online.