Don't you hate it when you're a 19th-century politician trying to pass a reform, only for it to be blocked by powerful groups who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo? Me too. Lobbyists, industrialists, landowners, and more such elitist scum will stand in your way as you try to pass laws that benefit the common man. That's what Victoria 3 players have come to realise over a month after the game's launch – the communists may have been right.
As spotted by PC Gamer, Victoria 3 players have come to realise that actually trying to do good in a capitalistic society mostly depends on if the rich and influential will allow it – which they almost always don't. This has in turn has led to the players realizing that their nation fares much better under a well implemented communist society and economy. But is this due to the game leaning left, or does communism actually work when implemented as it should be?
"It's no secret that Victoria 3 is in many ways the Historical Materialism Simulator," explained game designer Mikael Andersson to PC Gamer. "The way you choose to shape and organize your economy influences the conditions of the individuals participating in that economy," said Andersson. "They in turn shape the political thought in that country and influence it to develop in certain directions. If you emphasize the profits of your capitalist class by importing cheap raw resources from foreign colonies, your private investments will be strong, letting you balloon your manufacturing industry.
"This also empowers the industrialists who want the country's laws configured in a liberal way to assure those profits and their position in society. But if you focus your economy around domestic manufacture and exports of staple consumer goods in highly productive, technologically advanced factories, your lower classes will thrive, become empowered, and assert their rights to democracy, living wages, and humanitarian policies."
"We did not plan for these effects to work out in this way," he continued, "rather, we just implemented the mechanics the way we understood them, and this is the result."
It turns out those people going on about the Red Scare were right, communist subliminal messaging is everywhere. But perhaps they should have listened.