⚠️PLEASE, PLAY THE GAME BEFORE READING THIS TEXT.  IT WILL TAKE LESS THAN 5 MINUTES TO FINISH.⚠️

In popular media we usually see portrayals of antagonists as evil businessmen, symbols of capitalistic greed, willing to do anything for a bigger profit. These people are, of course, bad and if the good protagonist somehow manages to stop them, everything would return to normality.

Of course there are evil people in the world that should be blamed and made accountable. However, with capitalism, I believe the issue is greater than individual rotten apples. 

I hate billionaires as much as any left-wing person. However, the existence of billionaires is just a logical conclusion of the free market. If we manage to somehow remove them (or just take all their money), eventually new billionaires  would just take their spot in a matter of years. 

That’s the beauty of the free market.

THE CAPITALISM VIRUS

The biggest strength of capitalism is that it’s a self-regulating system. Meaning that the supply and demand will naturally regulate it. If a company doesn’t succeed, it will just go bankrupt while another more popular company will naturally grow. There is no external input, which makes it resistant to reform, but also blind to ethical considerations like environmental destruction and free of any accountability for its consequences.

We wish there was a monarch, like in the olden days,  that, upon dethrone, we could plant a new, more fair system. However, capitalism is a faceless virus, spread among the imagination of all the CEOs, workers, shop owners and venture capitalists of the world. It can’t be defeated by taking over a single institution or company like we used to.

It’s a virus that has infected us all. We are all constantly making decisions encouraged by capitalism, even if we don’t realise it, even if we feel like we don’t have a choice.

I’m not saying that global warming is the fault of the working class, the consequences of their decisions are meaningless on a climate scale compared to the ones of billionaires. I’m just saying that both the big CEOs and the small workers are all making those decisions driven by capitalistic rules, we just didn’t realize it’s a made up game.

MY GAME

In my Lemonade game, if you reached the final ending, you were simply following my rules. I constantly pushed you to grow, and if you didn’t, you were punished. I’m not trying to say you are wrong if you finished the game. I’m not blaming you, particularly, for not choosing the thrifted bike or using an electric squeezer. You just chose the option that made you more money because that’s what the game was about. At some point, maybe you didn’t even read the questions and just picked the option with the bigger numbers (that’s actually great, and I hope you can see why).
My main point is that, in capitalism, there is no single direct responsible person for the damage that we do to the world. The CEOs can always say they were just "doing their job" as car sellers, cloths manufacturers or app developers.

I believe there are many more points that can be made out of my game and explaining them would make them less interesting so I’d rather let you –the player, reach your own conclusions. I wish to read your opinions in the comments.

Also, just in case, obviously the game is an oversimplification of the market and it may come off as naive at many points. I had to make some decisions for the sake of gameplay and not stretch the game too complex for its purpose. I hope you can understand that.

ANY SOLUTIONS?

After all that rambling, I know I'm not proposing a solution, just pointing out a massive problem.

I hate capitalism, but personally I don't believe in the traditional marxist communism either, i feel like it's too centralized and slow to compete agains capitalism.

A successful capitalist company is the one that makes the most money—not the one that worries about their people, improves the earth's health, saves more animals, pollutes less, or simply makes more people happy. Money is the only measure of success. Some companies may address some of these issues, but that's only because they managed to make money out of it. There has to be a market to exploit, or a company cannot exist—or at least it can't grow big enough to make a significant change in the world.

I know what I'm going to say will sound overly utopian and ridiculous, but bear with me for a second. I dream of a socio-economic system that values subjective happiness over monetary value.

A self-regulated system in which center we do not find the dollar, but a more abstract concept, like peace or harmony. If your company brings peace to the world, then you will be considered a successful person, the same way we currently call billionaires "successful capitalists". A socio-economic structure that, with no need for external input, would naturally stir us into a more fair and cherished world.
It's ridiculous, I know. Human wellness or peace are subjective variables that can’t be measured, prone to ethics and morals of different cultures and people, not like the universality of money. But I just hope to live long enough to see someone more intelligent than me come up with something even remotely similar to that, or at least a proper alternative to capitalism, I've seen enough of that already.


You were just selling lemonade.

A game by Jordi Milian Yamada made for the F*CK CAPITALISM JAM 2025

Music: "Bark Technology" by YesNoMaybe, JonEcks

StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 4.4 out of 5 stars
(25 total ratings)
AuthorJordi Milian Yamada
GenreStrategy
Made withUnity
Tags2D, anticapitalism, Clicker, Cute, essay, Experimental, Incremental, questions, Short, Tycoon

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25_05_26_01_Web.zip 11 MB

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(+1)(-1)

I love it 

Mi mejor tiempo es 1.38 minutos

Las Todas Gamers hemos jugado a este jueguito y nuestra conclusiĂłn es que nos sentimos super mal despuĂ©s de haber alimentado a la bestia capitalista. Hemos elegido de manera consciente casi todas las opciones malas, y nos ha parecido un juego que refleja muy bien lo que dices al final de que no hay un capitalismo sostenible. DespuĂ©s de haber convertido la Tierra en un yermo absoluto, nos sentimos fatal pero nos ha molado mucho tu propuesta. 

Hola Todas Gamers, no he podido llegar al streaming pero me he visto la repeticiĂłn con mucha ilusiĂłn, muchas gracias por jugar. Y por cierto, me he partido con el "acabo de hacer un Fallout" jajaj

(4 edits)

I mean honestly I was able to make the environmentally friendly choice most of the time, the ones I didn't were even that bad, I don't believe my choices in my first run were bad 

(mostly because holding down the button is easy and I just bought lemons just before I won so I never run out)

also what's wrong with a electric squeezer or thrifted bike?

Nothing wrong on themselves really, but in a much much smaller scale, if you compare a manual squeezer and an electric one, the electric squeezer consumes more energy in exchange for more profit. 

Also, yes, I made the game slightly on the easier side to make sure everyone gets to the ending. 

Ok, por donde comenzamos? Hmm...

Tengo que aclarar que no hablo inglĂ©s pero sĂ­ lo entiendo un poco, aĂşn asĂ­ es posible que yo no entendiera algunas de las frases del juego por lo que es posible que las haya interpretado mal

EXCELENTE IDEA, PÉSIMA EJECUCIĂ“N; TAN PÉSIMA QUE DERRUMBA, TOTAL O PARCIALMENTE, LA CRĂŤTICA QUE INTENTA HACER

  1. El juego está demasiado simplificado como para reflejar el problema en su totalidad y eso limita mucho el escenario realista que se intenta ofrecer: En determinado punto intentĂ© NO comprar la empresa más pequeña pero esto hubiera significado perder el juego ya que no estaba generando suficientes ingresos. Esto es evidencia de que el juego te obliga a ser mala persona para poder "ganarlo" (O completarlo, mejor dicho).
  2. No se toman en cuenta algunas cosas: Yo no me considero una persona avariciosa por lo que en determinado punto no sentĂ­a la necesidad de generar más ganancias pero esto no es posible hacerlo en el juego; esto no va acorde a mi visiĂłn como supuesto empresario, el juego asumiĂł muchas decisiones que yo nunca tomĂ©, como expandirme al mercado internacional, por ejemplo, lo que supuso una obligaciĂłn a generar más ingresos, cosa que no querĂ­a pero me vi obligado a hacer. Todo esto genera un contexto poco realista, por lo que la crĂ­tica que se quiere dar tambiĂ©n lo es.
  3. El juego me juzgĂł mal: Como mencionĂ© anteriormente, no soy una persona avariciosa por lo que el constante crecimiento de mi empresa era un escenario que yo no querĂ­a, hubiera estado muy bien ganando unos 10k dĂłlares al mes (suponiendo que eran ingresos mensuales, cosa que tampoco se aclara en ningĂşn momento por lo que es difĂ­cil determinar si es posible llevar un estilo de vida "normal" teniendo en cuenta estos ingresos) pero el juego constantemente me obligaba a expandirme y expandirme. Existen todo tipo de empresarios, siendo los más avariciosos los más peligrosos y más dispuestos a hacer cualquier cosa con tal de generar ganancias excesivas en todo sentido pero... no creo que todos los empresarios sean asĂ­, es un problema más de valores, Ă©tica y concientizaciĂłn que del sistema (en este caso, el capitalismo) como tal.
  4. El objetivo del juego es conveniente a la idea que este intenta vender: Me explico, el objetivo del juego es ser "billonario" (que en español creo que serĂ­a "multimillonario" pero no estoy seguro) por lo que el jugador intentará alcanzar este objetivo, obviamente, PERO este objetivo fue puesto (o da apariencia de haber sido puesto) a conveniencia del desarrollador para dar a entender el mensaje que este intenta vender. ÂżCĂłmo, exactamente? Les explico, si el objetivo del juego hubiera sido "INTENTA hacerte multimillonario con la mayor Ă©tica y moralidad posible" en vez de "SĂ© multimillonario" las cosas habrĂ­an sido muy diferentes, el juego fue diseñado de tal modo que sea prácticamente imposible ser multimillonario tomando las decisiones más humanitarias, de modo que siempre obtendrás el mismo final que dice que el "Ă©xito" solo puede obtenerse con decisiones poco morales e inhumanas, el juego está trucado para hacerte quedar mal aunque tomes muchas buenas decisiones.

    EN CONCLUSIĂ“N: Si vas a hacer una crĂ­tica a algo REAL asegĂşrate de que el modo en que haces esa crĂ­tica tambiĂ©n lo sea, no puedes amañar los resultados de un videojuego para despuĂ©s ofrecerlos como "evidencia de que el capitalismo es un virus" si el juego FUE diseñado para ese propĂłsito y NO PUEDE ARROJAR UN RESULTADO DISTINTO AL DESEADO POR TI.
    Otra cosa, existen temas demasiado complejos como para simplificarlos tanto, son como las carpetas .zip, sencillamente es imposible comprimirlas más de lo que ya están, lo mismo sucede con estos temas, son tan complejos y extensos que una breve explicación se hace casi imposible de realizar y menos aún si tu intención es expresar ese tema en un videojuego hecho en unos días, es MUY difícil hacer algo así sin descuidar ciertos aspectos, como en este caso, el realismo del escenario que se plantea en este videojuego.


    En fin, creo que eso es todo, hay un par de cosas más que me preocupan en el texto que acompaña al videojuego, harĂ­a comentarios sobre esto pero querĂ­a que esta reseña se enfocara más que todo en el juego en sĂ­ y en la crĂ­tica que este intenta dar (Eso y el hecho de que ya se hizo muy extenso el comentario jajaja)


    RESUMEN: 
    Un juego un poco mediocre y entretenido (aunque es entendible teniendo en cuenta el contexto en el que se hizo) y crĂ­tica aĂşn más mediocre rozando la ridiculez ya que esta misma no tiene unas bases muy sĂłlidas.


    Si en algún momento se me ocurre alguna otra cosa que añadir quizás lo haga pero de momento este es todo mi comentario, disculpen cualquier error ortográfico o tipográfico, cualquier comentario es bienvenido siempre que se haga con el debido respeto.

    GRACIAS POR LEER đź–¤

Deleted 33 days ago

Vaya, al no tomártelo en serio me imagino el tipo de persona que eres jaja, pues bueno, cuídate y ten un buen día.

(+1)

Managed to get to the end while doing a few ethical choices thanks to painful button mashing.

Will refrain from discussing it further since the comment section is quite the minefield.

(1 edit) (+1)

M'encanta com amb un disseny sĂşper senzill i rĂ pid d'entendre heu sintetitzat un tema tan complex. Crec que Ă©s una eina molt Ăştil per ensenyar els perills del lliure mercat (sobretot a les generacions que pugen), una mica com feia el Monopoly original. El tindrĂ© guardarĂ­ssim per moure'l al mĂ xim a entorns de protesta. Moltes grĂ cies i enhorabona per la bona feina!

Ayy moltes grĂ cies!!!

(1 edit) (+2)

this would be a fantastic educational tool, it has the cutesyness and takeaway to be useful for children and teens. (also it's a basic incremental)

like Trobonkulous, i'd like you to try out some communist exploration (though i wouldn't say that communism is the only system without monetary incentives)

communism is not an ideology on it's own, like anarchism, it has to be complimented by another ideology to spell out a coherent ideology

like most of us, you're probably picturing the SU or CC as 'communism', however their ideologies are auth-left, which explains the centralization.

the counter to this critique is liber-left with less centralized figures and governments (not to say none) and more focus on collective consciousness (which could be good and bad).

(+2)

Absolutely incredible critique of the world's modern problems. If you'll let me offer up some compliments:

"In popular media we usually see portrayals of antagonists as evil businessmen, symbols of capitalistic greed, willing to do anything for a bigger profit... I believe the issue is greater than individual rotten apples."

Strong start, an important-to-mention rejection of what Mises would call "polylogism".

"We wish there was a monarch, like in the olden days,  that, upon dethrone, we could plant a new, more fair system."

Wow. Do I sense Hoppean influences, and right off the bat?!

"I hate capitalism, but personally I don't believe in the idea of communism either, it's too centralized and slow to compete agains capitalism."

Presumably the developer is well versed in the writings of Friedrich Hayek. Very nice.

"A successful capitalist company is the one that makes the most money—not the one that worries about their people, improves the earth's health, ... Money is the only measure of success."

Tackling the issue of public policy optimizing for easily quantifiable but misguided measures that push markets towards high time preference behavior? Love it.

"I dream of a socio-economic system that values subjective happiness over monetary value... Human wellness or peace are subjective variables that can’t be measured, prone to ethics and morals of different cultures and people, not like the universality of money."

And ending up with the Misean critique of the objective theory of value. Splendid, keep up the good work.

Man, I'm very very thankful for your comment and your deep analysis of my text, but I'm sorry to tell you that I've read much less books and authors than you think lol. But thank you anyway, I'll take a look onto those authors you mentioned

(+2)(-17)

The game might be free, but without capitalism, there would be no game, no computer, no internet. The system you criticize is the one that made you possible.

(+11)(-2)

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(+1)(-12)

I am a libertarian, my friend. Everyone should get what they deserve. It is not right to live off the people. Work and earn, it is very simple.

(+7)(-1)

"what they deserve" is the whole point of all of this. why do they deserve a dragon's horde when their entire company only functions due to the efforts of thousands of underpaid employees? why don't their employees get what they deserve?

(+1)(-13)

No one forces anyone to work for low wages. If you wonder why people who are paid high wages do so, you will find a solution.

(+7)(-1)

Everyone is forced to work for low wages when corporations use unfair tactics to depress the labor market... Competition can only enforce fairness when the market is properly regulated to enforce fair competition. When companies are allowed to abuse their positions of power, the market ceases to be a check on abusive practices like wage fixing...

I pray this is rage bait

(+6)

Do the disabled and elderly people not have a right to a bright existence?

(-7)

I don't know which country you live in, but even though my country is not socialist, I am not against the government paying salaries to disabled people. For the elderly, there is a thing called the retirement system. If you didn't invest for retirement when you were young, should my taxes feed you when you are old?

(+3)

The old man has paid taxes his whole adult life, is it not right for some of that to go back to him when he's too old to work any more?

(+1)(-7)


(+1)

As a socialist myself, I think this game shows a lot about the problem (and the contradictions) of capitalism. 

capitalism is a self-sustaining system that is incredibly unsustainable.

I looked at the small essay, and what I would suggest for you to do is to look further into socialism and communism. As lesser-known (kind of) economic systems, they might seem scary at first. However, there are a lot of leftist theory books/articles/essays on the internet, as well as, of course a great Wikipedia article and series about both of them.

I suggest reading "Why Socialism?" by Albert Einstein (yes, THAT Albert Einstein) first, as it has a spectacular critique of capitalism as well as an explanation of (one version of) socialism that would be a solution. 

Monthly review still has it availible: https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/

Hope this helps!

- Osprey

Absolutely love your game! You captured all of the same feelings I have been having about capitalism lately. And this game idea is very similar to my own that I just submitted (Everyone Wants to be a Billionaire)!

(+2)

This is honestly a great way of highlighting how these terrible, fascist billionaires aren't just part of the problem, they're the logical outcome of capitalism's incentive system. When money is king, and profit is your prime directive, every moral consideration falls by the wayside.

I've also seen interesting arguments that that's why "ethical" corporations - that have options for consumers to feel better about our consumption - are never actually ethical. They lie about how natural and healthy their products are, or hide the labor conditions of their workers, or go under and die off because trying to be ethical is so much more expensive. It's one of the only places other than nature where you actually *can* apply the law of natural selection, and it's awful.


Oh and I genuinely love having a little manifesto to read before playing, my only complaint is that communism is the better system you describe. I think that if you researched dialectical materialism and the modern thinkers who have contributed to the ideology, you'd find that the 'society where the incentive structure is based around something better than just profit' is literally just communism

(+1)

Thank you for the comment!! Could you please point me into a direction with that dialectical materialism? I'm curious about what you said about communism and wish to know more

(1 edit) (+1)

Wikipedia is always a great place to start imo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism

(+2)

Oh the humanity.

What have I done? [Anakin Skywalker face]

(+4)(-2)

I like this! Capitalism breeds bad actors who we should absolutely point fingers at, but it's the system itself that incentivizes harmful choices for the sake of profit.

(+3)

One recommendation I would make is to have the choices randomize between left and right. It seemed like the more exploitative one was always on the right and at a point I found myself not even reading the choices, which kind of defeats the purpose of your game (which is good!)

Also the "dump the chemicals" one said "Dumb" not "Dump"

(+4)

Cool little game! You did the "clicker game is perfect to emulate capitalism" but since I could hold the button down it was less straining for my arms, haha, so thanks for that!

Beautiful art, the graphics looked really polished. And you're completely right that we have to understand the systematic causes of capitalism and somehow work to make sure that we use other things than money and wealth to measure the wellness of society. Great job!

(+2)

Omg I loved the game feel on this one so satisfying

(+3)

This was a good one, even without most of the explanation your point came across very clearly. Highly recommended, especially as a teaching tool.

(+3)

Absolutely awesome, love it!!