• jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    19 hours ago

    What I love about those video games is that they teach us very clearly that a command economy leads to prosperity (unless you suck as a player I guess), but then billionaires tell us no, free market capitalism and trickle-down are the way we have to go.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      56 minutes ago

      Along those same lines, they didn’t put parking lots in Sim City. They tried, but it completely fucked everything.

    • Prehensile_cloaca @lemm.ee
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      6 hours ago

      “Trickle-down” was a rebranding campaign.

      It used to be called Horse and Sparrow Economics, with the idea being the Horses eat the grain, and Sparrows peck their meals from the horseshit.

      The wealth layer has been playing this game against the poors for a long time.

    • lime!@feddit.nu
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      9 hours ago

      weird take. video games have to have a command economy because they are designed to be played. a free market city builder would just be a screensaver.

      • DoubleSpace@lemm.ee
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        5 hours ago

        Cities are not functionally free market. You could have control of layout, zoning, regulations, infrastructure design and allocation, tax incentives, etc.

        Not sure how well this would model a real city where the “freehand” is guided by countless individual decisions.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      16 hours ago

      Funny, because it taught me that that task in reality is impossible, given real nations can’t load an old save file to fix their fuck ups in a simulation far, far simpler than reality.

      Of course you could certainly argue that one person wouldn’t be in charge of doing literally everything.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        9 hours ago

        I understand your take but it is not really hard to grab the basic mechanics and make a thriving city in any game.

        The basic mechanics are universal.

        What throws off the managing part is “enemies”, “natural disasters” and other excitment mechanics.

        A managed economy could happen and would be highly efficient, especially because running a nation is a collective endeavour. Individuals fail but groups have memory.

        • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.netOP
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          7 hours ago

          A managed economy could happen and would be highly efficient, especially because running a nation is a collective endeavour. Individuals fail but groups have memory.

          Yeah. Imagine how prosperous the United States would be if the current administration was running it as a managed economy.

          • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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            7 hours ago

            Imagine if any country could manage itself, by thinking ahead and admiting bad actors could arise, thus preparing in advance for it.

            • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.netOP
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              5 hours ago

              The United States was preparing in advance for bad actors like Trump since 1787 and it didn’t fucking help.

              • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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                5 hours ago

                No it wasn’t and it never did.

                The constitution itself allows for a very small group of individuals to control the entire country, from the first moment it was written.

                It was never truly reviewed to allow a proper redistribution of voting power throughout all the states and it still allows for indirect election of the most powerful state figure, where it should instead by directly elected by popular vote.

                The gerrymandering, the filibusting, two chambers system, common law system, etc.

                The american government was never created to be a proper one; it was an emulation of the english system but even more botched.

                The document itself should have been thrown in the trash and a new one written, the moment the civil war broke. And again it should had been trashed when the market crash happened.

                There is only so much an ammendement can do.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        14 hours ago

        with the resources of a real command economy, you could find the best player in the nation and put them at the wheel

    • chunes@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      I’ve had similar thoughts about the auction house in World of Warcraft. Since the game caps the amount of gold you can have at a small fraction of the overall economy, no one person can buy everything and then jack up the prices.