732
submitted 1 month ago by compostgoblin to c/memes@lemmy.world
all 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] DandomRude@lemmy.world 142 points 1 month ago

That is exactly what Lizzy Magie, the inventor of Monopoly, wanted to achieve. However, she had assumed that people would realize how utterly wrong the rules of the game were once they had finished playing.

Unfortunately, this has never been the case, as evidenced by the fact that instead of Magie, an unscrupulous scumbag named Charles Darrow became the first multimillionaire in the board game industry because he bought the game idea from her for a ridiculously low amount and without any royalty rights, and then sold the publishing rights to the Parker brothers, who made even more money with it.

This explains why Monopoly, instead of being a game critical of capitalism as originally intended, became a propaganda tool for capitalism.

It couldn't be more absurd, but that's how our world is.

[-] Feyd@programming.dev 50 points 1 month ago

It's funny because as a kid I always thought monopoly was bullshit and hated it. I felt vindicated when I finally heard that was the intent as an adult, but as a kid it was supposed to be taken as a lesson to be graceful whether you win or lose

[-] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You're parents did you dirty. Lol

[-] Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago

Mine said to let Grandpa win, he loves this game.

[-] NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

You'll get his Monopoly money when he does anyway

[-] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

There's a great line in Disco Elysium that describes this phenomenon. I'm paraphrasing here, but the gist of it is something like this:

The great and terrible genius of capitalism is its ability to commodify evening, including criticism of itself.

[-] SkyeStarfall 4 points 1 month ago

Which by itself is a reference to the book "capitalist realism"

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

The great and terrible genius of capitalism is its ability to commodify evening, including criticism of itself.

Sounds like Squid Game. I love the show, but selling merchandise, and going on to have more seasons and spin off defeats the point of the first season.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

They had a cliffhanger and an unresolved plot line. There was always going to be a season 2. The surprise split into 2 small seasons was weird, but after the third the story is pretty much wrapped up.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

They had a cliffhanger

I will have to respectfully disagree. Many people say the ending is a cliff hanger but I feel that it is open-ended. But i guess its phenomenal success was too good to pass up and decided to go for more seasons.

[-] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago

While I appreciate calling out predatory and unethical business practices, can someone explain why "Darrow bought the idea for a low price and no royalty rights" is different than "Magie sold for a low price and no royalty rights"?

By all means, if there's a story about unethical coercion or misleading (that's the foundation of capitalism after all), I'd like to hear more about it. But if Magie didn't care enough about the idea and sold it for a quick buck to a capitalist to do with it what they would, I gotta say, I can't really blame Darrow for buying something they thought had value that Magie didn't think had value.

Reading Magie's wikipedia page suggests Darrow ripped it off, despite several patents, and her game, The Landlords Game, being published by another game company, and he sold it to Parker Brothers (who had already published her games before).

Sounds more like Darrow stole the idea and Parker Brothers negligently (or willfully) disregarded patents because they were big enough to get away with it.

[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Capitalism will monetize everything, even criticism of it.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

I would simply play the version of Monopoly in which you collaborate with the other players to develope the board in the fewest possible turns.

[-] compostgoblin 17 points 1 month ago

You should check out the TESA Collective, they make some cool games. I really like their game Community Garden.

[-] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 12 points 1 month ago

The game you play until you run out of other people's money.

[-] Troy00@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago
[-] TheAlbatross 10 points 1 month ago

My roommate commenting on how I run a Rimworld colony.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

That's what happens to me in Monopoly, but it's more to get the fucking game over with. I will destroy you if I can so we can get back an extra hour or two of our lives. What? Play the game as it was intended? With auctions? Preposterous!

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

My younger cousins asked me to play. I insisted we play by the actual rules and destroyed them. Rather than being put off, they rushed to use my strategy against all their friends.

Alternately, I saw a group of friends starting a game in a common area. I told them to not use house rules (like the free parking bullshit) and they said it made the game more fun. I said you're gonna be crying in 2 hours. I came back 2 hours later and it turns out I'm a prophet.

[-] jukmehrk@lemmy.org 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There's also some interesting psychology involved. Been a while since I watched it, but for anyone interested, PBS: about some research at Berkeley uni Why Those Who Feel They Have More Give Less.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Try investing and stocks. Dabbling on it, I kinda see why some become greedy.

this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
732 points (100.0% liked)

memes

17660 readers
4 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/Ads/AI SlopNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.

A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS