Home Tycoon: Humorous Social Commentary
by BONZO, HSM Editor
Every game that comes into Home is a means for entertainment – either for the purpose of communal interaction, or for individual distraction. Home’s social platform is basically why many of us engage in it. The games themselves are generally secondary. They’re great – don’t get me wrong – but they aren’t generally the main reason why we log on. The games that come into Home are just to enhance the experience a little further. Very few of them have really made any social commentary of real life.
No Man’s Land, for example, had a very dire message of what a future world might be if we don’t make progressive changes. To some extent, the Sodium Universe has a back story with a very strong message about our society and how we see technology. Basically, it’s about a tremendous discovery that allows us to enter alternate dimensions, and is primarily used frivolously for entertainment. So there is some social commentary humor used in the games. Home Tycoon is no different, and for a game which basically puts you in charge as an elected official to run the city in a governmental body, I would have been deeply disappointed if Hellfire games had opted not to include some social commentary in the game, particularly as this games comes out just before a very important presidential election, where some very serious issues are on the table.
There is no direct allegory in place, and I suppose many of the social comments within the subtext are basically evergreen, as they will be issues for a long time, regardless of it being an election year or not. Now you can accuse me of reading too much into it; admittedly I tend to over-think subtext at times. However, it is very clear in this case, and not a direct commentary on our current political situation, but one which has impacted not just our country, but really the world since the industrial revolution. If you didn’t catch the wink in the CEO of GloboSyn, Magnus Keynes, do yourself a favor with a little history lesson and look beyond SCEA. Google John Maynard Keynes or Keynesian economics.
Within the mission structure of the Home Tycoon game, there is a sort of adversarial look at the opposition between the economic benefits of industrial production through environmentally conscious industries and those that are not. You have a direct opposition between GloboSyn and TransUtopia. GloboSyn is figuratively and literally painted in a darker image. Their buildings are black and red, and the corporate towers even have sharp angles that look like spikes, features which are generally associated with evil. It is an interesting commentary about the corporation that only focuses on the bottom line and profits. It is also interesting to note that most of the buildings under the GloboSyn brand have higher pollution factors. Pollution is something you have to balance as the mayor of your city. Putting up these buildings increases your revenue, but also increases your pollution output.
On the opposing end, TransUtopia is more eco-conscious. They are the green power company which focuses on environmentally conscious ways of generating power. They produce less revenue, but neutralize your pollution output. It also accounts for some job loss.
But there is more – which I found myself totally geeking out over because the Hellfire games team obviously has a good sense of humor and just some social awareness.
There’s a third element to consider between this opposition. The Silverman Socks group, is a comical allusion to Goldman Sachs. This is the banking industry trading in finance, and their biggest commodity is labor. One of the best comments out of the missions was the CEO of Silverman Socks, stating whether you tear down a structure or build one you are using Silverman Socks workers. Thus it doesn’t matter if you favor TransUtopia’s eco-conscious methods, or GloboSyn’s destructive one, either way Silverman Socks makes money.
GloboSyn is painted into being a corporate machine essentially denouncing the alternative renewable energy behind TransUtopia as being some kind of spooky science. Opting instead to produce coal driven power plants, and digging for resources like oil and gas, and revenue through business ventures. TransUtopia is more of the clean energy wind turbines, and organic production through farming and farmer’s markers. They each have their taglines touting the benefits to the people. Working people are happy people, and healthy people are happy people, but somehow they can’t be both. As the Mayor, you have to make the choices to find a balance between the two.
Also as the Mayor, you play city planner, which is essentially what the game is about. Even with in those choices, there are some strong social comments. The icons can either be on the green side being positive, or the red side being the negative. Within the housing choices your suburban plans tend to produce smaller populations with a higher happiness factor, less crime and resource consumption, and revenue generation to one dollar per 2.5 people. 2.5 essentially being a single family unit. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the apartment blocks and modest apartment buildings representing urban housing tend to have way more population growth, with minimal productivity level, more crime, less happiness and more resource consumption, while generating lower revenues per capita, with one dollar per nearly seventeen people . While somewhat statistically true, that makes for some very strong social statements of social classes.
Of course, none of this is really a direct allegory of real life; if anything, it is a caricature of social issues and political extremes. Though sometimes, not so extreme, but a humorous look at some of the real life politics. Not only of the United States, but of any economy driven democratic society.
As the Mayor, you have to balance between commercial ventures of your city, the population, work productivity levels, economy, and resource management. It’s not just about building and driving around, but a careful balancing act, which would be more effective if this game had any real penalty for failing to provide a proper balance.
October 9th, 2012 by BONZO | 6 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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I’m acctually only at the bit where the two companies have a power fight using your city as the tug-o-war rope. I demolished my coal plant to replace it with greener energy and have been told to swap it back again!!! I’m happy with green energy though and dont want to swap it all back again! So here’s my question; Do I HAVE to get rid of my green energy *again* just to progress the story, or can I ignore globosyn’s demands and wait for other missions to come along?
SPOILER ALERT: /////////
Magnus Keynes just says he wants them torn down out of revenge. He doesn’t care if you put another power plant back up. I tore them down for the sake of the mission, and put them right back up, but I don’t know if that affects the mission after that or not. I didn’t try putting up another coal plant, so I don’t know if that upset TransUtopia or not. But i progressed through to other missions.
Cool, cheers for that Bon.
Home Tycoon is hilarious! At the risk of spoiling the surprise for new players, I was totally blown away by the directions in which the initial fire-fighting quest developed. And the quests unlocked the Zoo…! I just wish they could have gone on longer. Sure, you can replay the missions, but it was the humor and surprise of the setup that made them fun.
And yes, there is a strong element of social satire in the three major corporations that move into your town. I especially like it that TransUtopia is not only the eco-friendly member of the trio — it’s the one with ties to weird sci-fi things like space aliens and secret biological research. I can totally see these companies appearing in spin-off games somewhere down the road. (Waves enthusiastically in Hellfire Games’ general direction.)
I would also like to see new quest elements pop up from time to time. There needs to be a way to keep the game fresh and amusing. I can see people getting bored with sandbox play if there’s nothing new to do, especially after your city reaches a steady state. But springing periodic adventures on us will generate buzz, and quite probably boost sales of expansion packs once the word gets out.
I haven’t had this much fun in Home in ages. And I’m not alone. If I were to judge by my friends’ list in the Navigator, there was only one activity in Home this past weekend. And if I were to judge by my own spending on the game, this is an incredible money-maker. Kudos to Hellfire Games for pulling this off!
Halloween is coming…
Just saw that!