this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 144 points 2 days ago (6 children)

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 49 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Your parents did you dirty. Lol

[–] Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social 4 points 2 days ago

You'll get his Monopoly money when he does anyway

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That's what most religion does: Teaches people to be good little peasants that should be happy with the nothing they're given.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (3 children)

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.

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

commodify evening

Look at what they have taken from us !

[–] Tja@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

That'll be $5, please!

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Fuck... I was paraphrasing and autocorrecting!

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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 day ago (1 children)

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 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

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

[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days 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 2 days ago

Capitalism will monetize everything, even criticism of it.

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

It was made to defend Georgism, so it's less "capitalism bad" and more "landlords bad". But everything else, yes

The best leaat recoupable propaganda takes something from the capitalism.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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 8 points 1 day 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.

[–] ddplf@szmer.info 62 points 2 days ago

This isn't just a meme, it translates to real life very well unfortunately.

[–] jukmehrk@lemmy.org 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 2 days ago

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

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 13 points 2 days ago

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

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 days ago

My roommate commenting on how I run a Rimworld colony.

[–] Troy00@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 days ago

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

People get success in life, start to have money left over and suddenly they have an opinion on capital gains tax.