The problem of high rents is solved by putting an end to landlords. At least that is the conclusion reached by the officials of Cities: Skylines IIa city building and management video game that has thus put an end to the inflation generated in its virtual universe. The creators responded to the complaints of their community caused by the increase in rent by changing the formula for calculating this amount, but also by eliminating online tenants and creating a unit price.
But it was a utilitarian measure. In fact, the same patch caused tenants, instead of protesting the rent, to spend less on other needs in order to cover the cost. These very real conflicts are not foreign to the world of video games, since they are notorious crises like the one that occurred in online multiplayer. Final Fantasy XIVwhere a housing shortage has occurred which attempts have been made to address by adding more building land, limiting the number of properties per user or demolishing empty buildings.
It’s interesting to see how mainstream video games address current situations. What happened with it is therefore striking. Victory 3a political simulation title whose players began to complain that communism was the better alternative because of the way in which, faced with the “inefficiency” of capitalist systems, in an organizational model based on a republic of popular councils, the population grew and gained in life expectancy, while consumption and disposable money increased.
Even if these great proposals “testify to the contradictions of the capitalist system, they cannot be read as “a bug’, something that could be corrected, but it does not necessarily indicate a failure of the entire system. This is what the collective Resistencia Videolúdica, which reflects on video games from an anti-capitalist perspective, claims. They consider that, given that “a large part of general public was created from a white, wealthy, neoliberal perspective,” “critical thinking frameworks are needed to analyze the problems inherent in the system,” which in this case involves “understanding what “mechanisms” and “norms” affect our ability to have a roof over our heads.
The house, source of vital anxiety
The management video game, far from questioning the model, embraces it. The tenants turns you into a tycoon who flips houses and deals with “problem tenants” and populars Please Rent! –Sim Owner You are a landlord looking to maximize your profits. Meanwhile, life simulators like The Sims show how being a tenant involves “constantly calling the landlord to fix the boiler or fumigate,” so the group believes that “the general public “He has shown, shows and will show the problem without critical thinking or without teaching it from a systemic point of view, presenting it as a pothole to be overcome and not as a network of intertwined interests impossible to overcome individually.”
For this reason, they claim that turning to “smaller video games created in non-commercial contexts can offer different perspectives.” This is what happens with the narrative title Dot’s House of the Rise-Home Stories project, featuring and developed by racialized people with a social intention. The protagonist travels back in time to relive her family’s history in a Detroit home. From this premise, it addresses inequality, abusive housing practices, and the weight of individual decisions in the community, using its mechanisms to challenge meritocracy and individualism.
The horror of being a tenant
Being a tenant is not easy. In Stigmatized property In Chilla’s Art, not being able to leave the only house you can afford is explored tangentially, as you investigate why some apartments have such low rents. Rentalfrom the artistic collective Animita Project, with its character designs inspired by Animal Crossing – whose last installment sparked major debate over whether raccoon Tom Nook is a kind landlord for not pressuring you to pay the mortgage or just another speculator – is a work of horror in which a rented vacation home is transformed into a liminal space.
There are also more personal experiences on Itch.io. This is the case of To rent out by Manuel Komnenos, who reflects on his experiences in a London hostile to locals and, above all, to immigrants. Or by TO RENT OUT by Matěj Hložánek, an eloquent video game that reflects on the possibilities of living comfortably without having to invest your entire salary in rent or share a house with unbearable strangers. But what is particularly interesting is Ideal-Ishtar by Diego Freire, a national title that combines images from Idealista and comments its author received with fantastic elements.
“My landlord gave me the typical trick of wanting to increase my rent a lot, even though it was illegal, but he told me that was all or that maybe I needed it for a family member,” the developer explains to this newspaper. “I’ve moved several times and it’s always difficult, but I noticed that this time it was worse, everything was horrible or very expensive.” He says that his house appeared on Idealista for 1,100 euros, when he was paying 690 euros for it. “I found it scandalous and I had the idea of making an adventure game where all the scenarios were real photos of apartments,” he explains.
With this premise and the music of Javier Calderón, Freire builds a video game that starts from the fact that you have met your landlord to sign the transfer of the contract, a procedure in theory simple that becomes complicated as soon as the house becomes a quantum labyrinth. In a direct but crude way, he shows the high economic and personal cost of the current model, although he confesses that “he did not want to do anything transcendental or vindictive”, he simply lets off steam and makes fun of his situation.
Without necessarily becoming personal, other video games present critical narratives. From Resistencia Videolúdica they cite Somnis belonging to Petitburg by Pat, “a satire of job insecurity in which we will try to live with our partner in a 25 square meter apartment” and The streets of Malaje by MQuero, in which Chari, “a futuristic dancer, after being expelled by the evil mayor of NeoMálaga Franciscator 3000, seeks revenge.”
