• DandomRude@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Fun fact: Monopoly originated from “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by Elizabeth Magie, an anti-monopolist who designed it to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land ownership.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      And we only play half the game. Public Housing is supposed to be on Free Parking, the same way Just Visiting is on the Jail space. Once you’re bankrupt you go to public housing until all but one player is there. Then you start the Prosperity portion of the game, and everyone wins. Just like communism done properly.

      There was also a much less popular version of the game called Finance! Basically the same rules as Monopoly, but with a completely different skin on the board.

    • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It also had a second rule set where a land value tax was implemented, and the winning condition was when everyone made a minimum amount of money.

      A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land without regard to buildings, personal property and other improvements upon it.[1] It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation tax, split rate tax, or a site-value rating.

      Some economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic inefficiency, and helps reduce economic inequality.[2] A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income.[3][4] The land value tax has been referred to as “the perfect tax” and the economic efficiency of a land value tax has been accepted since the eighteenth century.[1][5][6] Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have advocated this tax because it does not hurt economic activity, and encourages development without subsidies.

      LVT is associated with Henry George, whose ideology became known as Georgism. George argued that taxing the land value is the most logical source of public revenue because the supply of land is fixed and because public infrastructure improvements would be reflected in (and thus paid for by) increased land values.[7]

      It’s just a stupidly good tax policy, and we should be implementing it in more places.

      [email protected]

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Both of those things are part of the joke. Monopoly is a parody of capitalism, intended to make you hate rich people. The luxury tax is tiny, reflecting how there’s no real cost of living for rich people. Rich people can “go to jail”, but it’s trivial to get away again.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        Last game I had I was rocking up on my brother’s properties (which had hotels on them) so before I rolled the dice I bought a cheap property from my neice (the youngest player in the game) with all of my money, then then sold all of my property (including the one I just bought for all of my money) to her for $1. Rolled the dice, landed on my brother’s property and handed him the $1 I had left and was out of the game.

        Had I not done so, I would’ve been bankrupt and had to hand over my property to my brother and it would have been an easy win for him at that point. As it was, the game was actually competitive.

        So the lessons learned: 1) regulation can lead to a more competitive market, 2) If you’re about to go bankrupt, transfer all of your assets to a family member and 3) Monopoly sucks and people will hold grudges over what you do in that stupid game.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        the main mechanic to even get the opportunity to do anything is literally dice rolls. the game is very explicitly that if you luck out to get ahead you dominate and if you don’t then you’re fucked.

    • ninpnin@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      How is it capitalist propagarda exactly? Parker Brothers might have screwed her over, but it’s impossible to come out of a game of monopoly feeling more symphatetic towards landlords than when you started.

        • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Only one person can win when it comes to property ownership

          Meaning, at the end of the game, more people hate the rich than are the rich. It’s not capitalist propaganda.

            • ninpnin@sopuli.xyz
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              6 months ago

              The game is (still) a satirical version of the real housing market, and anybody with half a brain gets the impression of unfairness after a game of monopoly. This is unrelated to the fact that parker brothers is making a lot of money with the game

              • grue@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                anybody with half a brain gets the impression of unfairness after a game of monopoly.

                The trouble is, their incorrect takeaway is that Monopoly is a bad game, instead of the correct takeaway that Monopoly is an excellent demonstration of a bad system. Parker Brothers’ removal of the “prosperity” ruleset ruined any educational value it had.

        • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          This is propaganda

          It feels great to own everything

          I bet it does though

          • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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            6 months ago

            I mean, there isn’t really much evidence it does though, feeling good from being wealthy mostly comes down to not being worried about your material welfare and stability. Beyond that, owning everything really doesn’t make people any happier or more actualized as people. It is just an empty drug that unlike more fun drugs, hurts a massive amount of people every time you take it.

            • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              How do they even study such a thing? Ask megawealthy if they’re happy and they’ll ask something “modest” like “it’s alright, you know life was so simple when I was poor” lol

  • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    Jail is the best place to be lategame. Don’t have to pay someone rent if you can’t move. And no risk of picking up a tax card.

    It’s not a punishment to sit in jail, it’s a privilege, if I could. I’d spend the entire game in jail. It’s the only place you’re safe.

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        This is from Hasbro themselves

        Even though you are in Jail, you may buy and sell property, buy and sell houses and hotels and collect rents.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Prison. Not jail.

      Jails are temporary holding areas until you get to see a judge. Which means you could still be innocent at that point.

      Prisons are for folks that have been prosecuted. They belong in prison.

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Get the fuck out. In monopoly it’s called Jail. And Monopoly is the topic being discussed.

        So no one cares about if it’s called Prison or Jail in the real world. We’re not talking about the real world. We’re talking about Monopoly.

      • LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Tell that to Hasbro then and not the random internet person talking about the game mechanic which the game calls Jail.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Nope. They aren’t. They have different meanings no matter where you are. You just hear a lot of people misusing the word due to a lack of education.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    6 months ago

    Not only can rich people go to jail, it’s actually beneficial to be locked up there after a certain point and the board is all bought up and filled with hotels. Can’t lose your cash to other players if you never move around the board 😌

  • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    TIL that back in the good ol’ days of The Gilded Age there was a luxury tax and rich people went to jail!
    The Carnegies and Rockefellers, the Morgans and Vanderbilts must have been quaking in their spatterdashes!

    EDIT: It is, at very best, utterly useless to view the past with rose-tinted glasses.

  • gregorum@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    You can tell The Game of Life is an old game because it’s possible to win.

    • Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 months ago

      Yes. You may pay the $50 fee before rolling your first or second turn. On the third turn if you do not roll a double you must pay the $50. In any case you pay $50 at some point unless you roll doubles or use the “get out of jail free” card.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        That’s a good point, and made me wonder if the Georgist who made the original would have been silly enough to include it.

        Answer: nope, of course she knew better. In the original, that square is labeled “poorhouse”/“public park” (not “-ing”) instead.

  • yarr@feddit.nl
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    6 months ago

    They may end up going to jail, but they are quickly released, seemingly randomly!