Tasneem Cader- To Build a Better Mousetrap

The Game “To Build a Better Mousetrap” incorporates everything that those in the higher ranks of a capitalist society use to control those beneath them. The basic hierarchical structure of the game already explicitly shows this. The layout of the game is separated into “levels” divided into the separate parts of capitalist society. The “manual labourers” in the middle section of the game build and develop the product of the company. This seems to be the backbone of the company and naturally, it is those workers who become frustrated the fastest. This reflects a capitalist society as it is the Manual labourers and physical workers who CEOs and capitalist rulers take advantage of to pursue their own personal gains. However, when the manual labourers are replaced by machinery and factories, it leaves the workers without a job which either means that they must be promoted or unemployed. Regardless of whichever path we choose for them, it’s just a matter of time until they protest and end up in jail. This reflects a capitalist society as it shows that if someone in a place of authority can continue making money without the labour of workers which will include paying them and keeping them satisfied in the workplace, they won’t because it is an easier and cheaper option for them to just use machinery.  This is also effective because the unsatisfied and hungry workers will refuse to create quality products or will refuse to work at all which in turn affects the outcome of the success of the company.
This game also represents the immoral nature of capitalism as when we as the game players “retire”, we always retire with unsatisfied, overworked or jailed workers. This represents how a true capitalist society operates as well. Often the labouring workers will have to keep working for the rest of their lives, while those at the top of the capitalist hierarchy get to continue to retire early and well. This puts a conscience on the gameplayer, at least from my perspective. After retirement, I felt as if I didn’t deserve to retire on the backs of the hard work of my unsatisfied over worked workers. I truly did want to help them succeed all the while also succeeding myself. I found that on my next few tries as attempting to achieve this proved to fail as the game showed that it was impossible to do so. I couldn’t keep my workers happy all the time and it often ended with a large riot of jailing of my workers. Nonetheless, i still got to retire, despite not achieving as highly as i anticipated. Does this show that I am not good at the game or that this is how the game manufacturers aimed it for gamers to play it? From my point of view, I don’t think that there is ever a truly masterful way opf playing the game and reaching a perfect outcome, because this is not how capitalism works in the material world either.