Every time I bring this point up to economically-minded friends, they respond with some version of “alas, this is just how math works 🤷‍♂️.” The version of the Capitalism Game we’re playing right now is designed terribly. This is how the levels work, roughly:

Capitalism1

There is no good game that is designed like this. The first level is supposed to be easy, then the next level is supposed to be a little harder, and then a little harder, and then it should become very hard. We’ve set up the rules of Capitalism Game I exactly opposite this.

And to make the design even dumber/more tragic, the “points” in this game translate to actual alleviation of suffering but only in the first few levels. The points amassed beyond that are the equivalent of confetti explosions that don’t even benefit the people who win them 🤦‍♂️.

And the curve just continues to get flatter. If we’re honest, it ends up going downhill. Once you get to a certain level, the game just starts giving you money. Is there any wonder why people hate this game? What child would play a game where you start at the hardest level?

This is how the Capitalism Game is supposed to work:

Capitalism2

This is how you design a more fun and humane game. This is a game that would make sense to a human child (it even makes sense to other mammals, in fact).

“So, errrm, the compounding nature of—” use your imagination! “Actually, errrm, the incentive to invest—” maybe take like eight seconds to think of new ideas while people everywhere lose faith in every institution. “Well, errrm, punishing success—” USE YOUR FUCKING IMAGINATION.