{"id":342913,"date":"2021-09-22T23:54:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T20:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/victoria-3-will-simulate-the-slave-trade-should-it\/"},"modified":"2021-09-22T23:54:25","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T20:54:25","slug":"victoria-3-will-simulate-the-slave-trade-should-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/victoria-3-will-simulate-the-slave-trade-should-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#Victoria 3 will simulate the slave trade. Should it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Victoria 3 will simulate the slave trade. Should it?<\/strong>&#8221;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image?fit=796%2C417&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2021%2F09%2Fvic3.jpg&amp;signature=613081958ac45f9c908f243233e7bef5\" \/><\/p>\n<div>Paradox Interactive\u2018s highly-anticipated <span>grand strategy title <\/span><i>Victoria 3<\/i><span> is set to ship next year. It\u2019s been over a decade since the franchise\u2019s last title launched and fans are chomping at the bit to see what\u2019s changed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One thing that hasn\u2019t changed in <\/span><i>Victoria 3<\/i><span> is that it includes a fully-functioning, (somewhat) historically accurate depiction of the global slave trade as it existed at the beginning of the titular Victorian era.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Victoria 3 - Announcement Trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/siZXs4d5Gqg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--resp-video-container--><span><em>Victoria 3<\/em> is a historical nation simulator where you take control of an entire country and try to shape its destiny. At the beginning of the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>, a given nation\u2019s historically accurate polices on slavery will be in effect. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Players who choose to play as the US, for example, will inherit a policy wherein existing slaves remain enslaved but new slaves are no longer imported.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>These policies can be changed and, at least theoretically, it should be possible for any nation to embrace or eschew various forms of slavery. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This means you could play through as the US and attempt to abolish slavery im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely as a means to both free people and avoid the civil war. It also means you could play through as the British and re-embrace slavery or choose not to intercede in the Atlantic slave trade, thus allowing it to prosper. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Up front:<\/strong>\u00a0It needs to be said that <i>Victoria 3<\/i><span> is not a slavery simulator. It\u2019s a complex sandbox that attempts to imitate real history as accurately as possible so that players can then see how things would play out if they (or the nation they control, to be more specific) did things differently. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And this is not the first time a slavery simulation system has <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>eared in a video game \u2013 a similar system existed in <\/span><i>Victoria 2<\/i><span>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Per the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.paradoxplaza.com\/forum\/developer-diary\/victoria-3-dev-diary-15-slavery.1490983\/\">developer\u2019s blog<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Slavery is, obviously, a horrific crime against humanity and precisely for this reason, many games that have a slavery-related setting or mechanics will either leave it out of the game or abstract it into something that\u2019s less \u2018on the nose\u2019 \u2026 For Victoria 3, we don\u2019t think these options work for us for two main reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The first reason is \u2026 it was an important political issue of the day and was a major catalyst for several significant conflicts, most notably the American Civil War which would be bizarrely contextless if slavery did not play a significant role in the game. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The other, and most important reason, is that through our Pop system we are trying to represent every individual human on the planet from 1836, so what statement would we be making if we simply wrote all enslaved individuals out of history, or reduced them into an abstract set of modifiers?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Background: <\/strong>The blog post is really long and detailed, but there\u2019s a few points that matter:<\/p>\n<p>You, the player, or more specifically the nation you control, don\u2019t receive a direct benefit from slavery.\u00a0<span>You can\u2019t, for example, cover your land in factories and fill them with slaves so you can pump out a thousand tanks using free labor. Slaves can only work in certain types of building \u2013 and manufacturing jobs are beyond their scope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And you can\u2019t just choose the slavery civic to gain a blanket benefit to production either.<\/p>\n<p><span>Unlike titles such as <\/span><i>Civilization<\/i><span>, which take a roundabout approach to slavery, this one expresses the \u201cpros\u201d and \u201ccons\u201d in more than just a basic cost\/risk format.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Instead of, for instance, picking the ancient Egyptians and getting a moderate bonus to industry, as is common in strategy games such as\u00a0<em>Civilization <\/em>and <em>Humankind<\/em>,\u00a0<i>Victoria 3 <\/i>players will have to manage their slave policies manually.<\/p>\n<p><span>This means abolitionist factions will rise, slaves will naturally rebel and revolt, and more progressive nations will view states that truck in slavery in a negative light. Also, it appears as though abolitionist nations will have automatic <em>casus belli <\/em>(the right to go to war) on nations that allow slavery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>From where I\u2019m sitting, it appears as though <em>Victoria 3 <\/em>will force players to deal with the ramifications of slavery as an ongoing, multi-faceted issue, rather than a static number to manage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My take:<\/strong> Whew. This is a tough one to wrap my head around. <i>Victoria 2<\/i><span> had a similar system, but it released way back in 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Games weren\u2019t as popular then and the Black Lives Matter movement wasn\u2019t at the forefront of mainstream politics and media coverage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>On the one hand:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><span>This game could potentially serve as a campfire around which white supremacists and other bigots gather to explore their daydreams, build community, and spread their hideous morality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Anything that can serve as a platform by which bigots might organize, recruit, or thrive should be given deep consideration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Intentions aren\u2019t outcomes. And \u201cpeople are going to do it anyway\u201d isn\u2019t a logical reason to embrace something that could potentially aid in the proliferation of bigotry.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>On the other hand:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think the debate boils down to \u201c<em>should a game have a slave trade system?<\/em>\u201d <\/span>I believe it\u2019s a question of \u201cs<em>hould historically accurate simulation games exist?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>Because, as any historian will tell you, humanity\u2019s ascension from caves to skyscrapers is (and remains) an endeavor of blood, horror, and suffering. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If we can\u2019t approach the idea of slavery in a sober, meaningful way in a video game, what business do we have depicting war or murder? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I think there\u2019s a place in literature for honest, accurate stories portraying the reality of 19<\/span><sup><span>th<\/span><\/sup><span> century slavery in the world. And there\u2019s also a place for films such as <\/span><i>Roots, <\/i><span>or even fictionalized alternate-history epics such as <\/span><i>Django Unchained, <\/i><span>that take the past head-on and stare at it unflinchingly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ultimately, however, I\u2019m not sure if this is a good thing for gaming. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Maybe it is<\/strong>. Maybe it\u2019s the breakthrough we need so that game devs will stop being terrified of pissing off conservative white male Christian gamers who shudder at anything that doesn\u2019t depict scruffy-bearded, brooding, straight, white men as the universe\u2019s only saviors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maybe it isn\u2019t<\/strong>. Maybe it\u2019s a slippery slope.<\/p>\n<p><span> I won\u2019t cop out here by saying \u201cI\u2019ll have to wait and see how it\u2019s implemented.\u201d I don\u2019t believe the implementation will matter when the game launches. I trust that Paradox is trying to do this in good faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For many people, there\u2019s no right way to add slavery to a game like this. And many others are going to dismiss the controversy outright. They\u2019ll say that this is a non-issue and that journalists such as myself are just engaging in it as clickbait.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As for me, I\u2019m biased. I\u2019m a history buff who loves Paradox\u2019s strategy games. I\u2019m not ashamed to admit that I\u2019m even more interested in\u00a0<em>Victoria 3<\/em> now than I was before.<\/p>\n<p><span>I thoroughly enjoy destroying Nazis, defeating fascists, and eliminating dictatorships when I play <\/span><i>HOI4<\/i><span>, a grand strategy game that covers World War II. <\/span>And I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll enjoy kicking the asses of slave-trading nations in <i>Victoria 3.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span>But, I\u2019ve played enough Paradox games to know that such systems can be just as empowering for those on the opposite ideological end when it comes to topics such as fascism and slavery. And, right or wrong, that bothers me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Should<\/i><span> a game like this exist? I don\u2019t know. But I believe it should be allowed to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/victoria-3-will-simulate-slave-trade-should-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Victoria 3 will simulate the slave trade. Should it?&#8221; Paradox Interactive\u2018s highly-anticipated grand strategy title Victoria 3 is set to ship next year. It\u2019s been over a decade since the franchise\u2019s last title launched and fans are chomping at the bit to see what\u2019s changed.\u00a0 One thing that hasn\u2019t changed in Victoria 3 is that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/09\/vic3.jpg&signature=26a58fed9e28c3f3953a22f102f59c26","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}