#business games

[theresattrpgforthat]

any rpgs with a corporate/modern office theme? not like liminal backrooms stuff, though a fantasy/magical realist setting is ok

Hello friend, here's a few games to flip through. They run the gamut in terms of rules, but they're all relatively quick reads!

Cubicles and Copiers, by americanspaceprince.

Cubicles & Copiers takes you to the dangerous world of white-collar office work. With an absent HR department, this is your chance to bring down the B-Liev Corporation from the inside. Beware the machinations of your boss, whose malice is only  countered by their incompetence. See if you can get the sentient copier on your side before it all goes down.

This game is powered by Push, which means that it will provide you with a number of prompts that you will put together as a group to create your characters and your story. The system has a core mechanic of rolling a single dice with the idea that a 5 or 6 is a strong hit, while a 4 or lower is a weak hit. If you roll low, you can then choose to push your luck by rolling a second dice and adding it to your total. However, if you roll a 7 or higher, you miss entirely. The system prioritizes the potential for drama rather than a statistical layout. 

If you like stringing a story together using bits and pieces of inspiration, rather than pulling pieces of lore from an established setting, this might be worth checking out!

Business Goons, by Unknown Dungeon.

Business Goons is an adventure game of office exploits and boardroom battles, all on one side of a business card. Will you succeed in closing deals and selling out to climb the corporate ladder, or will you get fired?

A business game that can fit on a business card, this game is inspired by Tunnel Goons, and equally light and quick game. You’ll have an abstract sort of “health” that you might lose when you wager your reputation. Lose too much and you’re fired!

This kind of game is an interesting exercise in how succinct one can make a game’s rules. Looking at this kind of game, I’d more likely use it in conjunction with other rules, in a more fleshed-out setting, but it’s an interesting twist on using rules that were originally for a fantasy game, and putting them in a corporate office!

Skel-IT-ons, by Nevyn Holmes.

If you have to ask why you’re playing as skeletons and nobody’s noticed, well, you must not have worked in IT before.

A game of Skel-IT-onstakes place during the course of a regular, totally normal 8-hour work day in the life of an Information Technology professional. Players work through the day by the Hour, each of which works as a round, and try to solve (or pretend to solve) computer problems.

While it's a game about the lives of those who work in IT, you don’t need to have tech support experience to play! If you’ve worked in IT before, sure, bring some of that in- but remember, this is a game about having fun and a whole butt-load of “yes, and” for everyone.

This is a mash-up of Lasers & Feelings and Honey Heist, two amazing short games that use just two stats and usually create some funky characters. You’ll have both an IT specialty and a special Skeleton power, which you’ll use in the day’s efforts to solve the most recent crisis, while also trying to complete your own, secret goal (such as stealing the potted plant from the lobby). A perfect mix of mundane and magic.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

(if you really want to add a little bit of horror)

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer.

The Modern Eldritch, by Moondog Gaming Press.

[businessmemes]

all employees are allowed 5 minutes of Bizniss Zapperz during their lunchbreak every 3rd Wednesday in December.

[slitherbop]

VIVIAN

[hell0mega]

people are drawing Steamboat Willie Mickey doing all this crazy shit and whatnot, but you could always do that. you can do that now, with current Mickey, just fine. it's fanart and it's legally protected. hell you could take Disney-drawn Mickey and put a caption about unions or whatever on it and it would still be protected under free speech and sometimes even parody law.

what is special about public domain is that you can SELL him. you could take a screenshot and sell it on a tshirt. you can use him to advertise your plumbing business. people have already uploaded and monetized the original film.

you could always have Mickey say what you want, but now you can profit off it.

[furiouskettle]

*ponies your express*

[steelsartcorner]

my pen has still not been confiscated so it’s halsin’s turn in the ongoing turn-everything-into-Hades fever dream

others: the dark urge (OC); minthara (bg3), karlach (bg3), shadowheart (bg3), gale (bg3), lae'zel (bg3), astarion (bg3), wyll (bg3), kotallo (horizon)

[doodledrawsthings]

got bugs on my brain recently

[sampersonsworld]

Making the corpse dance

Ten years ago, Dong Nguyen killed a chart-topping game. After realizing it had become "an addiction" for players, his guilt became so bad that he couldn't sleep. Today, Gametech Holdings, LLC has revived this game but with *more* dark patterns, loot boxes, and predatory design. This is cool.

"But why would Nguyen sell the Flappy Bird Trademark??" "Hope he got his bag!"

Looks like he *didn't*. It seems like it's been long enough that the trademark was considered abandoned, so Gametech Holdings LLC filed against him, and just. Grabbed it for free.

You can see all the court docs here: https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pnam The funniest (and saddest) part is... we're so much worse than Flappy Bird now. It seems *tame* by comparison.

In a better world, the story would have ended with this tweet.

[swampthingking]

obsessed with jean’s colorful insults/descriptions so here’s a compiled list of them in order

you arrogant fool (abby)

you imbecile (kevin)

your ball-battered brain (kevin)

you feckless child (kevin)

those clowns (trojans)

pet goalkeeper (andrew)

the tiny bastard (neil) [LMFAO]

kevin’s pet monster (andrew)

the sunshine court [derogatory]

wholesome in an unsettling, unhealthy way (the trojans)

unhinged optimist (renee)

some plump shrink (bee)

that creepy little goalkeeper andrew minyard [PLEASE i was fucking DEAD he has no idea how funny he is]

you tedious malcontent (neil) [probably my favorite one]

an abominable cockroach (neil)

the wayward child (neil) [jesus christ he is not taking it easy on neil]

andrew’s twin

worthless trash bags (foxes, past tense)

a rabid little fox (neil) [hey. remember when neil described andrew as a ‘rabid goalkeeper’ ???]

annoyingly easy to look at (jeremy)

strange and misguided (the trojans)

the cruelty of these nonstop temptations (kevin, renee, jeremy)

the sunshine court [less derogatory]

“I was hoping he would bite his tongue off in the fall and save us both some grief in the long run.” (lucas)

wretched beast (gr****n)

your ignorant mouth (lucas)

“Your apologies are as useful as perfume on a frog.” (lucas)

neil, being the person he was,

you ignorant child (neil)

miserable wretch (neil) [giving his everything to neil’s insults]

ok that’s all. unless i missed some. and if i did you have to add them it’s just law

[devsgames]

Me: "hey game developers, especially AAA ones, are getting laid off en-mass and it's awful for our industry" Gamer: "well I only play INDIE games and the problem with AAA games is they are creatively bankrupt"

Me, slamming my fists on the table like a baby: "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS IS ABOUT A BUSINESS PROBLEM PERPETUATED BY CAPITALISM NOT A STATEMENT ON CREATIVE DECISION MAKING"

[pixelbots]

baldur's slay

[bixels]

In the past, people in the Animal Crossing community would make fun of Tom Nook as a sleazy landlord. Since then, he's really rehabilitated his image as this 'heart of gold' businessman (he's the one who puts bells and furniture in trees for you to find! he adopted orphans! he donates to charity!), but New Horizons genuinely paints the most devious version of him.

He's successfully privatized settler colonialism: you pay HIM to move to a "deserted island" (which apparently the oceans in the AC world are just full of) and start a colony that he is directly invested in. At best he's running a weird vacation package scam (you arrive on the island with no money and in debt for "using his services"). At worst, he's using you to set up company towns. For god's sake, he literally has his own fake currency that he forces you to use to pay off your debt. But don't worry, he's repackaged it in a way that definitely doesn't sound like an MLM scam: the Nook Mileage Program!

You're no longer just his tenant or his temporary part-timer, you're his business lackey. The entire tutorial section of the game has you spending actual weeks running around completing tasks and doing hard labor to set up his colony. You're even tasked with preparing his properties and finding buyers for them. No, you aren't a tenant anymore. You work for the landlord. You are directly responsible for finding tenants for him. And he doesn't even fucking pay you. Not for setting up town hall and museum, or his nephew's shop –– which is the ONLY store on the entire island that sells necessities –– or bringing KK Slider to town, or helping populate his town. Not a single cent. No, actually, you have to pay HIM to BUY infrastructure like bridges and stairs and park benches. And all the while, he's telling you're the "resident representative"; you get to call the shots! That the reward is the community's progress. That what you're doing is in everyone's best interest (but most importantly, his).

Since NH's release, people have done a lot of legwork to say that Tom Nook isn't a capitalist while the game shows him at his very worst. He owns the only general store in town. You're forced to use a phone that he modified and branded as his own. Buy Nook-branded furniture and merchandise at the self-serve kiosk in the town hall, a governmental building! There's no conflict of interest here!

But hey, if you're tired of being the landlord/business mogul's goon, you can also find work as a deluxe resort home designer for a company that also pays you in their special company currency that can only be used to buy their products instead of a real salary! Because that's what the Animal Crossing franchise needs! More vacation homes!!!

[thatskindarough]

Crowley sprawled out on a couch bathing under a heat lamp…an essential component of proper snake care.

This piece was a commission from the wonderful @alphacentaurinebula for their friend @fellshish ‘s amazing and hilarious fic, Empirical study on the principles of snake care for Fells’ birthday! It was a lot of fun to work on, happy birthday my friend!

[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes. 

[shivunin]

Because I have just seen this specific thing for the second time, I would like to say:

If I reblog your art, I do not expect you to reblog (or share!) my fic in return

If I comment on your fic, I do not expect you to comment on (or read!) mine in return

My enjoyment of anyone's work does not come with strings or expectations

My friendship is not a bill that you will have to pay later

That's it!

[majunju]

rafayel