Can a (video)game be used to critically address socio-political issues such as flexibility, precariousness, alienation and all the issues introduced by the Post-Fordist model of labour? Mainstream videogames are mass culture products that can sometimes address or depict social problems, but that never forget their main purpose: entertain a mass audience that, even when interested or actively involved in politics, may be disappointed to find politics in videogames.
The late Nineties have seen the emergence of many attempts to use the tools and the extended social platform provided by videogames to bring more serious topics in this arena, from game mods to performative interventions in online games. But when, back in 2003, Molleindustria made its appearance and started publishing its small Flash games, and its first statements, no one had yet made this point as clear: that “the ideology of a game resides in its rules”. You can change the skin of a game or force its engine to work in a way that turns success into failure, and photo-realistic violence into a generator of abstract beauty; but if you don’t change the way the game works, it will always be a celebration of strength, machism and victory. Only by making games that work in a different way, though still providing entertainment, we can start using this powerful medium to make people think about and critically engage current socio-political issues. [1]
Since then onward, Molleindustria - the “firm” name of Italian game designer Paolo Pedercini - has been one of the most prominent voices in the indie game scene, and one of the few that was able to design games that were at the same time played by thousands of gamers, used by activists to make some topics easier to understand and circulate, and shown in art circuits as a form of engaged interactive media art. According to media theorist Alessandro Ludovico (2007), “Rejecting the usual parody scheme, Molleindustria has established a sort of paradigm in defining political hacktivism embedded into a funny and ironic video game system. He uses video game rules to foster ideologies, and in his unique case the software reveals how politics can be argued within classic 'point and click' interaction, making high score on rising personal awareness. His aesthetic and attitude have found their way in targeting the singular conscience lost in the overcrowded mediascape.” [2]

[1] Cf. Paolo Pedercini, “Radical Game Design”, in a-minima, February 2006, online at http://www.molleindustria.org/it/radical-game-design/index.html.
[2] Alessandro Ludovico, “Molleindustria, videogame rules as a political medium”, in Neural, November 2007.

Artistic Director: Janez Janša
Producer: Marcela Okretič
Executive Producer: Sonja Grdina
Public Relations: Hana Ostan Ožbolt
Technician: Valter Udovičić
Documentation: Jernej Čuček Gerbec

Partners: FH Joanneum and Drugo More

All Work, No Play is realized in the framework of Masters & Servers, a joint project by Aksioma (SI), Drugo more (HR), AND (UK), Link Art Center (IT) and d-i-n-a / The Influencers (ES).



This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.



Supported by: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana.



Thanks to: E.P.L. d.o.o.

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