I can't tell if this game is ironic.

[falcongod082]

I'm tempted to buy this, the mechanics look sound and a "The Sims" type game with any depth at all has been sorely lacking. Yet I'm slightly wary in terms of hmm, messaging I guess. I could certainly get behind landlords renting and then going the soylent green route when tenants couldn't pay, but if they're non-ironically presented as the hero of the story I'm not a fan.

[Lacy]

I haven't played the game much, but I don't really see it as the landlord being a hero or villain or anything. Just a game where you're a landlord doing landlord stuff (having tenants and whatnots) while also doing side jobs (such as renovations).

[falcongod082]

Thanks, it occurs to me that my post could go all kinds of wrong but I'm not actually trying to start a dumpster-fire thread. Neutral is promising. I don't require socio-economic content in my games, but if it is there I do require it to appeal to me. :)

[Whintersan]

My tenant actually called me an a$$ hole cause I wouldn't let her paint the walls some presumably ugly colour, so I don't think she thinks I'm a hero.

[falcongod082]

Originally posted by Whintersan:

My tenant actually called me an a$$ hole cause I wouldn't let her paint the walls some presumably ugly colour, so I don't think she thinks I'm a hero.

If I can't urinate on the walls am I really free?

Well, so far so good. I'm interpreting things as two votes in favor of me getting this game.

[CaptainX3]

Yeah, I'm not seeing the player presented as a hero. How your tenants and the community respond to you is directly tied to how you conduct yourself as a landlord. I decided to jack up the rent price in one of my tenant negotiations and they actually called me stingy. And another got pretty mad that I didn't upgrade their internet when asked. So I'm pretty sure it's possible to be a jerk as much as it is to be SuperLandlord LOL

[falcongod082]

There doesn't appear to be a like button so I'll just use this award button since I don't know what else these steam points are good for, I've already got a pink background on a profile that it's unlikely anyone has ever looked at. :)

[CaptainX3]

Originally posted by falcongod082:

There doesn't appear to be a like button so I'll just use this award button since I don't know what else these steam points are good for, I've already got a pink background on a profile that it's unlikely anyone has ever looked at. :)

Haha I don't really know what they're good for either. I have a TON of Steam points due to running the most popular mod for another game, so I've gotten tons of awards and I'm really not sure what to do with the points. They're nice to get either way though, thank you :-)

[darkrajin]

I don't think the game really takes side. You'll get events where things will break, get infested with pests, or where the tenant wants something. You can choose to fix the problem, accept what the tenant wants, or tell them to bugger off.

[Implied Facepalm Deadmeat]

Originally posted by falcongod082:

I'm tempted to buy this, the mechanics look sound and a "The Sims" type game with any depth at all has been sorely lacking. Yet I'm slightly wary in terms of hmm, messaging I guess. I could certainly get behind landlords renting and then going the soylent green route when tenants couldn't pay, but if they're non-ironically presented as the hero of the story I'm not a fan.

The game ostensibly to me sees the landlord as the 'hero', youre the landlord therefore he is the hero. However maybe this is interpretation but I see posters about 'working hard' in the game where the land lord is sitting there with a cigarette while someone else is doing the real work. IMO this is subversive maoist propaganda. Also I totally plan to be a slumlord.

I think the fact the uncle is in the game is an attempt to obscure the fact that the landlord doesnt actually do anything but collect passive rents. If the uncle had to be paid for his labour it would become more obvious that all the landlord is doing is shuffling around money to collect passive income while others do the labour, which is not heroic behavior, so we must construct a heroic narrative.

Also fast food worker earns $80,000 a year, if thats not parody nothing is.

[Implied Facepalm Deadmeat]

On the positive side, the gameplay is very positive. You get the most profit by being the best landlord because the game kind of assumes that tenants can go wherever they want, YOU have to woo THEM. The reality of most renters is they are desperate so you can fleece them as much as you want for the most part. So as a genera rule this game promotes a positive idea of landlording, where caring for your tenants is a really important part of it. The only issue with that is that this gameflow portrays landlords as always trying to please renters rather than landlords relying on courts to enforce rent extraction and so on. However evictions are coming in soon so I think its going to take a minor dark(and more realistic) turn. It depends largely on the reasons and methods used in the evictions as to whether it is a good take on the genre. You can also do 'debt forgiveness' to wipe tenants debts, thats a good addition.

*bare in mind im talking about the slums area here, in reality there is of course wooing of tenants when talking about high price housing, in slums however it is a very weighted association in the landlords favor.

As an improvement I would suggest areas/tenants which have low wealth bands also curtail tenants ability to negotiate for lower rents, or to leave when you treat them poorly. This might be in the game already but it doesnt seem its at an appropriate level. The addition of siphoning welfare payments from people to the landlord would also be a good addition, so your rents can be higher even for low income people by government subsidy.

One thing that would be good is if we can have in the game the ability engender a working class who can barely afford rents and a lobbying arm which benefits land/lease owners so we can force them to accept subpar housing at high rents which are subsidised by government money so we can make poor people pay above their earning capacity for rents they cant leave. To me this is the dream of all landlords.

Overall I think the game and reward systems promote a really stilted but positive view of landlording.

I personally think its a good game.

[Miksus]

You can always cancel debts from anyone. So you can be the landlord you want. Even bankrupted ;p

[Implied Facepalm Deadmeat]

Originally posted by Miksus:

You can always cancel debts from anyone. So you can be the landlord you want. Even bankrupted ;p

You can be the landlord you want, but the choices and rewards determine the game.

[falcongod082]

I was worried that I'd have to deal with nonsensical trolilng, but what I got instead were thoughtful responses. I thanks y'all for that. Special thanks to "Implied Facepalm Deadmeat" for giving a robust and detailed response that went so far as to read between the lines to answer nuances in my question that I didn't explicitly state.

Subversive is my favorite genre, so that trait always goes in the "pros" column.

Guess I'm off the buy the game now.