Why do people sometimes behave as if being a violent slaver colony is the only way to play?

[please be nice to me]

Honestly, this also applies to people who rag on the game, but maybe they haven't played it. I understand some of the vanilla game systems don't enable you to engage in as much altruism as much as crimes against humanity (what are considered crimes in most places in our world anyway), but enslaving people and committing those crimes isn't what the game makes you do. It might be a quick way to gain wealth and workers, but it really doesn't have to be the way you gain wealth.

If you get colonists with skills and you have patience, you can easily gain resources to craft items to sell to traders. I haven't played with too many slaver colonies, but it feels to me like the drawbacks (to say nothing of the crimes part) make it worth not doing. My colonists are much happier and I save resources by not having slaves I need to maintain, spoil, and supervise so they don't rebel, and I don't have to worry about having to get them hurt by attacking people for slaves (I can get them hurt trying to free the slaves instead). My crafters are happy and work better when they get to exercise skills they are passionate in. I've had colonists create sculptures just as valuable as a slave considered "beautiful".

You can engage in horrible violence, have an ideoligion that mandates violence, conversion, sexism, xenophobia, slaves, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and other awful things. You can use biotechnology to force people into awful experiments against their will, kill them for science, farm them for genes. People who crashland or come to you begging for aid can be enslaved or otherwise used for whatever you want.

Or, you can have an ideoligion that mandates charity, despises slavery and violence, loves diversity and individualism, sexual freedom, respecting nature and your fellow man, et. cetera. People who come to you in dire need can be tended, fed, housed, and clothed, and sometimes they will join you or give you a potentially hefty (might depend on your storyteller settings) reward.

There is nothing pushing you toward one style of play, per-say. I do think there could be some more game systems that encourage altruism though I'm not really sure what; mods let me add a lot of new interactions and ideoligion memes such as relative pacifism and emancipation of slaves and lets people be nicer to each other. I feel like maybe some of the pawn interactions lead them to be unnecessarily antagonistic or hateful toward each other (the blanket hatred of people with mild scars, for example), but this might be me and I can easily tweak to create something that gives a more charitable example of humanity.

I sometimes get the impression that some players have a very, very negative outlook on humans and their actions, which I honestly do sometimes as well. But I try and think of it like this, and this applies to our real world too: If we were all monsters deep down whose natural inclination was toward violence and evil, we would not have made it to where we are now in the 21st century, let alone the 55th century. We have good things because people made (and make) them happen. Some people take it upon themselves to sacrifice pleasures and comforts to take care of the less fortunate, and sometimes their religion mandates such charity (my favourite example is Mohammed Bezek). Religions have been used to justify abhorrent crimes, but also glorious art (my favourite example is Wat Rong Khun). If humans didn't cooperate and help each other, we wouldn't have societies at all, nor would we have even gotten to the point of evolving into humans; early modern humans, who had horrible living conditions and low life expentencies, cared for each other out of altruism. There have been thousands of thousands year old graves unearthed of very disabled hominids who made it to a relatively old age because they were given great care by a community that valued them.

You can either kill the raider you cleanly severed the spinal cord of and paralyzed, or you can take pity on him, tend him, recruit him, give him a bionic spine and decide in your story that he's one of your most stalwart colonists. We wouldn't be here and playing RimWorld if humans only r8pd and pillaged and were purely selfish creatures.

Not sure why I wrote this. All of this is to say that it is easy to have a very negative perception of humans, I often do as well, but humans are also capable of wonderful things. The Rim doesn't HAVE to be a horrible place... People can be trying to make it better.

(edit this was really obvious in hindsight -_- thank you to this person who put it very well)
Honestly, this also applies to people who rag on the game, but maybe they haven't played it. I understand some of the vanilla game systems don't enable you to engage in as much altruism as much as crimes against humanity (what are considered crimes in most places in our world anyway), but enslaving people and committing those crimes isn't what the game makes you do. It might be a quick way to gain wealth and workers, but it really doesn't have to be the way you gain wealth.

If you get colonists with skills and you have patience, you can easily gain resources to craft items to sell to traders. I haven't played with too many slaver colonies, but it feels to me like the drawbacks (to say nothing of the crimes part) make it worth not doing. My colonists are much happier and I save resources by not having slaves I need to maintain, spoil, and supervise so they don't rebel, and I don't have to worry about having to get them hurt by attacking people for slaves (I can get them hurt trying to free the slaves instead). My crafters are happy and work better when they get to exercise skills they are passionate in. I've had colonists create sculptures just as valuable as a slave considered "beautiful".

You can engage in horrible violence, have an ideoligion that mandates violence, conversion, sexism, xenophobia, slaves, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and other awful things. You can use biotechnology to force people into awful experiments against their will, kill them for science, farm them for genes. People who crashland or come to you begging for aid can be enslaved or otherwise used for whatever you want.

Or, you can have an ideoligion that mandates charity, despises slavery and violence, loves diversity and individualism, sexual freedom, respecting nature and your fellow man, et. cetera. People who come to you in dire need can be tended, fed, housed, and clothed, and sometimes they will join you or give you a potentially hefty (might depend on your storyteller settings) reward.

There is nothing pushing you toward one style of play, per-say. I do think there could be some more game systems that encourage altruism though I'm not really sure what; mods let me add a lot of new interactions and ideoligion memes such as relative pacifism and emancipation of slaves and lets people be nicer to each other. I feel like maybe some of the pawn interactions lead them to be unnecessarily antagonistic or hateful toward each other (the blanket hatred of people with mild scars, for example), but this might be me and I can easily tweak to create something that gives a more charitable example of humanity.

I sometimes get the impression that some players have a very, very negative outlook on humans and their actions, which I honestly do sometimes as well. But I try and think of it like this, and this applies to our real world too: If we were all monsters deep down whose natural inclination was toward violence and evil, we would not have made it to where we are now in the 21st century, let alone the 55th century. We have good things because people made (and make) them happen. Some people take it upon themselves to sacrifice pleasures and comforts to take care of the less fortunate, and sometimes their religion mandates such charity (my favourite example is Mohammed Bezek). Religions have been used to justify abhorrent crimes, but also glorious art (my favourite example is Wat Rong Khun). If humans didn't cooperate and help each other, we wouldn't have societies at all, nor would we have even gotten to the point of evolving into humans; early modern humans, who had horrible living conditions and low life expentencies, cared for each other out of altruism. There have been thousands of thousands year old graves unearthed of very disabled hominids who made it to a relatively old age because they were given great care by a community that valued them.

You can either kill the raider you cleanly severed the spinal cord of and paralyzed, or you can take pity on him, tend him, recruit him, give him a bionic spine and decide in your story that he's one of your most stalwart colonists. We wouldn't be here and playing RimWorld if humans only r8pd and pillaged and were purely selfish creatures.

Not sure why I wrote this. All of this is to say that it is easy to have a very negative perception of humans, I often do as well, but humans are also capable of wonderful things. The Rim doesn't HAVE to be a horrible place... People can be trying to make it better.

(Edit: I guess just to share my thoughts with others and maybe get theirs in return?)
(Edit 2: this was really obvious in hindsight -_- thank you to this person who put it very well)
(edit 3: I definitely could've worded this better. I apologise if I sounded condescending. My intention wasn't to insult, belittle, or say what people should or shouldn't do in their game; I just saw some people asking about ways to play around and wanted to soapbox over my not really seeing the appeal of maximal cruelty, I guess? Wanting to see how people viewed the stories they made with such things, if any at all? Certainly won't be doing anything like this again.

Thanks to the people who didn't just belittle, insult, or otherwise troll me. the guy who just replied "ok" is cool though, that was funny)

[desrtfox071]

People play how they want.

What difference is it to you how other people play a single player game?

I'm not sure why you wrote all of that either.

[please be nice to me]

Originally posted by desrtfox071:

People play how they want.

What difference is it to you how other people play a single player game?

I'm not sure why you wrote all of that either.

Maybe because I wanted to start a discussion? See what others think? Talk to other players? I didn't tell people to play a certain way, I don't really care how they play. It's a game. I'm just... thinking.

[desrtfox071]

Originally posted by please be nice to me:

Originally posted by desrtfox071:

People play how they want.

What difference is it to you how other people play a single player game?

I'm not sure why you wrote all of that either.

Maybe because I wanted to start a discussion? See what others think?

See what others think about what? How other people play?

I'll leave the gossip to others I guess if that's what you're looking for.

[please be nice to me]

Originally posted by desrtfox071:

Originally posted by please be nice to me:

Maybe because I wanted to start a discussion? See what others think?

See what others think about what? How other people play?

I'll leave the gossip to others I guess if that's what you're looking for.

I'm trying to get gossip by wondering how people view their playthroughs, think about playing, the mechanics, and suggesting a different way of thinking and playing to people asking for ideas on how to play? Is posting open thoughts and opening it up for others to comment on and discuss in a (hopefully) civil manner gossip? Gossip about what?

[Wraith_Magus]

It's a combination of the memes and a certain human instinct to test boundaries. Tell someone that you've created a perfect VR simulation replica of the real world, and the first thing they'll do if they have a spin is try to see what happens if they toss a trashcan onto a busy intersection if not bodily fling themselves in there to see how they get ragdolled. The notion that this isn't real life and therefore the normal consequences for behaviors you're "not supposed to do" are inherently going to be funny to people when they get away with things in a simulation they couldn't get away with in real life.

This is exacerbated the more "realistic" the simulation gets. If a cartoon behaves with unrealistic physics, nobody bats an eye, but if you have something that seems to be realistic, has realistic graphics, follows realistic traffic patterns on its realistic city streets, but then you see an NPC break the illusion by stepping on a pebble on the sidewalk, jitter around rapidly for a few seconds, then get launched into orbit, that cartoony behavior stands out all the more. This is the core of what games like GTA, Saint's Row, or Goat Simulator try to appeal to, and why they have things like "rampage" mission where you have to blow up dozens of cars with a rocket launcher with unlimited ammo or an "insurance fraud" mission where you have to deliberately get ragdolled and hit by as many cars as possible without touching the ground. That ability to start to see some of this game working like reality, and therefore having realistic expectations, only to have those expectations violently subverted has much more impact upon people.

It's also a matter of what you can even say to other people to get their attention and not be worried you're giving people an impression you're just being boring, especially online. Which is funnier/more interesting/sticks with you in your mind after reading it: "I played a game where I planted corn and stored it for the winter, giving some food out to some beggars that came by." Or is it, "Some beggars came by, so I offered them candy that was actually laced with sedatives, and when they woke up, they were missing a lung, a kidney, and I'd replaced their limbs with sticks so I could point and laugh at their helpless flailing. Then I siphoned off their blood for my vampires and sucked their brain into a subcore I could put into a robot whose main purpose was to attract enemies to beat it up in front of the flamethrower turrets. I'm working on a mod to add heat sensors to the robot so it feels pain at being covered in fire even though it never gets burned."

It's not that people don't make quaint farming towns. It's just that nobody really cares what you're doing if you make a nice ranching community that would be a pleasant place to live in. If you want to get people to notice online, you either need to make an even more elaborately-designed actually-functional base that when zoomed out is actually a pixelated Mona Lisa, make artwork of your pawns you put up on Reddit, or you need to top the last guy in the memetic sadism department or you're just being boring. That sort of environment naturally filters what you're going to see when you look online.

Oh, and by the way, the game takes place in the 56th century. Just like it's the 21st century now, not the 20th because you "round up".

[please be nice to me]

Originally posted by Wraith_Magus:

It's also a matter of what you can even say to other people to get their attention and not be worried you're giving people an impression you're just being boring, especially online. Which is funnier/more interesting/sticks with you in your mind after reading it: "I played a game where I planted corn and stored it for the winter, giving some food out to some beggars that came by." Or is it, "Some beggars came by, so I offered them candy that was actually laced with sedatives, and when they woke up, they were missing a lung, a kidney, and I'd replaced their limbs with sticks so I could point and laugh at their helpless flailing. Then I siphoned off their blood for my vampires and sucked their brain into a subcore I could put into a robot whose main purpose was to attract enemies to beat it up in front of the flamethrower turrets. I'm working on a mod to add heat sensors to the robot so it feels pain at being covered in fire even though it never gets burned."

It's not that people don't make quaint farming towns. It's just that nobody really cares what you're doing if you make a nice ranching community that would be a pleasant place to live in. If you want to get people to notice online, you either need to make an even more elaborately-designed actually-functional base that when zoomed out is actually a pixelated Mona Lisa, make artwork of your pawns you put up on Reddit, or you need to top the last guy in the memetic sadism department or you're just being boring. That sort of environment naturally filters what you're going to see when you look online.

Oh, and by the way, the game takes place in the 56th century. Just like it's the 21st century now, not the 20th because you "round up".

Thank you! I appreciate the level response. I honestly hadn't fully thought about the obvious attention economy/internet culture thing............ D'oh. Absolutely obvious in hindsight.

I suppose that's something else that could be changed... in theory, though it's fine as it is. People do some hilarious ♥♥♥♥

(edit) ....you're telling me the internet lied to me when I looked up what century 5500 would be and didn't think harder on it?!

[Monokuma]

On top of it mostly being a meme, it's also just an easy playstyle as things like organ harvesting are very profitable and easy to take advantage of with enemy raid survivors.

[Wraith_Magus]

Originally posted by Monokuma:

On top of it mostly being a meme, it's also just an easy playstyle as things like organ harvesting are very profitable and easy to take advantage of with enemy raid survivors.

You can, but something you learn (possibly the hard way) is that money isn't winning in RimWorld. It just brings more raiders coming to steal your harvested organ wealth. Sitting on a pile of silver like a dragon doesn't defend your base. Learning to play on a minimal lifestyle to manage your wealth until you've developed your defenses is a key skill. Plus, you'll be able to buy everything you'll ever need having one crafter spend their free time making leather dusters from all the cattle you have to slaughter to keep your pasture from being overgrazed.

[Rollin88z]

i personally dont like the racist vibes that comes from this community and before you accuse me of trolling as a deflection of criticism, it's a very valid opinion.

early on in rimworld the slavery thing was funny because it was unique and different like the way it's funny to see prison violence in the game prison architect

but in prison architect, i find myself inclined to want non-violent prisons, rehabilitation, i like seeing people see their families, leave the prison. I get sad when even a snitch is killed because ultimately, in prison, a snitch is a good guy. No one in prison is a good person so i really dont want them to keep their crimes hidden.

The community is by far more pleasant and even the guys who make maniacal prisons where the end goal is just suffering, are far more fun to talk to. The npcs inside are prisoners. In Rimworld, after several years, it's hard to shake off the contrast where you are often enslaving normal people of different races or beliefs which, when even just going after people for their differing beliefs, is actual bigotry. It's unique and fun to force people to convert to your belief system sure, but the underlying issue is the kind of community it harbors - similar to the a livestream that is all about harassing people and being mean, the kind of people you are attracting might not be the best elements of society.

and you really start to feel it as the years grind on and the game remains essentially a slavery simulator. You can steal organs, kidnap peoples family members, do horrible things to them like cutting off their tongues. it was so funny at first but like i said it really does have a magnetic pull to the underlying worst elements of society. I don't have a solution to that. I'm just reflecting on it and it's not something that most people are comfortable with as they age, being friends or cohabitating with racist psychos.

I expect people to start insulting me for politics that have nothing to do with this or suggesting im too soft which goes to prove the point im making which is that this element of actual hatred bleeds into the community you expect to sustain yourself but when you are trying to sell things and the community is making memes about racism, a black person or a person with a disability might not be so inclined to support your products.

I personally feel disgusted with the level of casual racism and open hatred that specifically comes from the rimworld community. any criticism of that part of it gets labeled as trolling and is never reflected on.


Like here's a serious thought: Victoria 3 - i first played it and tried to make the most racist country on earth, it was the worst economy i've ever had. no one wanted to move to a hate filled place to work and the wages were attrocious.

I was motivated to try to play progressively and it's fun trying to convince a backward society to start agreeing to end racism so our country can become globally competitive and stand alone against foreign threats. A population of one national group literally will fall apart after a single war.

So my thought would be... why can't Rimworld incorporate some kind of progressive type, anti-slavery, anti-bigotry DLC that openly works towards that kind of progress to balance out it's earlier model of actual slavery and racism. It could even be incorporated to the base game to the point that people who refuse to get it are at a disadvantage, as they should be, because why are we doing this in 2025 and clapping like seals? Do you see all the hatred in the world? sometimes people want to feel good in a game and simulate pushing back against hate. I certainly don't like this community and you are all welcome to disagree but I'm not a troll. I dont want people to get you angry so im sorry if you disagree that passionately.

[Monokuma]

Originally posted by Wraith_Magus:

Originally posted by Monokuma:

On top of it mostly being a meme, it's also just an easy playstyle as things like organ harvesting are very profitable and easy to take advantage of with enemy raid survivors.

You can, but something you learn (possibly the hard way) is that money isn't winning in RimWorld. It just brings more raiders coming to steal your harvested organ wealth. Learning to play on a minimal lifestyle to manage your wealth until you've developed your defenses is a key skill. Plus, you'll be able to buy everything you'll ever need having one crafter spend their free time making leather dusters from all the cattle you have to slaughter to keep your pasture from being overgrazed.

While that's true also, Rimworld is also not a game frequently played vanilla. A lot of mods often counteract the negatives of wealth scaling (such as overpowered player pawns, unbalanced defenses, or even mods that change raid/wealth calculation entirely) which ends up making slavery (which is also often buffed by mods) and organ trade's high profitability for relatively low input more appealing.

[endymionologist]

I think it's mostly a reporting bias, but now that you've made me think about it I suppose it does indicate some unfortunate perceptions of other players. I don't much post about 20 hours of chill guinea pig ranching, but I'll tell the story of forcing the animals into melee blocking shamblers over and over; that must be because I think I know what other people are interested in hearing about.

[Animal 7]

i've used like slavery only a few times since ideology came out, just seems like too much work compared to recruiting. Also, organ harvesting for profit doesn't even seem worth it to me? I usually hav ea huge surplus of yayo and other high value plant products that remove all the silver from traders regardless.

[Monokuma]

Originally posted by Animal 7:

i've used like slavery only a few times since ideology came out, just seems like too much work compared to recruiting. Also, organ harvesting for profit doesn't even seem worth it to me? I usually hav ea huge surplus of yayo and other high value plant products that remove all the silver from traders regardless.

Yayo requires a production chain but organs are pretty much delivered to you from whatever enemies don't bleed out after a raid. And with ideology you can even just run an ideo that removes the colony-wide mood drawbacks as well.

Plus chemical fascinated pawns can't go and snort up your supply of lungs and hearts.

[Hans]

I've explained my exploits in Rimworld and the story generator to coworkers on several occasions. Granted, I work with a bunch of nerds, but each time I have had their complete attention and at the end they've said "if that was a movie or TV show, I'd watch it."

Shockingly, I never told them a peaceful story of a gerbil farm. Turns out space pirates, cannibalism, prisoner mutiliation/torture, transhumanist cultists, people having mental breaks when relatives die and setting their own house on fire which killed their infant in the process are WAY more interesting to the average person.

Or I work with sociopaths. And I'm ok with that!

[Blooxey]

ok