Advantages for white men benefiting from inheritance, additional difficulties for women or people with disabilities … The board game, created by the Inequality Observatory and available January 10, is intended for educational professionals in order to address the issue of discrimination.
There are all kinds of them. Monopoly version back to the future, Version Naruto animal crossing, Stealing money On liquor or cheaters… Tarn . version It appeared recently. Eighty-five years after its creation, the famous game for the glory of big business, which was born after the crisis of 1929 in the United States, is still gaining more and more followers. On January 10th, a new kid will appear: “Monopoly Inequality.” Developed by the Inequality ObservatoryThis educational tool is more than fun and will be primarily intended for educational professionals to educate young people about inequality and discrimination.
Is your character a woman? You get less money by square one. Is he disabled? You cannot use stations and remove 2 points for each roll of the dice. Are you a white man and have a great heritage? You start the game several times before your opponents. Gender, age, skin color, social class… Each player faces throughout the match unfair rules according to their characteristics.
Piston cards, unemployment or homophobia
“It’s all gone Video Communication on Inequality published in 2017 where we saw kids playing a game of Monopoly whose rules have been changed to reflect the current society, says Constance Meunier, project director at the Inequality Observatory. We received a lot of requests for the game from teachers, community leaders, and professionals working with young people who were looking for fun tools to tackle the issue of inequality or discrimination.”
After three years of experimentation with youth groups and partnerships with several associations, Monopoly Inequality, intended for people between the ages of 11 and 25, will be available for sale on the Inequality Observatory website on January 10. The game is designed as an extension of the classic Monopoly, (board not provided) containing ten character cards and 37 event cards (motherhood, unemployment, workplace homophobia, racism, piston or even health). You still have to pay 55€ for the classic group (3-6 players) and 150€ for the school group (to play up to 35 students) including many resources (animation guide, educational brochure, book, web documentary ) about inequality.
“We did not want to develop a game for the general public because it is a subject that can be a vector to trap young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, Constance Meunier emphasizes, who insists on the importance of supervisors. Each of the rules is determined by the data that allows the facilitator to clarify the discussions resulting from the injustice suffered during the game.”
Emergence of ‘conscious’ games
This is not the first time that Monopoly has been used to highlight certain social facts. In 1970, “Blacks and Whites” was invented by environmental psychology professor Robert Somer, and reissued last year, to awaken American gamers to white privilege. Recently, sociologists Pincon Charlotte created Kapital, a game “Critical sociology” Mixing monopoly and geese (the goal is to accumulate as much financial, cultural, social or symbolic capital as possible at the expense of others) which reflects on inequality and oppression in society.
Discrimination, ecology, feminism, LGBT issues… In recent years, the so-called committed board games “conscious” Gaining momentum in homes. And if they should not be considered “magic solution” To change the inequality explained to Libyan Isa Terrier, an expert in gamification (using game mechanics in other areas), they at least allow these topics to be put on the table.
