Kosmosis, originally released as Kosmosis: A Communist Space Shooter, began as a reaction to the capitalist dominance of the 1970s video game market. Many in the Marxian Commonweal, including the game’s designer, Chang, felt single-player shooters such as Star Wars reflected a capitalist stranglehold on popular culture. Convincing the Nevada-based electronics syndicate Williams Workers Cooperative of the potential alternative market for Marxian gamers, Chang founded Union Software Entertainment with himself as Chairman along with friends Ortega and Nayazov. Chang’s main criticisms of the shooters of the period were what he perceived as subtle and unconscious reinforcements of capitalist society, such as the common themes of individualist gameplay where the player had no allies and everyone encountered was an enemy to be fought, the game encouraging “hoarding” of power-ups and currency, and, of course, a focus on military-themed violence. Change and Ortega sought to create a virtual space that reflected a collectivist anti-capitalist outlook. One thing Chang could not change, though, was the addition of a coin slot mechanism to his pride and joy, as the market socialist WWC had always intended for the game to be sold on open markets and compete with other games. Chang was able to secure the sop of all cabinets having a second slot for accepting labor vouchers.
When the game is begun, the player controls a single “prolet”, or flashing dot. Other prolets bounce aimlessly around the screen, carefully avoiding the green, angry bourgeoisie dots. The player is the vanguard, and any prolets they approach will follow them around, having been “radicalized”. The game’s manual warns that the player should form the revolution, not lead it, however, and as the following grows larger the prolets will attempt to move towards strategic points, making the player’s job more difficult if they don’t follow the other prolets. “Revolution” mode is activated at the press of a button, allowing all radicalized prolets to engage in combat with the bourgeoisie. The goal is to defeat enough bourgeoisie to trigger critical mass and the radicalization of most remaining prolets on the screen.
The game came with a manual containing 5 pages detailing the rules above in more detail, and an additional 17 pages as a manifesto detailing the ideological underpinnings of the game’s design. This manual, unlike the game proper, was not well received, with even Red Flag Daily calling it a “total snoozefest”.
The game itself received acclaim even outside of Marxian spheres and became a pop culture phenomenon and commercial success. The Jewish-American Telegraph ran the headline: “Red It May Be, But A Ton Of Fun”. Though UnionSoft did distribute its profits equally amongst all employees, since there were only three employees Chang ended up quite personally wealthy. True to his ideology, he spent most of this profit not on himself, but on producing additional games in the series. UnionSoft went on to become one of the largest video game developers, and later publishers, in the United Nations. The game itself is available to play for free on the UnionSoft website.
Melting Pot:
Infoboxes:
Kosmosis arcade game
Homelander Premieral Elections 1992 and Premier of the Homeland
Soviet Nations
United States and China (map)
Stories:
An Invitation
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