A Seeming Change
Quasimorph and the Critique of Anarcho-Capitalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12804527 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Cartlidge (0000-0002-0276-9142, Independent researcher, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Games and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1555-4120 • E-ISSN: 1555-4139 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/15554120261425348 |
| OpenAlex | W7135074576 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This article examines how Quasimorph , a turn-based roguelike extraction shooter, models and critiques anarcho-capitalism through its narrative, worldbuilding, mechanics and economic systems. Anarcho-capitalism is a political and economic philosophy which envisions a stateless society based upon private property and voluntary contractual exchange within unfettered free-market competition – capitalism, without the state. Traditionally state-performed services (policing, defence, administering justice, etc.) would instead be performed by private companies competing for profit. Quasimorph offers a speculative, futuristic vision of anarcho-capitalism in practise in a colonized solar system. The game offers a powerful critique of anarcho-capitalist thought which, on three distinct fronts, shows that anarcho-capitalism would represent only a ‘seeming change’ from capitalism that would preserve and exacerbate its worst aspects. This paper shows how Quasimorph put this critique in playable form, affirming the video game's status as a vehicle for the critique of social and political ideologies
Capitalism · Competition (biology · Politics · Private property · Property (philosophy · Stateless protocol · Through-the-lens metering · Anarchism and Radical Politics · Digital Games and Media · Political Economy and Marxism
| Highly cited | No |
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