History VideoGame / Oiligarchy

* VillainProtagonist : You, the "protagonist of the petroleum era."

* TheWarOnTerror: You can get the United States to invade Iraq and [[WarForFunAndProfit open it up for oil exploitation]], as well as pass things like the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Advisory System in order to keep the people scared.

* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: The game forces you to be a absolutely evil jackass. When the Ogoni start protesting and blocking your oil fields, can you find a peaceful solution? No, your only option is to bribe the government to KillEmAll. And you cannot get to invest in Iraq without manipulating the US government invading them. And lets not even get into the part about the environment.

** The only way to avert this is to aim for the "green" ending right from the beginning, which can easily be achieved if you do nothing to keep environmentalism from spreading (by systematically skipping the elections and not "oiling" the representatives) and let oil demand regularly outstrip supply in order to have energy-saving acts approved, only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption : [[spoiler: Of the four endings, one involves you getting fired and another one involves the end of the world (and text saying "you spend your last days in darkness, pondering your role in creating this mess"). The third involves a happy ending for everyone ''except'' the VillainProtagonist player; an ending in which reduced reliance on fossil fuels renders the oil industry less important. The last involves keeping the western world addicted to oil but not actually supplying it, crashing the GDP ''so hard'' that modern civilzation slowly collapses due to a permanently ruined economy. It does not appear to be possible to make the game last forever without eventually running into one of these endings]].

** The only way to avert this is to aim for the "green" ending right from the beginning, which can easily be achieved if you do nothing to keep environmentalism from spreading (by systematically skipping the elections and not "oiling" the representatives) and let oil demand regularly outstrip supply in order to have energy-saving acts approved, only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired. By using this strategy, this troper managed to retire as early as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

But eventually, [[OhCrap that oil is going to]] [[CrapsackWorld run out...]]

** The only way to avert this is to aim for the "green" ending right from the beginning, which can easily be achieved if you do nothing to keep environmentalism from spreading (by systematically skipping the elections and not "oiling" the representatives) and let oil demand regularly outstrip supply in order to have energy-saving acts approved (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). By using this strategy, this troper managed to retire as early as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: That'd be you.

The game has you playing as [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the CEO of an oil company]] immediately after WorldWarII. Your have one goal: maximize your profits by selling oil to America, or else your board of directors will have you fired. To accomplish this goal, you have to keep America hooked on oil to fuel its economy, which means greasing the palms of politicians to make them pass bills friendly to your business and unfriendly to the environmental movement. Eventually, you can get America to [[WarForFunAndProfit invade other countries for their oil]], have [[SecretPolice anti-terror legislation]] passed to silence environmentalists and social justice advocates, bribe Third World dictatorships to drive out the tribesmen who stand in your way, and use other nefarious means to get as much oil as humanly possible.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Your oil company starts off as a small post-WorldWarII buisness venture and goes to... well... an [[TitleDrop oiligarchy]] that keeps the entire world oppressed, feeding it untold amounts of money to pay for oil obtained through everything from human rights abuses to [[spoiler: burning live humans to make more of it once you hit Peak Oil.]]

** Unless you aim for the "green ending", by not doing anything to keep environmentalism from spreading (i.e. systematically skip "oiling" the representatives) and letting the oil demand regularly outstrip the oil supply in order to let environmental bills get passed (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). This troper used this strategy and managed to retire as soon as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

** Unless you aim for the "green ending", by not doing anything to keep environmentalism from spreading (i.e. systematically skip "oiling" the representatives) and letting the oil demand regularly outstrip the oil supply in order to let environmental bills get passed (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). This troper used this strategy to get that ending as soon as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

** Unless you aim for the "green ending", by not doing anything to keep environmentalism from spreading and letting the oil demand regularly outstrip the oil supply in order to let environmental bills get passed (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). This troper used this strategy to get that ending as soon as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

** Unless you aim for the "green ending", by not doing anything to keep environmentalism from spreading and letting the oil demand regularly overtake the oil supply in order to let environmental bills get passed (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). This troper used this strategy to get that ending as soon as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: The game forces you to be a absolutely evil jackass. When the Ogoni start protesting and blocking your oil fields, can you find a peaceful solution? No, your only option is to bribe the government to Kill 'Em All. And you cannot get to invest in Iraq without manipulating the US government invading them. And lets not even get in to the part about the environment.
** Unless you aim for the "green ending", by letting the environmentalists overrun the congress and letting the oil demand regularly overtake the oil supply in order to let environmental bills get passed (only opening new wells to placate your shareholders and avoid getting fired). This troper used this strategy to get that ending as soon as 1975, without even having reached peak oil in Texas.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption : Of the four endings, one involves you getting fired and another one involves the end of the world (and text saying "you spend your last days in darkness, pondering your role in creating this mess"). The third involves a happy ending for everyone ''except'' the VillainProtagonist player; an ending in which reduced reliance on fossil fuels renders the oil industry less important. The last involves keeping the western world addicted to oil but not actually supplying it, crashing the GDP ''so hard'' that modern civilzation slowly collapses due to a permanently ruined economy. It does not appear to be possible to make the game last forever without eventually running into one of these endings.

* MultipleEndings: In the "best" ending, the US breaks its oil addiction and converts to clean energy, and you go out of business. In another, as the world runs out of oil, WorldWarIII breaks out for the last remaining reserves, and you hide in your bunker to ride it out. In yet another, all of Western civilization collapses due to the economic strife you caused and because you can no longer supply enough oil to keep it running. Finally, you can simply be fired before reaching Peak Oil if you fail to bring in profits.

''Oiligarchy'' is a {{web game|s}} made by Creator/Molleindustria. You can play it [[http://www.molleindustria.org/en/oiligarchy here.]]

''Oiligarchy'' is a {{web game|s}} made by La Molle Industria. You can play it [[http://www.molleindustria.org/en/oiligarchy here.]]

As you may have guessed by now, this game takes [[{{Anvilicious}} a very particular view]] of the oil industry. At the same time, however, what other game affords you the opportunity to play as a {{card carrying|Villain}} ''{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' villain, LaughingMad at your computer while poisoning lakes and killing caribou?

* [[spoiler:HumanResources]]: Late in the game, once oil starts running low, [[spoiler:you can start making "biofuels" by processing humans into oil.]]

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: SaddamHussein, by virtue that he will neeever invade Kuwait unless you push him to by persuading the Kuwaitis to drill illegally.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Scarily enough, SaddamHussein, by virtue that he will neeever invade Kuwait unless you push him to by persuading the Kuwaitis to drill illegally. [[UnfortunateImplications The fact that this echoes Baathist propaganda justifying the truly nightmarish invasion and occupation of a defenseless neighbor is....not addressed.]]

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Scarily enough, SaddamHussein, by virtue that he will neeever invade Kuwait unless you push him to by persuading the Kuwaitis to drill illegally. [[UnfortunateImplications The fact that this echoes Baathist propaganda justifying the truly nightmarish invasion and occupation of a defenseless neighbor is....not addressed.]]

* BrokenAesop