{"id":465,"date":"2013-04-17T18:23:13","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T18:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/?p=465"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T14:23:07","slug":"notes-on-tax-evaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/notes-on-tax-evaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on Tax Evaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/taxevaders\/game.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-466\" title=\"Screen Shot 2013-04-17 at 2.07.33 PM\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Screen-Shot-2013-04-17-at-2.07.33-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"958\" height=\"637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Screen-Shot-2013-04-17-at-2.07.33-PM.png 958w, https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Screen-Shot-2013-04-17-at-2.07.33-PM-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px\" \/><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/taxevaders\/game.html\">Play Tax Evader on the browser<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been asked to design and develop a small game for a Space Invaders-themed campaign against corporate tax evasion. The result is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/taxevaders\/game.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tax Evaders<\/a>, an iteration of the original arcade classic with excellent Amiga-era pixel art by <a href=\"jamogames.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Biddulph<\/a> and sound design by <a href=\"www.ashtonmorris.com \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ashton Morris<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The week before Tax Day (April 15) the game has been projected guerrilla-style against corporate offices and banks in various cities around the States, together with other light interventions by groups in the post-Occupy Wall Street galaxy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe hidef\" id=\"WYL_FdXxVsTOMzI\"><div id=\"lyte_FdXxVsTOMzI\" data-src=\"\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/FdXxVsTOMzI\/maxresdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FdXxVsTOMzI\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/FdXxVsTOMzI\/0.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p>The campaign, coordinated with a Twitter bombing against the main evaders&#8217; accounts, was quite successful. I&#8217;d love to see more games (digital or not) in public spaces as enablers of playful protest.<\/p>\n<p>However, the game itself leaves a lot to be desired.<br \/>\nChanging the narrative surface of classic arcade games has been the default strategy for &#8220;games with an agenda&#8221; since they existed. Take a well known gameplay and simply replace text and graphic elements to reference some &#8220;real world&#8221; relationships.<br \/>\nIn fact Tax Evaders could be seen as the latest example of a tax-themed Space Invaders genre:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20040517093809\/http:\/\/www.gop.com\/taxinvaders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John Kerry: Tax invaders<\/a> an official game by the GOP from 2004.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_467\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/john_kerry_tax_invaders.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-467\" title=\"john_kerry_tax_invaders\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/john_kerry_tax_invaders.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/john_kerry_tax_invaders.png 500w, https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/john_kerry_tax_invaders-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yes, it&#8217;s a head of G.W. Bush shooting at &#8220;taxes&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The complementary John McCain Pork invaders from 2008.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_468\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-468\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gam_porkinvaders_490.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-468\" title=\"gam_porkinvaders_490\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gam_porkinvaders_490.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"490\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gam_porkinvaders_490.jpg 490w, https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gam_porkinvaders_490-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-468\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alright: so the pigs represent pork barrel spendings which are\u2026 oh whatever\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is a straightforward gameplay-as-metaphor approach I always cautioned against, not only because it&#8217;s unlikely to produce a compelling game (the game will probably be as interesting as the original, only 20 or 30 years later) but also because it doesn&#8217;t take into account that the meaning of a game emerges from the complex, often ambiguous, interplay between the narrative\/visual &#8220;surface&#8221; and the underlying game mechanics.<br \/>\nRule systems are meaningful or have, at least, certain biases. There are aspects of the Space Invaders&#8217; gameplay that can&#8217;t be changed by simply replacing sprites: the conflict is a Manichean good vs evil one, the enemy is foreign, and the only way to confront the invasion is by using military force. In his book Persuasive Games Ian Bogost <a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=GC7MD17YvJEC&amp;pg=PT160&amp;dq=john+kerry+tax+invaders+persuasive+games&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=qtluUbfPFs680QGOpIDICA&amp;ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">notes<\/a> how these specific characteristics are consistent with the conservative ideological frame (taxation as theft, government as external entity&#8230;), but they can hardly support a progressive, non militaristic, non reductionist argument. Different ideas require different forms.<\/p>\n<p>Tax Evaders has a few twists: corporations move upwards from the city, metaphorically avoiding their responsibilities toward society; buildings representing social services are not destroyed by direct attacks like the green shields in the original game and are instead restored by tax revenues, and so on.<br \/>\nBut the military metaphor is still there and it&#8217;s a lousy representation of collective action.<br \/>\nMoreover, the game does something I always tried to avoid in molleindustria games, which is proposing a fantasy of power for disempowered subjects.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_469\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-469\" style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/47938-el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-469\" title=\"47938-el-lissitzky,-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/47938-el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/47938-el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/47938-el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge-300x238.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/47938-el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge-1024x814.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-469\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">El Lissitzky &#8211; Beat the whites with the red wedge (1919). Classic piece of constructivist art from the Soviet revolution (the whites are the counter-revolutionary forces).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Images of struggle have always been a part of the iconography of social movements: they can be galvanizing and they can support the idea that it&#8217;s <em>ok<\/em> to see certain people and organizations as opponents with interests that are incompatible with yours.<br \/>\nBut I fear that <em>playing<\/em> a virtual revolution may have a cathartic, soothing effect. Especially in a moment in which the issue of economic inequality has been raised, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.people-press.org\/2011\/12\/15\/section-2-occupy-wall-street-and-inequality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">problems have been identified by a large part of the population<\/a> and the frustration from not being able to translate this sentiment into political change is widespread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Play Tax Evader on the browser I&#8217;ve been asked to design and develop a small game for a Space Invaders-themed campaign against corporate tax evasion. The result is Tax Evaders, an iteration of the original arcade classic with excellent Amiga-era pixel art by James Biddulph and sound design by Ashton Morris. The week before Tax &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/notes-on-tax-evaders\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Notes on Tax Evaders&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2058,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/2058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.molleindustria.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}