Victoria 3 Will Not Shy Away From the Problems of Slavery
The developers working on Victoria 3 have assured that their title will not overlook or downplay the role of slaves in the development of the 19th-century world.
- The developers at Paradox recently published a post that deals with the important role slavery will play in the game Victoria 3;
- The creators claim that the accurate depiction of historical conditions is an expression of respect for the people exploited by the colonizers at the turn of the 20th century.
Victoria 3, announced in May this year, will take us back to the years 1836-1936. Paradox's strategy game will enable us to play during the heyday of the Industrial Revolution, but also colonialism, which preyed on the slave labor of people from other nations. As the developers admit, Victoria 3 will not run away from the problems of slavery, on the contrary - slaves will be an important element of the game. In a recent entry regarding this issue the devs say:
"Slavery is, obviously, a horrific crime against humanity and precisely for this reason, many games that have a slavery-related setting or mechanics will either leave it out of the game or abstract it into something that’s less ‘on the nose’," writes lead developer Martin Anward.
Victoria 3 is to present a different approach. Slaves will count as full members of the population (for the game mechanics, not for the colonizers). As we read further in the dev blog:
"(...) through our Pop system we are trying to represent every individual human on the planet from 1836, so what statement would we be making if we simply wrote all enslaved individuals out of history, or reduced them into an abstract set of modifiers?"
Source: Paradox Interactive
The mechanics of slavery, however, are meant to go deeper. Naturally, slaves will be used as cheap labor, which means that such individuals will get the least amount of rations. Slaves can replace workers at any location, such as a cotton plantation. As in real life, a narrow circle of the wealthiest will benefit the most from slave labor. However, such "workers" will not pay any taxes, which may result in imposing other tributes on the people who use such cheap labor force.
Over the years, views on slavery among the public may change. Different states are expected to address slavery differently and implement different laws to regulate it, which could lead to conflicts. In addition, abolitionist movements will arise, which will also lead to clashes in this field (e.g., the Civil War).
A detailed description of slavery mechanics in Victoria 3 can be found here. So far, the release date of the new installment of the Victoria series has not been announced. However, it is known that the title will be available in Game Pass.
