You are the founder and CEO of a social media platform. Your job is to grow it. The catch: everything you do to grow it makes the world slightly worse. You know this. You do it anyway.
That’s the game.
The Loop
- Platform decisions — algorithm tweaks, content moderation policy, feature launches, advertiser deals. Each has metrics impact and a consequence ticker: mental health, political polarisation, misinformation spread, addiction rates.
- The numbers go up — engagement, DAUs, revenue. This feels good. The consequence ticker also goes up. This feels bad. The tension between them is the entire game.
- Crisis events — a viral misinformation outbreak, a mental health study naming your platform, an advertiser boycott, a Senate hearing. You respond. Your choices shape the company’s future and your public persona.
- Stakeholder management — your investors want growth. Your employees want to believe in the mission. Your users want dopamine. These are not the same thing.
- Exit or Survive — IPO (justify your choices to the public market), acquisition (sell the problem to someone bigger), or regulatory shutdown (you went too far). Each ending is different. None are clean.
The Outside-the-Cube Angle
Most games cast the player as a hero solving problems. This game casts the player as someone who is the problem — and gives them enough systemic logic to understand exactly why smart, reasonable people become that person.
It’s not a morality lecture. It’s a simulation. The game does not tell you what to think. It hands you the controls and steps back.
The tone is sharp, dry, satirical — never preachy. Think Papers Please energy applied to Silicon Valley. The comedy lives in the gap between the corporate language (“we’re committed to authentic connection”) and the consequence ticker (“polarisation index: +12%”).
Why Now
The conversation about algorithmic harm, attention economy, and tech regulation has never been more mainstream. The Algorithm is the most culturally timely concept in our pipeline. The window is open.
This game will generate press. Players will screenshot their consequence stats and share them. The game is a social/viral mechanic about social/viral mechanics.
Current Status
Draft. Concept defined, loop structured, tone established. Open questions under review: premium vs. freemium pricing, regulatory risk, game length, and consequence system scope.
Greenlight candidacy alongside Fund, following The Unicorn Race launch.