Alright lets get into this big ol tiddie 1. The robovacs are clearly the proletariat. They complain about trust (the perceived bourgoise) reducing their power network with no apparent cause. This inevitably leads to class conflict due to irreconcilable demands and attempts at revolution 2. The bathroom door is clearly an analogy for the barriers separating the classes. idp1p1 is always 'stuck' behind it, even though he is rescued again and again by a piano. He lacks the ability to exit his material circumstances, its not his fault that he is the way he is 3. Muldrake is the only robovac which is able to break through the wall of class, which earns him the title of 'flipped' from the other robovacs which have had a false capitalistic consciousness instilled into them But it gets worse 1. Trust is in the beginning is acting as the bourgoise, exerting control over the system, however it becomes clear later that the bourgoise we should really be trying to overthrow is risk, real free market capitalist, not trust 2. Muldrake clearly becomes corrupted by capitalism, as now even space is a capitalistic wasteland 3. The game fundamentally lacks any use for capital, which invariably leads to frendmud. Coincidence? Or is sean satirising the conflict inherent in a capitalistic system and promoting marxist values? 4. Bigbot clearly represents the liberal intelligentsia being crushed under the boot of free market capitalism - he saw truth outside the false consciousness of capitalism and was put back in his box, aka reeducated, by the representation of free market capitalism and its worst traits - risk/mallory. In this way his expectations were repropagated back to him 5. NPC's clearly represent one's material environment and satirises the wealth inequalities in real life. The pure capitalist ideal of "pull onesself up by ones bootstraps" is present in the farming of npcs (aka the value of a workers labour), where if you simply farm better (get a job) or smarter (get an education) then you are promised riches that fail to materialise, as the existing userbase has already monopolised the existing resources (the real bourgoise is dtr) 6. The older users extracted a huge amount of value out of the game by using bots, aka seizing the most means of production due to having larger amounts of real capital than other players. After SSL pinning was enabled, this is now impossible. Is SSL pinning a satire of environmental change resulting from capitalists abusing initial regulatory oversights, thus creating a regulatory environment suppressing all businesses in competition to them? I think so 7. Trusts role in this is clearly to show to the player the problems inherent in a capitalistic model, as well as presenting an alternate view towards the player through a satire of the actual game mechanics itself - if the need for acquiring capital is removed, then players tend towards cooperation and friendship even if they may have incentives to compete. Aren't most PvP wars simply just for fun at this point? 8. Random transactions satirise the concept that the welfare state should be provided by private individuals in a capitalistic model - you get far too little, you get npcs demand that you be grateful to them, who often promise non existent rewards for doing so 9. Hardline limits represent the inherent and inevitable futility of trying to regulate a capitalistic model, as they are easily and inherently bypassable by spending more capital. This refutes entirely the argument that regulated capitalism might be ok in the long term 10. Frustrated at guessing the answers to seemingly arbitrary and opaque locks? Feels a bit like real life huh doesn't it, seems like capitalistic satire to me So to sum up: Hackmud is clearly a post marxist satire of a capitalist model, and its goal is to create revolutionary sentiment amongst you, the players of the game The puzzle solving elements aren't there for you to have fun with them, they're for you to throw off your intellectual chains. Farming NPC's feels like work because it literally is work, you're trying to extract meagre value from your environment simply to stay alive - automation will solve everything right? Except it only leads to even more huge wealth inequality Trust isn't the enemy, she's the revolutionary enlightened vanguard espousing the qualities of the 3 good vlan users, and risk as capitalism is the real enemy lurking in the shadows, espousing the 3 worst qualities of the vlan users, with the vlan users representing different facets of economic systems. The robovacs represent you, the real human being, and your own struggle against your own capitalistic system arbitrarily punishing you, and your own attempts to direct your anger towards the correct target (obviously capitalism). Muldrake is the temptation for corruption, and the formation of the 13 represents class consciousness and revolution. Remember remember! If you disagree with me then you're clearly one of whoever i don't like today