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Victoria III details its approach to slavery in new dev diaryFrom populations to laws
From populations to laws
The latest development diary post forVictoria IIItalks in detail about how Paradox’s empire builder will deal with the topic of slavery. Extremely carefully, is the answer.
The post goes on to explain that slavery was a catalyst for several conflicts represented in the game, which would be “bizarrely contextless” if slavery did not play a part, and that through the game’s ‘Pop system’ they’re aiming 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?”
Victoria 3 - Announcement TrailerWatch on YouTube
Victoria 3 - Announcement Trailer
Nations can also enact slavery laws, permitting the slave trade, debt slavery, abolishing slavery outright, or allowing “Legacy Slavery”, where the slave trade is illegal but not abolished entirely.
The post goes into a lot more detail than my brief summary. In each case, slavery is still ultimately being abstracted into an interactive game system, but it’s a more honest attempt to represent a significant topic than is present in most historical games. To its credit, Victoria 2 was better about it than most, too.
Whether Victoria III succeeds, I’m glad it’s still trying.
