The 2023 Sunday Times Rich List revealed that billionaire wealth in the UK has grown to £683bn, owned by only 171 people. To help people understand exactly how much money that is, The Equality Trust has released “Obscene Wealth Simulator”, a game inviting players to spend this money on building infrastructure, ending homelessness, or dealing with the climate crisis (among many other things).
The game imagines that you have somehow possessed every billionaire in the UK, and can only undo this by disposing of the billionaire’s fortunes however the player wishes, helping fix a number of the UK’s problems in the process. It’s inspired by and indebted to the original “You Are Jeff Bezos”, a 2018 game by Kris Lorischild.
Twine is an open-source interactive fiction tool. “Obscene Wealth Simulator” is playable in your browser here.
The goal of this game is to help people understand just how much money the ultra-rich in our society have. In 2019, we found that the six richest people in the UK then held as much money as 13.2 million of the poorest in our society. Things haven’t improved since.
Priya Sahni-Nicholas, co-executive director at The Equality Trust, said : “The obscene levels of individual wealth seen once again in this year’s rich list are at odds with a country with services on their knees – unable and unwilling to adequately fund essential public services. We want people to understand that this approach is a choice, not a necessity.”
The Equality Trust campaigns to dismantle structural inequalities and create a fairer society. We know that the UK’s inequality is damaging all parts of our economy and society, while creating enormous profit for the richest few. We can only solve our struggling economy and hurt communities by making our society more equal. We also know that more equal societies work better for everyone – longer, healthier lives; less crime; better education.