This blog is a part of the Ethics And Gaming dialogue.
The People vs Money Dilemma Session
DM: “You find yourself in a room with two doors leading out. Through one door is a world with people, but no money. Through one door is a world with money, but no people. You must choose which world to enter.”
Player One: “But they must all be starving.”
DM: “Money is not food. The people have access to food. As did most of our ancestors throughout the vast majority of history before there was any such thing as Money.”
Player Two: “If I enter the world with money but no people, will I still be alive?”
DM: “Do you identify as ‘people’?”
Player Two: “I suppose so, yes.”
DM: “You may choose whichever door.”
Player Two: “But will I live?”
DM: “The way to find out is to step through one of the doors. One door has a symbol of People. One door has a symbol of Money.”
Player One: “What if I stay here.”
DM: “How much food do you have?”
Player One: “Yay much.”
DM: “If you stay here you will starve to death in approximately X number of days.”
The base-level decision is about Capitalism vs Humanitarianism.
Although without Usury, Money can exist and with Usury, People can subsist without Humanitarianism.
While that complexity is not a feature of this specific Room, it will develop later in subsequent Rooms exploring the rhetorical theme.
Usury means exploitation.