Economic issues are something rarely raised in video games, except for maybe 1337 macro and build orders. I can think of maybe a few instances where economic issues are raised at all in non-RTS games, although RTSes would be the best example. For instance, Fallout's representation of human stupidity, economic wars due to competition for limited resources resulting in a global apocalypse . Communities in the wasteland are built on the ruins of the promise of endless consumption and technological progress (advertisements looking like they were ripped straight from the 1950s). Or Bioshock as a meditation on what it would be like if capitalism were absolutely unchecked by law or ethics, say if we could sell guns from vending machines or treat surgery as artistic expression.
Sometimes a game's mechanics seem to appeal to the same part of the brain as capitalism does, the promise of shiny new loot such in games such as MMOs or Diablo, Dungeon Siege, Borderlands, etc.
So I was wondering, what would it be like if games were developed and played in markets not determined by global capitalism. What would be the genres, themes, game mechanics? If we lived in green societies, would we be stuck with awful biodegradable boxes that scratch our discs before we even play them? If it were a socialist society would you pay tax on everything you earn in World of Warcraft in-game? Would the gaming industry be more or less creative? Would we still get nickel and dimed by DLC?
Discuss, be creative, or maybe just come up with your best take on the "In Soviet Russia..." meme.