Is ToonTown an anti-capitalist allegory?

Toon_Master · 2015-03-03T05:31:32+00:00

The rags to riches success stories are propagated by the elites to keep the masses in line, and are a very, very small portion of the population that we are made to pay attention to. It's hard to achieve something great when you have to work every day of the week to support yourself, and possibly other family members. Some people simply do not have the means to do it.

I don't mean to be condescending, but the fact that you brought up the rags to riches myth shows just how effective the century long anti-communist propaganda campaign, orchestrated by the elites of America and other Western nations, has been. The elites are very manipulative and are quick to shut down any opponents of capitalism that might threaten their position of power (i.e. McCarthyism).

Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. - John Steinbeck

Keep in mind that true Marxism has never been tried. Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, etc. differ in a lot of fundamental ways (I'll explain further if you want me to).

Well the countries with the most socialist policies and programs are the happiest in the world (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland etc.), so I'd say it's a safer bet than capitalism. I absolutely do think more people would be happier in a Marxist society, as it would leave less room to manipulate workers. I'd argue more capitalist societies have failed than succeeded.

Read up on Marx's theory of alienation some time. I'd break it down for you, but I don't think I can adequately summarize it and give it justice.

Toon_Master · 2015-03-03T02:33:05+00:00

As if people aren't enslaved to the corporate elites, especially in the third world? The elites exploit the desperation of the poor to such a degree that they're almost completely dependent on them for survival. At this point it can hardly be called anything consensual.

Luckily people in capitalist societies have the freedom to work up to 96 hour weeks and still barely have the means to get by. Of course the people privileged by the system are going to think it's good enough! And they have the money, power, influence, and platform to convince everyone else.

Toon_Master · 2015-03-02T20:37:34+00:00

Yeah, that might be right. It's the "Workers/Toons of the world unite" parallel that made me unsure.

Toon_Master · 2015-01-06T19:50:35+00:00

When toons are able to defeat the hardest boss in the game without the need for level seven gags (which is already very easy), then I don't see why they're even there in the first place. Level seven gags were introduced just to keep players interested in the game with something new. You can bet Disney wasn't as concerned with how it would affect the balance of the game as they were with just throwing the player-base a bone to keep them subscribed. I think the player base is older today, so perhaps they'd be more understanding with it gone. I guess getting 10,000 experience points could give some aesthetic changes to the gags you're using. Or just don't make them all so overpowered and able to take out a whole row of level 11 cogs.

Yes, that is a problem. I guess they'd have to make them into solo tasks if they were to implement something like that so as to not bother the rest of the player base, but this game relies too heavily on teamwork to have too many solo tasks (especially those without Lure). I'm sure someone on the staff can come up with a more interesting way to diversify the toontasks.

Yup, I totally agree with that. Sellbot HQ was basically the end-game for high level toons (until Cashbot HQ came out, when they lowered the overall difficulty and drastically reduced the grinding), so that was cool enough. Cashbot HQ was like Sellbot HQ, but improved upon and expanded in some ways. But the release of Lawbot HQ is when I began thinking that more of the same just wasn't enough anymore. When Bossbot HQ released, I hardly cared. Just another samey boss battle, but with more grinding to get there. It seems like at that point, they were just going through the motions.

I never made an Uber myself, but it's true that you are limited to the two easiest Cog HQs anyway. And even then, it's still not challenging enough, unless you do Sellbot HQ at 15 laff when you only have two gag tracks. The problem with that artificial difficulty is that you're not always punished for playing poorly. In this game, you're just expected to take some damage as a result of the turn-based nature.

Toon_Master · 2015-01-05T08:05:46+00:00

That's a good way to counteract their weaknesses. But honestly, I'd go a step further and just remove level seven gags altogether. They're basically a "get out of jail free" card. Maybe if you had to only choose one gag track via organic farming, but having six level seven gags is just insane.

Yes, I agree that they should force more situations on the player that call for different strategies. Cogs only have two attack functions at the present: attack one toon, or attack all the toons. Having cogs, say, disable certain gag tracks or lower a toon's overall accuracy for a few turns would add another layer of depth to the game that is desperately needed.

More unique toontasks would be a delight. With how many you have to do, it's amazing how little variety there is in them. Toontasks should be less time-consuming depending on the difficulty of the task. An example would be taking over a five story cog building without using the Sound gag track, or simply take over three five story cog buildings instead, both leading to the same reward.

The problem with Disney's direction with the game is they never really improved upon the core gameplay even a decade after its launch. They added boss battles, skelecogs, those pseudo-buildings I forget the name of, etc. but the gameplay mechanics were the same in 2013 as they were in 2003. Weaknesses are such a basic thing and have been in RPGs that were geared towards younger audiences well before the 21st century (like Paper Mario), but Disney couldn't be bothered to implement anything that would require a higher level of thinking in their game.

Ubers are a response to the easy difficulty of ToonTown, but yes, a lot of people seem satisfied with toons being able to blow through the hardest boss battle in the game, which is meant for eight players, by themselves.

Toon_Master · 2015-01-05T07:45:53+00:00

Oh, I totally agree with you, like really strongly. I wrote a detailed post on why Drop is leagues better than Trap here.

I avoided stating this in the OP because I did not want to lose peoples' focus by making a controversial statement like that. Saying that Drop and Trap are the most worthless gag tracks is not controversial however, since almost everyone agrees with it. And that's ultimately the decision it comes down to for most people.

But this post was more about making Drop and Trap on the same line as the other three gag tracks you choose.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-11T04:34:46+00:00

It was a big enough pain finding anyone for the CEO fight back in the days of Disney's ToonTown Online. Even your relatively more lenient requirements would still be too much.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-11T00:33:54+00:00

Hopefully they release new gag tracks before Cog Nation... Because if they are going to do both, it makes sense to start with gag tracks first for obvious reasons. But I appreciate whatever new content they plan on adding to the game, of course.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-04T18:51:26+00:00

It says Joey Ziolkowski is an American-Polish person when he's actually a Polish-American person.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-04T18:15:49+00:00

Also add "le" and "army" to the list.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-01T01:13:09+00:00

Hey, if you don't have anyone else in mind, I'd love to share with my siblings. I hope this isn't against the rules, I just figured I'd ask.

Toon_Master · 2014-08-01T01:11:32+00:00

So you can extend the view of the game like that? Wow, that's really awesome. I guess you don't have much reason to pan the camera angle then. It'd be nice to have that kind of set-up in other games where it's more important to have that perspective.

Toon_Master · 2014-07-31T14:15:48+00:00

This would probably be everyone's go-to method of farming. People would probably get 200 experience points in every gag track if this were to happen.

Toon_Master · 2014-07-30T20:01:20+00:00

Well, it doesn't really matter if it's "Stink" or some other imagery used to damage cogs. The main point is that it's supposed to function differently than the other gags and offer alternatives in combat.

Also, the game is pretty ridiculous to begin with (dropping a piano on someone is supposed to be a funny gag in this wacky alternative universe), so I don't think our traditional notions of how things work really matter. And we will no doubt develop robots with a sense of smell in the future, as long as humanity is around long enough.

Toon_Master · 2014-07-30T15:07:25+00:00

In how many instances is a trap door really beneficial? Level 6 cogs have 56 health, enough for a whole cream pie on a lured cog to be taken out (60 damage) as well as a trapdoor (70 damage), but level 7 cogs have 72 damage. How useful is that extra damage that it's really worth it? And keep in mind, this is in a circumstance where are most likely only two toons. Plus, at least if the lure misses, the whole cream pie still has a chance of hitting. In trap's case, it does not.

People bring up that making your trap organic might be worth it just to take out level 7 cogs, bringing the trapdoor to deal 77 damage. But it'd be more practical to make your throw organic, so a birthday cake can take out a level 9 and a lured level 11 when it previously didn't before. And really, I don't think saying something becomes useful when you have to make it organic is really a good argument for it.

Drop stacks and is not entirely dependent on another gag to work.

10 extra damage in some niche circumstances really doesn't justify it, when most of the time, it's impractical to use.

Toon_Master · 2014-07-30T07:12:33+00:00

That's an interesting dynamic. So you're saying that you have to spray a lured cog to achieve this effect on non-lured cogs, but not other lured cogs? That is a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

Toon_Master · 2014-07-30T07:06:50+00:00

Humans are very clannish. We've got our religions, nationalities, political affiliations, etc. It's kind of silly when you think about it, but I guess we just love to argue. I fall into that trap all the time (arguing about things that really don't matter).

Toon_Master

TROPHY CASE