Games are Political

Pandemic: Contagion is a Nihilistic Fantasy

Or Anti-UN Propaganda

Somewhere in the world are anti-vaxxers who think shooting themselves will make them immune to bullets.

Pandemic: Contagion diverges from Pandemic Classic in a few ways. First off, it’s a card game. Second, the players aren’t doctors, medics, and other specialists. They’re the diseases trying to wipe out humanity. Third, it’s not a co-op game. All the viruses are competing for the honor of killing everyone. Finally, the CDC is not the hero of this story. This time the World Health Organization is in charge.

This particular play-through started slow. None of the viruses could Infect any cities on the first turn. But then a Conservative Apocalypse happened. Refugees spilled into developed countries and governments started collapsing. Said collapsing was, or course, blamed on said refugees. Vaccines were developed quickly, but humanity was still behind the eight ball.

In the minds of a lot of Conservative voters and ALL the New Nationalists, the refugees would be the obvious, and only, culprit. The hardcore Trumpists would “know” that…