Welcome again to everybody. Make yourselves at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
☭ Matrix homeserver and space
☭ Theory discussion group on /c/theory@lemmygrad.ml
☭ Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive
The psychology of wealth is weird. I've never had money in RL in that way, but I've had experiences in an online game before where, due to RNG / rare item drop, I came into "wealth" in the game temporarily. Notably, not the capitalist kind of wealth where it is tied up in investments and so on; more akin to winning the lottery. The reason I call it weird is, like, when that kind of thing happens, I start doing this thing that goes something like: I don't want to spend too much of it because then I will be low on in-game funds again.
But it's not like the game requires you to have a lot of money on hand. It's not like in RL where it's important to save because if you don't, you could end up without money for essential things. The worst that happens in a game like this is you gotta do some events/activities to gradually get funds back. Yet still, it's like some part of my mind gets tangled up in this fear of losing the spending power itself? The perceived flexibility that comes with having those funds available that theoretically could be spent if something I really want comes up. But being ruled by this fear actually means I spend less often and therefore get things I want in the game less often because I am afraid to lose it.
As it is just a game, the "just have fun with it, it's a game" mindset usually wins out eventually. But it feels like such a weird hangup to have at all and it feels like a little window into something a little bit like the way rich people think under capitalism, especially if they weren't born into wealth; they know the feeling of artificial scarcity and so become all the more afraid of going back to it when they are free of it, and this motivates them to do whatever it takes to never have to go back, no matter how capitalist it is. This is somewhat guesswork/extrapolation as I haven't exactly interviewed rich people on this, but I find it fascinating when a simulation can spark, perhaps, a kernel of insight into something real.