I find this to be the most relevant statement. I feel that had the Civil War not killed slavery in the U.S., the industrial revolution certainly would have diminished it as time wore on. In any case, I'm of the opinion that traditional slavery as we think of it in the game would be a bad idea. But no one is claiming that you'd have to pay your unskilled labor a living wage, and call out the constabulary or national guard or pinkertons (or the equivalent) should your workers begin to act all 'uppity' and try to organize. I actually would find that to be a whole lot more interesting and satisfying on a lot of different levels. Plus it does fit the period (or close to it). Remember that you are changing history in so many ways, it stands to reason that related developments and events and responses would be moved up or changed as well.
DevilDude and Haldurson areright: slavery is not needed due to the mechanization and wouldn't add anything to the game. I was kind of under the impression that this is not an overly "serious" game –– so just don't worry about it!
People here are thinking in the wrong dimension, what about summoning creatures from R'lyeh (or it's game equivalent) and forcing them to run on over-sized mouse wheels to generate power?
Slaves ? Why would you want slaves ? Slaves need to be fed, clothed, housed, taken care off and guarded. There is a much simpler solution. Low-wage workers ! Pay them a pittance and watch the profit roll in as Workers have to take care of everything else. And if someone dies. There is always another one ready to take the place ! The wonders of victorian worker conditions. No need for factory safety. Just be sure to have orphans on hand to pick out the pieces of Jimmy the promising young man from the safe and comfortable homelands. - This Message has been sponsored by Dane Machineworks. "We put blood, sweat and tears into our products. Guaranteed !" May also contain : Bone fragements, various viscera, internal organs and assorted religious paraphenalia
In the game? No clue why exactly. In real life? Well, there's that feeling you get from ordering people around and them not being able to do anything about it. But then again, had I wanted that [more than I want not to have to dabble with management position stupidities] I wouldn't have declined promotion offers. That, and my family stopped having "slaves" (I think they were called "serfs" at the time) over 200 years ago and it wouldn't do to return to something that old.
In RL, I actually once made some comment about a problem I was having explaining to a new employee, straight out of college, a fairly basic programming concept (at least basic for the kind of programming that we did a whole lot of), and next thing I know, that employee was fired. I felt terrible because I thought I had caused that person, a perfectly nice human being, to be fired. I mean, on a personal level, she was a perfectly nice human being, struggling at a new job. It would be far worse had I been the one to have to fire her. It happened like 20+ years ago, and every time I remember that incident, it still bothers me (even though I know deep down that PROBABLY this was the wrong job for her). So I totally get where you are coming from. Back on topic, I think it would be cool that you could mistreat your employees, and they could try to Unionize or organize and strike, picket, or burn down the factory or whatever and you could counter that with whatever means you have at your disposal (use history as a guide as to the possibilities -- anything from negotiation to killing, maybe hire scabs, etc.). The industrial revolution was a ripe time for conflicts between factory and mine owners vs. employees.
