“Don't get fired!” Is a social indie parable.

Sooner or later the player asks a question about the meaning of this or that game, its utility. Of course, we play more often because we want to rest. But games can pose problematic questions or just give a reason to reflect. So, “Half-Life” made us think about the expediency of an excessively rapid development of science, the “STALKER” series showed people the possible consequences of human impact, any race, such as, for example, “Need for Speed”, first warning about the observance of traffic rules in reality helps us to see the brunt of the consequences of sloppy driving ... But these are mostly AAA projects. And what about indie and games for mobile platforms - can they make us think?

In the clicker “Don't get fired!” (Or “Don't quit!”) The player begins the usual in any country of the matter: job interviews. It would seem that there is absolutely no playing moment, made for authenticity of the working process ... But no, only the first five minutes the player tries to “get a job” - in fact, the approximate time depends on your luck. At the same time, the outcome of the interview is random. But after each failure, the chance to successfully pass the interview increases.


The most frequent message in the game

Then, for another ten minutes, the player tries not to fly out of work, again increasing the chance to “stay alive” when making mistakes and the acute time pressure at the first stages of the game. Then somehow we grow up to a contract worker (up to this player ten times can “not take after the internship”). The player tries to increase the second time and ... "Recommended for dismissal . " And you remember the text from the “Soviets!”, Which appear at boot: “The three most common words during the game“ Do not quit! ”-“ What ?! ”“ Again ?! ”“ Why !!! ”” .
')

The poor fellow-hard worker has received increase ... After the tenth dismissal.

It would seem that the developer has created a clicker, so what? The first "bell" to comprehend this game was the following "advice!": "Hey, guys ... You think this is a lie, right? Well, no, welcome to Korea! ” . The second was the same “advice!”: “In 2016, the average minimum salary in South Korea was $ 5.1 . ” Approximately 300 Russian rubles.

That is why the following “advice!” Looks logical: “At first, do third-party work. In South Korea, you can not survive without additional work ... " . Indeed, not to stretch 300 rubles for a long time!

In total, the game has twenty-nine reasons for dismissal. Of these reasons, such improbable reasons are incredible: for example, a player can be fired for working too hard and there is no more work left; or he himself “quits” by buying chips - opening them, he discovers that he bought a bag of air. The air that blows the player from work, so that "he accidentally quit . " These phantasmagoric reasons share a place with quite ordinary ones, such as company bankruptcy, early leaving from work (and it doesn’t matter that it is night outside), strikes of workers subordinate to the player, opening a pandora ’s donut box, where the player saw the $ 30,000 boss and he fired away from sin ...

“Although it sounds incredible, but in South Korea there’s really such a chance of improvement”

In any case, I was interested and I conducted a brief interview with the developer:

- Did you develop this game because you wanted to draw attention to the situation in Korea?

- Yes. In fact, this game is my story. I worked in three companies for three years. I left the company for a number of reasons: due to the deterioration of the company's management, due to the fact that the authorities did not intend to expand the game, and so on. In addition, I went through various incidents at work. I tried to express my experience in the game. I hope that as a result, many people will understand this problem, and I hope that the situation will get better.


The irony of QuickTurtles is present. And it's good that Gene Poe is a southerner, not a northerner ...

- How much the game corresponds to reality?

- This is not 100% true, there are also exaggerations. (Then I remembered both the bag of chips, and the screenshot of the game, when the President arrived, and the fact that you make your people work instead of pouring them a drink) Nevertheless, many people sympathize with us in connection with the situation . And when I look at the number of downloads (and according to the Play Market in Korea, the game has downloaded more than a million users), I think it can really help.

- How many people do you think noticed the situation in Korea or were interested in it?

- After I released the game, I was interviewed by many media outlets, since youth unemployment is a serious problem in Korea. (I remember one million downloads in Korea - it seems that this game is really like salt on an open wound) However, after the global launch of the game (the game was translated into 12 languages), I learned that this is not just a problem for Korea. People from different countries sent messages like:

“The situation in my country is similar to the situation in Korea”;
"The game is too much like reality";

It would seem - the usual clicker. Here we recall such games as “Vlogger Go Viral”, “Clicker Heroes”, “Doomsday Clicker” - really ordinary, not showing the reality of “tapalka”. And in “Do not quit!”, Despite the chosen genre and it can be said, thanks to him, Gene Poe draws our attention to such a difficult problem as unemployment and low wages.

And all this is done very unobtrusively. First, the player is offered an interesting setting, atypical for the clicker gameplay. Only then, after the player’s interest, do they begin to “freeze” permanent dismissals, and the seemingly rhetorical questions “Why ?!” find answers in neat, permanent, but not intrusive developer appeals - loading the “location” goes only when entering the game or after his dismissal, where he speaks about Korea, he draws a situation in his native country (and, as it turned out, not only in it) with subtle irony or facts.

As a result, QuickTurtles has developed an exemplary game in many ways: the content is new, interesting, despite some monotony of the gameplay, the game is full of surprises - even sitting in the President’s chair you should not feel safe! Gene Po showed the audience and developers that all games are important. Even indie projects can raise a broad discussion of social issues.

And finally: