Info Slide: As a survivor, there are two factions who you can seek to join. The first is a stable authoritarian society, with clear heirarchies of authority and power consolidated within a single strong leader. The second, is a looser democratic group which prioritizes an equal share of power between all members.

In Janurary of 2021, a group on reddit known as WallStreetBets targeted a series of stocks on the open market to buy, leading to a massive spike in the price of the targeted stocks (Gamestop, AMC, Blackberry). These stocks were chosen because hedge funds and other groups were shorting the chosen stocks. This rapid increase in market price caused the targeted hedge funds to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Despite significant backlash, WallStreetBets remains active today and continues to engage in this type of market populism.

Prior to the Taliban’s recent takeover of Afghanistan, the Government’s central bank stashed nearly 10 billion dollars in reserve funding abroad. Over 8 billion dollars was stashed in the United States alone. These assets were frozen when the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan. Taliban officials, as well as the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan have asked for the Central Bank’s money to be released to the Taliban, and despite dire economic circumstances in the region, the money remains inaccessible.

In recent years, many video game publishers have abandoned the pricing model for video games (where you purchase a video game at a set price) for a 'free to play' model. Under a free to play model, video games are free with the option to spend money for in-game benefits. Some examples of in game purchases are: Cosemetic items, stronger weapons, or faster progression.