In 2003, Pedercini launched Molleindustria, a platform for politically active video games, along with a manifesto. The manifesto described Molleindustria as the "theory and practice of soft conflict – sneaky, viral, guerrillero, subliminal conflict – through and within videogames."[6]
In June 2007 the game Operazione: Pretofilia (transl.Operation: Pedopriest) inspired by the controversial BBC documentary Sex Crimes and the Vatican, was removed from Pedercini's site after a point of order in the Italian Parliament called "Countermeasures to the religions' offences".[7]
In April 2009, Pedercini initially bowed to complaints from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference by removing Faith Fighter from their site,[8] but later put up a new version that gives the player the choice between a full and a censored version. Pedercini has later started producing a mock sequel that sarcastically pretends to promote religious pluralism and tolerance.[9] Both games have since been put back on the website.
In September 2011, Pedercini released a game entitled Phone Story for smartphones that was promptly banned from the AppleiTunes Store.[10]Phone Story focused on what Pedercini considered the "dark side" of smartphone manufacturing. When Apple banned the game, he released the game for the Android market.
For the tenth anniversary of Molleindustria, the original manifesto was translated into English for the first time.[11]
Games
Tamatipico (2003) – a game based on the life of a worker. The game was produced in support of the 2003 Italian referendum, which concerned worker rights.
Tuboflex (2003) – a game based on the need of human resources vs. the demands of flex work.
Orgasm Simulator (2003) – a game based on how women sometimes fake orgasms.
Mayday Net Parade (2004) – a virtual parade for May Day, composed of precarious workers.
Queer Power (2004) – a game based on how queer people change gender roles in a sexual setting.
Guilty Smells (2019) – A game where the player takes on the role of a sniffing dog for the Department for the Enforcement of the American Diet.
Lichenia (2019) – An open-ended city building game built around sustainability.
Democratic Socialism Simulator (2020) – A government simulation game akin to Reigns, aiming to highlight the challenges and obstacles a Bernie Sanders-like presidential administration would face.
^ ab"Interview: Paolo Pedercini". GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY. 3 June 2016. Paolo Pedercini (b. 1981, Italy) lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and teaches an experimental game design class at Carnegie Mellon University. He often works under the project name "molleindustria" producing video games addressing various social issues such as environmentalism, food politics, labor and gender.
^J. Patrick Williams, Jonas Heide Smith (2007) The players' realm: studies on the culture of video games and gaming p.247 "these are games that, for example, seek to make trenchant criticisms of ever-more flexible labour markets and to visualise and make playable the claims of queer theory about the mutability of sexual identity, pleasure and desire. Molleindustria explicitly position their work in opposition to the mainstream industry, which they see as having been invaded by global entertainment giants, and position their work alongside broader indymedia movements."}
^Grindon, Gavin (2008). Aesthetics and Radical Politics. Cambridge Scholars. p. 36. ISBN9781847189790. Cresswell suggests the two political objectives of Night discourse/culture jamming/guerrilla semiotics are [...]. The 'simple, meaningful graphics' of Molleindustria discussed in this paper, and the similar approaches of scratchware and others53, do much the same in relation to the games industry.
