Space Job
In an unique and interesting experiment, German department store giant
Karstadt created a game that was advertisement and job recruitment in one box,
and used its retail power to push it in the market at mid-price level.
Space Job is in essence a scifi life simulation; a 2350 adolescent strives
for the fastest spaceship, the most beautiful girlfriend and the best career,
but strictly within the confines of Karstadt’s interplanetary empire. Starting
as a trainee in one of four department store sections, you earn job reputation
through stoic repetition of menial tasks – learning product prices by heart,
sorting items in shelves, tidying up the storeroom in a Sokoban-style crate
pushing subgame.
The quicker you do your daily chores, the more time remains for entertainment
and private development – fitness training, gambling, movies, flirting, night
school. An energy system balances your daily activities with periods of rest.
Show endurance and personal progress, and promotion will unlock the full glory
of department store management.
Despite its advertising character and indecent product placement, Space Job
mediates commercialism with lots of tongue-in-cheek humor and light-hearted
wordplay.
Space Job