Madruga Works
Planetbase

MARS ONE. It is not a rule, but very often there comes a moment in a person's life (it can happen more than once) when answers are sought to not clearly defined questions about who we are, where we come from, and especially where we are going. I'm talking about issues of an identity and existential nature that don’t necessarily coincide with or correspond to the occurrence of traumatic events.

It has happened to me several times. It happened that I clung to something. That I simply tried to be completely passionate about something. It's a kind of religious conversion. As if shifting one's interest and constantly believing in and engaging with something could somehow have some significance concerning my personal life. But then again, this is certainly not an oddity. Just think of how many people live only for football. Why do they do it? Sure, football is a great game; I love it, but it is evident that for many people this thing acquires a particular meaning that doesn't even relate to a passion for sports.

In one of these moments, I developed a certain interest in what concerns the - potential - colonization of the red planet, that is Mars, and since this moment historically coincided with what was the peak of media attention dedicated to the Mars One project of the Dutch researcher Bas Lansdorp, I had the opportunity over time to form my own opinion on this particular project and then on what would be the current and potential possibilities of establishing a permanent colony on Mars.

In truth, the topic as a whole has been revived recently. The news that arrived from the red planet at the end of 2015 and films such as 'Gravity,' 'Interstellar,' and obviously 'The Martian' have tried to rekindle some enthusiasm regarding space exploration and, in particular, reaching the next frontier, as it has long been established, that is, reaching the surface of Mars.

But let's briefly focus on what would be Bas Lansdorp's plan. Which, frankly, I don't find at all credible as the intents of other associations and corporate and/or private organizations might be (in reality, I believe that the thing, if it ever should happen, would be precisely in tandem between private and governmental organizations) and among which I cannot fail to mention the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more simply SpaceX, of Elon Musk, the entrepreneur born in Pretoria and owner of Tesla Motors and co-founder of PayPal and probably what is considered the most brilliant mind in circulation in the contemporary entrepreneurial world.

Lansdorp's idea is very little concrete and realizable, and his plan is erratic and has been criticized and judged negatively by experts (see the MIT report on the matter) and historically devoted enthusiasts like Buzz Aldrin. Beyond the technical flaws, which you can read about by researching the cited sources, Mars One is more than a proper scientific project, a kind of advertisement. An advertisement for itself.

It's actually curious that Mars One proposes to finance the venture (which would foresee establishing a permanent colony on Mars starting in 2025) with a 'reality show', because it itself is a reality show, in which you just need to sign up on the Internet and participate in a kind of selection to become one of the astronauts and potential first colonists of Mars. It doesn't take much, obviously, to look at all this with a certain skepticism and label a plan of this kind with little or no credibility. The same 'reality show', how could it ever really work and be interesting in the long term? Do you really think it would be somehow that interesting twenty-four hours a day, the life on a space colony? We are clearly talking about something utopian.

UTOPIA. Something utopian, also because personally, if I am convinced that man can reach the Martian surface and that he will certainly succeed in this endeavor. Indeed, if I think that man could have already accomplished this if only those who have the suitable technical and financial means saw some purpose of certain importance in it - which evidently, I'm sorry to admit, there isn't - worth investing the enormous necessary resources.

I am convinced, as I was saying, of this thing: man will walk on Mars. It is something that will happen inevitably, and the same progress concerning space exploration and space flight is destined to increase more and more over the years. Sure, we haven't apparently done much in recent years. The last moon landing dates back to Apollo 17 in December 1972, and since then, practically more than forty years have passed. Yet, if there has been a slowdown in scientific research (admitting this has happened), it is undeniable that it is still intended to proceed and, barring catastrophic hypotheses from cold war imagery, to expand more and more over time.

In light of all this, however, I do not believe that man will ever - or at least in relatively short times - establish any permanent colony on Mars. The complications for this to happen are multiple and scientifically demonstrated and scientifically proven even daily with various simulations that take place on our planet in laboratories and open space and by governmental and private organizations and/or various university and scientific studies. Why, after all, should we endeavor to establish a permanent colony on a hostile planet? What person would ever really want to live in a colony on Mars and in extreme life situations? And above all, assuming that someone really wanted to do it, who would spend billions of dollars to allow these people to live this experience of theirs, which after all would probably end with the personal life experience of the individual subjects that are part of it.

Establishing a colony is indeed something more than organizing a simple expedition. In this sense, let's say it, any parallel with the 'colonization' of the new world doesn't stand and makes no sense. The Americas appeared to the new settlers as a difficult place to start anew but also an opportunity. Do we see the possibility of establishing a colony on Mars in the same way? No. That is evident.

PLANETBASE. However, there is the possibility for everyone to try themselves in such an endeavor. The opportunity in question, at hand, or rather at the monitor, is given by Planetbase, a video game produced by Madruga Works, in which the goal, as is at this point easily deducible, consists of establishing a colony on an unknown and uninhabited planet. A planet that is not necessarily Mars, although the first of the four difficulty levels (four planets for four difficulty levels) looks very much the same. We could say it coincides with Mars.

Anyone familiar with this type of video game will not need much talk and descriptions to understand what we are talking about. The goal of the game is to build - from scratch - a colony on a new planet and dealing from time to time with the various difficulties, which are clearly variable in intensity with the increase of game levels.

At the beginning, just like in the colonization plans mentioned before, you will have to command a small team of astronauts and possibly with the help of drones, just landed on the planet from a space capsule and with a limited amount of resources both food and of engineering and energy type and which you will have to manage and obviously increase to ensure the survival of your expedition and indeed expand both in size and in number of inhabitants that which will be your colony.

I would define 'Planetbase' as a classic good strategic and managerial type video game and appreciable among other things for the immediacy in understanding the functioning of the various structures you will be able to conquer. Which obviously does not mean at the same time that it is an easy game or, as we will see, particularly relaxing in the long run. How could it be otherwise? To the typical difficulties of the genre, this time you have to add those which are emergency and borderline situations given the numerous urgencies that follow one another with incredible and difficult to manage rapidity in the performance of your duty as 'master' of a space colony.

From this point of view, then, I would say that the game is well-made and will undoubtedly please enthusiasts of the genre (I am referring both to those who are fans of managerial video games and to those who love sci-fi settings). I wouldn't compare it, except for the settings, to a classic of the genre like 'Starcraft': here on 'Planetbase' there are no aliens to fight against. There is only you, the man, who has to face a hostile environment where life does not grow and where indeed the only life, to save, is yours.

REAL DIFFICULTIES. Despite the apparent and already mentioned simplicity of the game, still very linear even in its graphics which remain on a good level but not excellent just to avoid further complicating things, 'Planetbase' will probably also appeal to more experienced gamers and those in search of increasingly new and complicated challenges to overcome in the various levels of the game. So much so that I myself, considering myself an 'average' gamer, must admit that I have temporarily retired from the 'contest' after having seen countless of my space colonists dead from freezing or malnutrition.

It is incredible, believe me, how stressful and difficult managing a space colony can be, even if it's just a simple simulation. But from this point of view, I must admit, I am one of those individuals who can easily find video games stressful. This probably also happens because of my personal preference for strategic/managerial type video games. Let me give you an example: I will never play Championship Manager again, which I consider, wanting to exploit all the infinite options and interface, practically more taxing than practicing the real daily activity of a coach on the field. Only without having any remuneration for one's efforts, nor the satisfaction of appearing on TV or at least being on a soccer field with some more or less great champion.

I must then connect to what I was saying at the beginning, also because in fact, I realize that I retreat into the world of video games in what are my worst moments when I am already under stress. This gives me the opportunity for a broader reflection on myself and which perhaps can open a discussion on video games in general, but also on anything that can constitute, as I was saying at the beginning, apparently, an answer, while instead, it can reveal itself as a kind of obsession. Like wanting to lay one obsession on another obsession. The consequences of such a mechanism can only be negative and yet this, I am no exception, seems to be something our nature is driven to do anyway irrationally. As if within us at the same time there was a desire to know and understand, surely positive, and a negative force instead almost self-destructive that would be ready to deny the former and which indeed perhaps is first and foremost afraid of it.

The fact is: what should drive any sentient being to strive to set up a colony on an uninhabited planet? It's something incredibly difficult and stressful that will hardly bring you any kind of satisfaction. That will never ever give you in return any tangible reward. No one will ever thank you for it, and you will feel only stress and fatigue. But something, some inner force within you, which does not have to be positive energy for sure, will push you to keep going and try to complete what you will somehow want to definitely consider an endeavor. We are only talking about a video game, after all, right?