# Game Shows in Soviet Russia By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-09-19 I haven't researched this, but I wonder if more idealistic communist and socialist countries, such as the Soviet Union, had game shows. My thought is that they didn't, or if they did, they were very different. Today's game shows and reality competition shows focus on beating the competition for a large cash prize. Often randomness is a key element, along with some skill such a trivia, which by definition is trivial and also random. Regardless of the competition, someone wins, and it is perceived that they did so because they were the best. Thus, they deserve to win and take it all. This is counter to many of the ideals of communism, so I suspect game and reality competition shows would look and feel different if they existed at all. Without question, games still exist in this society, but I suspect how the game is played and what games are created feel very different. The point of this post isn't to verify the facts of the situation but to explore an idea based on what I know and something interesting. This is the heart of real analysis. Eventually, I may check to see how thoughts compare to the facts. This is important not because of the facts but because it informs my future analyses and highlights gaps in my thinking and knowledge. Few people are real analysts. Few people see the mundane of one's culture and wonder what alternatives look like. Progress is questioning the status quo, even if the facts are hard to come by and solutions even harder. #### Related Items [[Culture]] [[Games]] [[Analytics]] [[Data]] [[Thinking]] [[Status Quo]] [[Progress]]