ABOUT THIS PROJECT: Performing Inequality through Stardust Odyssey Tabletop Game

"Stardust Odyssey is not just a game; it's a space designed to provoke conversations, challenging players to confront socio-economic inequality and highlighting the importance of collaboration to create the power for change."

Rubkwan Thammaboosadee - Researcher and Game Creator

This game is developed from a research project titled 'Performing Inequality: The Study of Body, Voice, and Cultural Memory Transmission under Neoliberalism in Thailand to Create Creative Learning Tools for Promoting Active Citizens' funded by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) from 2023-2025. This research focuses on the problem of socio-economic inequality caused by neoliberal ideology. As the researcher, I view the education system in Thailand as a key agent in normalising inequality by shaping our mindset to equate success with self-reliance, competition, survival, and ranking. This directs students towards individual achievement rather than understanding the social structures that create inequality. Ultimately, no matter how hard we try, the system leaves no safe space for most people.

Therefore, my research seeks to expand the concept of 'active citizenship' beyond mere 'awareness' and 'recognition' of society’s ethical challenges, successes, or temporary participation. I believe that 'awareness' should go further, directly questioning inequality in society, where the experience of inequality is not distant but flows through the emotions people share and pass on in daily life.

In the first part of my research, I examined expressions in public spaces and the media from different groups in society, such as wealthy celebrities, low-wage workers, students, and salaried employees, to map out the role that expressions play under inequality. This isn't just about income disparity. I want us to see inequalities that can’t always be measured by figures of income and debt alone, but also include their voices, bodies, and memories.

The wealthy often use the media to express their radiant voices and bodies, overshadowing the bodies of those who must face life’s uncertainties without a platform to express their struggles.

As academics, we know the limitations of academic language and jargon. This is why, in the second part of my research, I decided to present my findings in the form of a board game titled Stardust Odyssey: City’s Last Stand. My aim was to create a tool that is both enjoyable and challenges traditional narratives about inequality.

We can’t do it alone: In designing this game, I collaborated with Auttapon Prapasanobol ("Pon"), an educator, gamer, and fellow idealist. Crucially, we are friends. We share a vision of the society we want to create together. We work with classrooms, with fellow humans, and meet young people who carry big dreams in their backpacks. Together, we designed this game, hoping that players would experience and confront inequality not through lectures or textbooks, but through play, role-play, storytelling, and decision-making.

In this game, players assume the roles of characters from different backgrounds, each with varying levels of power and resources. They must face situations resembling real-life challenges, such as access to opportunities and surviving in a neoliberal society. Wealthier characters may have more resources, while poorer ones face difficult decisions for survival. It is almost a simulation of real life.

Simply put, the game is divided into two phases: The first phase focuses on the daily lives of the characters, each aiming for individual victory like in a typical game. In the second phase, the game shows how the players’ decisions affect each other and influence society's progress or stagnation. These two phases illustrate how all characters and social classes are interconnected, what the cost of endless survival is, and how collaboration can bring about change.

Stardust Odyssey is not just a game; it's a space designed to provoke conversations, challenging players to confront socio-economic inequality and highlighting the importance of collaboration to create the power for change.

I want to see a more equitable society—this is my manifesto. I believe change cannot be achieved by one person alone. However, I don’t want to be the playwright who writes to defend the game’s theme, like spoiling its ending. The game’s ending depends on the players, but the journey along the way is in your hands too.

I hope Stardust Odyssey becomes a tool that disturbs and challenges players' views on inequality, leading them to question the old meanings of being 'active citizens'. It’s not just about understanding the rules, but about recognising how inequality in society steals dreams, memories, voices, and eats away at our bodies. Only by coming together to negotiate can we all escape the broken, tilted structure of this world."