Why Netflix’s Squid Game is NOT Close to Reality

I’m an entrepreneur, not an entertainer.

However, this doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate a good piece of entertainment in any artistic form. Furthermore, I share the concerns of many people who worry about the state of the whole entertainment industry that took a devastating blow by the pandemic. I’ve also followed Netflix’s business model, decisions, and growth for quite some time.

I talked about the most popular show on Netflix right now with my fellow entrepreneurs. We aren’t thrilled, and we’re far away from being obsessed with it.

We are too smart to go down the most common Squid Game’s rabbit holes, such as social, ethical, and especially economic implications (the big bad wolf called capitalism).

So, without further ado allow me to address the elephant in the Squid Game playground - the notorious VIPs. What do we know and what can we conclude about this group of businessmen from the show?

Well, they’re super successful and extremely bored. To organize a hypothetical game of this scale, complexity, and ensure its secrecy, requires a lot of money, not to mention pulling quite a few strings on both national and international levels. When you take all of these things into serious consideration, you quickly realize that the prize itself is rather symbolic for the VIPs.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not even trying to portray these VIPs as some good guys, not even remotely. The focus and main point of my post is realism. After all, isn’t the “realism” something that’s this show most praised for? So, let’s be real about the realistic approach of Squid Game when it comes to their organizers and executors - the VIPs.

Take a handful of the richest and most powerful people the world has ever seen, and put them together in a room. I’m not going to mention anyone by his name, but we all know who should be in our hypothetical scenario, don’t we?

Now, imagine these people who’re so successful to the point that they literally don’t know what to do with their time and especially with their money to the point of being bored to death. Seriously? I don’t buy it, even for a second.

The last time I checked, the real VIPs of our real world were flying into space. That’s their idea of having fun and dealing with boredom.

You have every right to like the latest “space race” or not. You may treat it as a pointless waste of time, money, and precious resources. You may even qualify it as the “war of egos.” You have every right to be totally wrong.

If there’s one thing that we’ve all learned about the VIPs from the Squid Game it has to be that these people aren’t willing to compromise about the principles of fairness and free will. Right? Just think about it.

Everybody has to volunteer to participate, and everybody is guaranteed fair chances to with the big prize. Compared to the "rigged" Hunger Games, “Squid Games” have the undeniable higher moral ground in every aspect you could possibly think of comparing.

I don’t know, maybe in some part of the world, the self-proclaimed VIPs are playing some twisted game with a bunch of desperate souls. In my world, the self-made VIPs would think about the ways to establish the colonies on the Moon or Mars. They would invite people to volunteer. They may even offer some kind of “motivation” of a financial nature. However, based on what I’ve been able to read so far, there are so many eager space explorers and volunteers waiting in line to do it for free.

Squid Game is entertaining, but it’s not real for either “organizers” or “participants.” So, don’t worry about it. The people in dire straits get “indecent proposals” only in movies and TV shows. In real life, they get job offers or they start a business of their own.

With all due respect, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild in a book or on a screen in order to entertain people. It’s much more difficult to put your imagination to work, so you can change people’s lives with real jobs in the real world.

Finally, the “urban myth” about mega-successful and rich people who are bored and have too much time on their hands is just a myth.

Well, every dedicated entrepreneur barely finds time for some decent sleep and cherishes every precious minute being able to spend with their families. So, enjoy Squid Game, and don’t forget that Netflix itself was once a startup. And, if you’re interested in playing exciting games with the big prizes, I recommend you to become an entrepreneur. You won’t be bored even for a second. Guaranteed!