This is a serious discussion on a very difficult topic, please read the forum rules and keep it civil.



1. Slavery is just about the worst thing you can do.

This forum is filled with a lot of very smart people with a good grasp of history, so I'm not going to go into detail about slavery, but let's quickly understand that slavery runs a range from the harder Atlantic slave trade and sugar plantations to the much softer indentured servitude, which may or may not count as slavery depending on the precise facts.



2. Paradox has taken a nuanced approach to slavery in the past.



I haven't played CK2 before, but Paradox has avoided modelling slavery as something that a player actively engages with. In EU4, slaves are a commodity to be traded, and provide a benefit like other resources, but one does not actively slave, trade in slaves, or work slaves. Slaves are a mechanic that exists but is rarely interacted with. In Victoria 2, slaves are a POP type, and like most POPs in V2, you don't really have direct control. Instead, you can 'focus' the POP to grow (though it had little strategic use) and outlawing slavery was a political option. You couldn't, for example, enslave one particular race or culture to my knowledge. You could not conquer a nation and turn their populace into slaves.



Both these approaches recognize the reality of slavery instead of ignoring it, but don't let you actively slave, and receive a big pat on the back for taking such a fine, balanced approach. Since these time period, slavery has been outlawed, and is obviously not modeled in HOI.



3. Stellaris is a blank slate set in the future



Stellaris was advertised as a blank slate that allowed the developers creative freedom. They could chose what to put in and what not to. They were not bound by any history, story or setting other than "future" and "space".



4. The slavery in Stellaris is the most player controlled we have had



In Stellaris, you can chose certain populations to enslave, and specifically enslave them. You can do this on a species basis if you like. You can conquer a planet, and one by one enslave or exterminate its population. You can commit genocide. Unless a similar mechanic exists in CK2, this is the most direct we have ever been able to control slavery. In fact, it is encouraged if you are a collectivist or a zenophobe.



5. Slavery did not need to be in this game



There was a blank slate unburdened by history were developers chose to bring in slavery as a substantial mechanic. Slavery is not and was never required to make space great again. I cannot name why it was looked upon as a good idea, but we never needed it, and could feasibly be removed without damaging the strategy game in any meaningful way.



6. We're comfortable with it because its aliens



I haven't seen much discussion on this topic, it seems we may be comfortable with it because we picture both the enslavers and enslaved as aliens, who developed a different moral or ethical code that does not preclude slavery. Maybe its true that some sentient beings would permit slavery, but I find the argument somewhat unbelievable. At a certain point, we agree that there is certain terrible things we cannot do to each other should we want to thrive as a society. Slavery has always been about the 'other'. European slavers did not view slavery as a problem in part because they de-humanized their victims, just like we may say that these "aliens" have different ethical standards, so did the Europeans say of the Africans



7. But the audience playing the game is human



Nontheless, we are asking humans to be the ones slaving, or having our species enslaved. Slavery was never a mechanic in previous games because slavery was never supposed to be fun. Why are we making an exception with Stellaris?



8. This isn't beyond repair



I'm certain that it won't get removed before release, but I'm hoping the devs take a serious look at this. Slavery isn't fun, and it doesn't deserve to be a game mechanic. A good substitute would be what we see in "Tropico", where certain workplaces had different options, such as "easy does it" and "sweat shop". Sweat shops aren't nice, but at least nobody physically owns your person. It's one thing to overwork a population, its another to enslave them.



Does this concern anyone else?