About Benevolent Anarchy

Human-scale on purpose

Benevolent Anarchy is an independent game studio near Stockholm, Sweden. For now, it consists of Cicely Fischer, several computers and an unreasonable number of automated tests.

Small does not have to mean disposable, and growth does not have to mean becoming faceless. The aim is to build games—and, one day, a company—at a scale where people can still care about the details, explain their decisions and take responsibility when something goes wrong.

The studio is currently working on How to Wait for the Bus and The Pareto Fix.

The person behind it

Benevolent Anarchy was founded and is stewarded by Cicely Fischer, a software engineer, writer and longtime technical leader who has spent decades building systems and helping other people build them.

They are now applying that experience to games: designing the worlds and mechanics, writing the words, making the difficult decisions and, for the moment, doing everything else as well.

The studio may (hopefully) grow beyond one person. The responsibility for what it becomes will not be outsourced.

The principles

• Treat players like adults. Give them clear information, meaningful choices and room to play on their own terms.
• Respect their time. A game may ask for attention, thought or persistence. It should not manufacture anxiety to keep someone coming back.
• Charge fairly and plainly. No dark patterns, artificial scarcity, pay-to-win systems or surprises hidden behind the purchase.
• Make games, not obligations. A game should be allowed to fit into a life rather than trying to consume it.
• Say what changed, and why. Decisions will not always please everyone, but they should be honest enough to explain.
• Remember that accessibility is design. More people being able to play is not a concession.
• Keep rules in service of their purpose. Traditions, policies and systems should never survive merely because they already exist.

These are intentions, not claims of moral perfection. When the studio falls short of them, the useful response is to acknowledge it, fix what can be fixed and learn something.

The name

Benevolent means beginning from the assumption that people matter.

That includes the people who play the games, the people who may eventually help make them, and the people affected by the choices made along the way. It means trying to build systems that serve human beings rather than quietly training human beings to serve the systems.

Anarchy does not mean chaos, nor does it mean pretending that structure and leadership are unnecessary. It means distrusting authority that exists only to preserve itself, questioning rules that have outlived their purpose, and giving people as much agency as responsibility allows.

Put together, Benevolent Anarchy is kindness without paternalism and freedom without indifference.

The point is not to have no rules.

The point is that every rule should be able to explain why it is there.

For factual studio details and downloadable material, see the press page.