"Breaking the Game" é um conto do escritor norte-americano Orson Scott Card. Aparece em suas coleções de contos Capitol e The Worthing Saga. Card publicou pela primeira vez na edição de janeiro de 1979 da Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
Aqui está a sinopse:
Herman Nuber has just woken up from a state of suspended animation brought on by the fictional drug Somec and is looking forward to returning to his virtual world conquest game. Unfortunately for him his position is being played by someone else and that person doesn't want to sell it for any price. When he discovers how poorly the person is playing he gets desperate and arranged to meet the other player. He is shocked to discover that the other player is his own grandson Abner Doon. During the conversation Abner tells Herman that he is going to completely destroy his position. After his position is destroyed, Herman meets with Abner again and learns that he plans on doing the same thing to the empire in the real world. When he tries to warn people Herman is locked away in a psychiatric hospital for five years until he is convinced that it isn’t true. At the end of Herman’s life they meet one last time and Abner says he's sorry for ruining the game.