6 ms·
This reminds me a bit of "The game of life" back in the 90s Optimizing life for filling the savings account as fast as possible at the expense of everything el
by pentae 5y ago
This reminds me a bit of "The game of life" back in the 90s
Optimizing life for filling the savings account as fast as possible at the expense of everything else has consequences and your game should reflect this.
You should have stats including your characters age, health, happiness and social skills and have some kind of social media app with your friends constantly trying to invite you out for concerts, nights out, dating? and so on so that you have constant distractions to spend your money on to make it more challenging. Not building up the happiness and social skills stats should have consequences. You should be able to buy a gym membership to keep your health stat from deteriorating.
The consequences of not building up those stats early in your life is poor health, shit social skills and no friends except for the people you work with. But yay, you're a millionaire I guess?
The real game of life is that it's all a balancing act between having your financial house in order while also having a fulfilling social life, health, and happiness
- scotty79 5y agoI think you vastly overestimate consequences of not spending money on things beyond necessities. One might argue that by spending money on concerts, nights out and dating you buy more damage to your health and well being than benefit. You can have friends without money. And you can keep healthy for free.
- brailsafe 5y agoYa, it's technically possible, but boring and tenous. If you won't spend any extra money on socializing, you're going to be a snooze to be around.
- cpfohl 5y agoSorry, kinda wanted to respond sarcastically, but I'll be direct instead: Hiking, cooking together, playing board games, card games, playing music together, exploring, and just talking are all inexpensive or free. The most interesting people I've known in my life focused on those things anyway.
- learc83 5y agoIf you’re poor, most of those things require some non negligible percent of your income—-if only just in gas/transportation. But more importantly they require time away from working/studying/optimizing for bank account balance.
- ludamad 5y agoI find I do that just great with friends and no money, until I want to do it far away
- astura 5y agoThis is hacker news where everyone values their time at at least $100/hr. If you're socializing you, at the very least, aren't working.
- chakerb 5y agoThat assumption is definitely wrong! Not everyone in HN is making around $200k per year. The average in the US is about $110k. And still not everyone in HN is in the US or being payed US rates. Of course if you value your time more than what your employer is paying you then you either need to leave your current job or rethink what's the value of your time.
- mcguire 5y agoAside: the HN average in the US may be $110k. The median household income is around $60k and the median personal income is $35-40k.
- jstummbillig 5y agoIf decently socializing with you requires me to spent extra money, you definitely are a snooze to be around.
- learc83 5y agoPeople like to drive outside the city to hike, travel, go to restaurants, movies, bars, ballgames, museums etc... You don’t need to spend a huge amount on social stuff, but if you are only willing to do completely free activities, you are vastly limiting your social circle.
- brailsafe 5y agoThis was pretty much my point. If you have some spending money, and almost never are willing to spend it on things like this, then you shouldn't be surprised about significantly reduced social activity. Anyone who thinks hiking is free probably hasn't gone further or higher than their neighbourhood park.
- brailsafe 5y agoDecently socializing with me would require a modicum of effort on each of our parts to engage in stuff. If the activities tend to cost something, and you choose only to conserve your money, then you wouldn't really be doing that would you? If all the activities were costly, and I didn't put effort in to do other cheaper/free stuff to socialize with you, then I'd be the asshole.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jokethrowaway 5y agoMost people feel the need to have friends. We're social animals. For a minority of people that's not the case and keeping up with relationships is a chore - even then, keeping some friends can be desirable, given we anyway live in a society of other human being. In both cases, generally you spend more money with friends, for one reason or another.
- vorpalhex 5y agoIn a simulator, I can live with my parents forever. In real life, I might get about a day or two. Most people want to date and find a spouse. Most people want friend groups they have a connection to. Most people want hobbies that are interesting and fulfilling. Being healthy is not free. Socializing, reasonable physical fitness, food variety. Sure you could live in the mountains socializing with squirrels and doing pushups all day which would save you a lot of money - but it would not be the life most people want.
- mcguire 5y agoPushups and squirrel parties? Sign me up! :-)
- JackuB 5y agoI’ve just had a year like that and I can’t wait to spend money on nights out again
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- pattle 5y agoThanks for the feedback. Yep I'm planning to add dating / social features where you can build a family up over time and see how that affects your finances etc. Just wanted to get something basic working for the moment as I know adding all that will get pretty complicated.
- qPM9l3XJrF 5y ago"Real Lives" is another interesting game. You get born in a random country, weighted by actual rate of births in that country, and go from there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Lives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Lives https://reallivesworld.com/gamers/index.html https://reallivesworld.com/gamers/index.html Looks like their website is kinda crappy which is a shame. Anyway, my parents bought it for me and my siblings when I was a kid. And playing it definitely helped me appreciate the fact that I was a member of the lucky sperm club compared to the vast majority of the global population.
- alexgmcm 5y agoYeah, I also played that game and had pretty much the same experience as you. Hopefully, the world has improved somewhat since the game was written.
- pmiller2 5y agoI don't think it has. Not for the majority, anyway. Maybe it has for members of the "lucky sperm club."
- qPM9l3XJrF 5y agohttps://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2019/11/Extreme-Poverty-projection-by-the-World-Bank-to-2030.png https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2019/11/Extreme-Poverty-p...