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A "let's gain empathy by playing being poor" game seems like a horrible idea overall. If it was a decent game and let you learn and succeed by smart choices, i

by zach 15y ago

A "let's gain empathy by playing being poor" game seems like a horrible idea overall. If it was a decent game and let you learn and succeed by smart choices, it would only give you a feeling of superiority to poor folks. If (as it does) it inflicts you with pre-existing poor decisions and random "the gods are angry" punishments, it seems to impart a feeling that poor folks are somehow hopeless and cursed, which isn't really helpful either. Wouldn't it be a lot more helpful to teach teenagers and pre-teens real-life strategies for independent living? Things like showing you how much money you end up paying to rent furniture or lease a car? Maybe something like the old board game Pay Day? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_Day_(board_game) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_Day_(board_game)

hugh3 15y ago
Or the old Sierra game "Jones In The Fast Lane". Something like that (more sophisticated, with more detail, and more opportunities to make dumb and smart decisions) should be compulsory playing for young kids. Much like astronauts training for their missions, I reckon that by the time kids get old enough to make their own life decisions, they should have done it in the simulator hundreds of times. I'm being somewhat facetious, of course, you can't make a simulator anywhere near as detailed as real life. Still, I think life-simulation games have a part to play in teaching children good values like delaying gratification and so forth.
- zach 15y ago
  I am a huge fan of this line of thinking. I love your astronaut example which I hadn't heard before. Nor had I heard of Jones in the Fast Lane which is exactly the kind of game rarely seen today. I'm a career game programmer and web developer. In the last five years, I was on two game shows in the last five years and before each one, knowing I only had one shot, I made software to help me simulate the experience and work out the strategies I would use. I did well in both cases and am convinced that simulating things really helped. So I'm really sold on simulation being a great way to impart practical knowledge. There's a lot of stuff out there that could really use that treatment and I agree with your enthusiasm for it. Let's get in touch and see if there's some way to push this forward.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Email in profile. I can't promise to be able to provide anything other than moral support, though.

by zach 15y ago

hugh3 15y ago

Or the old Sierra game "Jones In The Fast Lane". Something like that (more sophisticated, with more detail, and more opportunities to make dumb and smart decisions) should be compulsory playing for young kids. Much like astronauts training for their missions, I reckon that by the time kids get old enough to make their own life decisions, they should have done it in the simulator hundreds of times. I'm being somewhat facetious, of course, you can't make a simulator anywhere near as detailed as real life. Still, I think life-simulation games have a part to play in teaching children good values like delaying gratification and so forth.

zach 15y ago
I am a huge fan of this line of thinking. I love your astronaut example which I hadn't heard before. Nor had I heard of Jones in the Fast Lane which is exactly the kind of game rarely seen today. I'm a career game programmer and web developer. In the last five years, I was on two game shows in the last five years and before each one, knowing I only had one shot, I made software to help me simulate the experience and work out the strategies I would use. I did well in both cases and am convinced that simulating things really helped. So I'm really sold on simulation being a great way to impart practical knowledge. There's a lot of stuff out there that could really use that treatment and I agree with your enthusiasm for it. Let's get in touch and see if there's some way to push this forward.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Email in profile. I can't promise to be able to provide anything other than moral support, though.