Would you help me with my research?

[ClaudeDante]

Hello everyone. I'm here to ask a favor of all of you, if you have the time. You see, I'm a student in Game Design and I have a class named "Serious Game" where we analyse different games within the genre. This time, our homework consists on doing research on the flash game "Spent" which can be found here: http://playspent.org/

What my team and I will like to ask of you is to play the game and answer a number of questions concerning your feelings and experience with the game. The game is fairly short and can be completed in 5 minutes. The questionnaire could take up to 10 minutes depending on your answers.

As for the Gameplay, it consists of trying to make it to the end of the month with only a 1000 dollars left, no job, no house and no savings. Along the way, you will make choices that will impact your chances of surviving until the end of the month. You're also a single parent which means you have to take care of your son too.

If you would like to answer the questions, we would be extremely grateful. The questionnaire can be found here:

http://questionnaireforspent.speedsurvey.com

Thank you for your time!

 

[ClaudeDante]

Wow, I've seen that two of you answered the survey. Seriously, thank you very much for helping us with our research. Much apprecitated

Also, from the results we've gotten we would like to point out that the "options in the bottom left corner" refer to three icons which allow you to earn extra money if you need it. If you struggle with the game, consider using them.

Also be sure to look up "serious games" if you're interested in games specifically made for the purpose of conveying a message, like this one

 

[Iskenator67]

It was actually quite a lot of fun. my best was $736. It has a lot of moral choices with no punishment. so if your dick to your kid & family you can end it with quite a lot of money.

I know it's supposed to be a message game but after playing it once legit, i was then on a mission to essentially find a way to break it & end with as much money money as possible.

Still I understand the meaning behind it none the less. I'm going to tell my friends about it & your survey later tonight so you should get at least 5 more people to answer your survey.

 

[G32420NL]

It went wrong for me after a while, chose to skip car registration, cost me an arm and a leg.
I couldn't bare to take my kids birthday money or to not let him go to a party or excursion :/

 

[squidface]

This really made me feel sad about the fact many opportunities for kids and better education for adults is missed because it's so expensive :/

 

[FolkLikePanda]

Damn dog made me broke. I had to pay a pet fee. Makes me feel a bit more sympathetic towards people who are down financially though in the county I live you can tell when someone's in financial trouble and they don't do anything about it and you can kind of tell when they do.

 

[Justank]

Let my dog suffer. That one sucked. This reminded me of my life a couple years ago when my food budget was under $100 a month.

Captcha no way


Yes way.

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

First run: game suddenly stopped giving me options, had to restart.

Second run: ended with $255 and unemployed, with my teeth rotting out of my head and still owing a friend $200. Clearly, I am the master of this game.

Overall, the game sends a good message and provides some solid statistics on employment and the state of the average American worker, but as entertainment it's a bit dull. Still, pretty good job.

 

[jake557]

First attempt had me out of money barely halfway through the month.

Playing as a amoral jerk however got me to the end with $1309.

 

[snappydog]

I ended up with about $200 but... exceedingly unhappy. Done the questionnaire for you too

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Ended with about $250. I spent far too long in this situation in real life, this was depressing but I understand that this means that the game was successful in its overall goal.

I suppose it meets the criteria of a "game", but I found it to be an interactive tool to open the eyes of the financially successful, and a means to provide perspective to someone so they feel inclined to donate to charity.

The facebook "bother your friends" so they can by proxy find out about the game and play it thing has always bothered me, but it fits the theme of the experience better than most things. Made it feel like I was really being asked to trouble my friends.

Finished the survey for you, need to watch Adventure Time or Spongebob as brain soap after this...

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Made it with 20 bucks.

Would being from New Zealand affect the survey? I'd like to help, but things cost different in other countries.

 

[Flatfrog]

I played this one a year or so and found it very interesting and an excellent example of how to turn statistics into something emotionally engaging. A little polemical, though.

 

[Blaster395]

I am far too used to playing 'tycoon' games where balancing money, although not presented as a life threatening situation, is also the main challenge.

This game was very easy considering many of the 'best' choices (in terms of actually winning) have no in-game punishment.

 

[The87Italians]

I did 3 playthroughs. As the waiter I finished with about $250 dollars, the warehouse worker around $90 and the temp around $750, but I didn't feel good about a lot of the choices I had to make. Not being able to take care of my dog as the warehouse worker hurt a little.

 

[(sic) humor]

Best of luck. I just took it and hope it helps. You sound you have quite the interesting class.

Edited to add: I AM a temp, but my typing skills aren't up to scratch. Why couldn't it test me on spreadsheets or something?!

 

[recruit00]

It is definitely interesting but anytime the landlord came up I knew it was going to be stupid. I mean, I know there are bad landlords out there but this game basically assumes that every landlord is a law breaking greedy asshole. There are some that do that but at that point, I lost my immersion and felt that it was just poorly done. It also doesn't help that it doesn't give an explanation for the back story. If somebody had the worst college loans ever, was a single parent, and decided to get a pet with either a college degree that was useless or no degree at all, this is just stupid.

Overall, it was a good idea but it fell apart at the end because it just wanted to pull at the heartstrings with the most ridiculous situations ever. 5/10.

PS. The game mentions nothing about the loans from the kid and what not in the bottom left. I knew nothing about those until my last run. Interesting idea, bad execution.

 

[themind]

Interesting diversion for a half an hour, and point well taken. The need for a quality wage and a higher standard of living is something that can affect any of us.

Playing the game as a amoral jerk now to see just how far ahead I can get.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I made it through the month with $62 to spare.

So I guess that if I were poor (again), I'd be able to make it. I guess.

Although I suppose that I didn't really answer the questions honestly. Like, it asked if I wanted health insurance...and to spend money on a root canal...and I answered yes for all of those. But for real life, I have more than enough money but forgo all things medical. I guess it's because I don't know if the game will suddenly go 'BOOM, YOU DIED. SORRY.', which would kind of suck. At least if that happens in real life, I won't be around to get annoyed at it.

Edit: I feel justified in telling my kid and family members to go stuff it whenever they asked for money, because...I don't really have any family. They're all basically either dead or in jail.