What an Online Poverty Game Can Teach You
Spent’s goal is to challenge the way people think about poverty and homelessness. Players are put in the position of a jobless person who is challenged to keep his family from falling into the poverty. Each player is given $1,000 a month and he/she has to try and make it through this one month paying the bills, everyday expenses and medical taxes. Moreover, the game shows how difficult keeping a house is especially when emergencies arise – like your car breaking down, your pet getting sick, you getting sick, and so on. The concept of the game is pretty interesting and it gives users an idea of how hard is to live in such bad conditions. The article provides us with an example of a Congressman who failed miserably when trying to play the game. He ran out of money in less than 10 days and his main budget buster was paying for health care. On the top of that, he had a car accident which made the situation even worse. I think that Spent should be played by every congressman and politician, as it gives a whole different perspective on life in general. I haven’t played it but I think that it’s a pretty interesting game requiring a lot of planning and logic behind every single action.
Questions:
Do you think that there should be more games like this one?
Do you think that the game gives us a totally different perspective on life?
If more congressmen and politicians played this game, would they change their attitude towards topics such as poverty and homelessness?
Inna Boycheva 
Yes. I do think that this game is a good idea, and there should be more like them. It is a way of teaching important lessons to individuals that should have learned these types of lessons earlier. I do think that these games give us a different perspective on life, but a more accurate perspective than what is normally seen in games. Games are usually an exaggerated thrill-seeking experience, and life might be viewed as too mundane for a game. I truly hope congressmen and senators face these issues everyday from their constituents, and do need games to remind them of the issues. However, maybe I am being naive, and still hold out some hope for the people we send to represent us in the government. Maybe a different game is appropriate for congressmen and senators to play. Something along the lines of learning how to compromise. Maybe they missed it in kindergarden.