Spent

My girlfriend recently sent me a link to a game called Spent. It blurs the line between "game" and interactive PSA, turning into somewhat of an online Choose Your Own Adventure book.

The premise of the game is you, like many Americans, are tasked with the goal of surviving on a low-wage job. Specifically, you are tasked with getting through one month of bills as a single parent with an $8 or $9 an hour job without losing all of your savings. To mix things up a bit, there are random events that occur that force you into making tough decisions. Do you opt in for health insurance or do you risk it? If your child gets a birthday card in the mail with $10, do you pocket it or give it to him/her? When you make your decisions, facts will pop up on screen about the kinds of decisions that Americans in these situations actually face. The game ends when you make it through the month or when you run out of money, whichever comes first.

I thought this did a good job of using ARCS in its design. First, attention is gained at the very beginning of the game by asking the audience to "prove" that they could survive the month without having to ask for help from organizations such as the maker of the game, Urban Ministries of Durham. Not only does the game provide the challenge and objective right away, but it plays on the high sense of pride that Americans have when it comes to being self-sufficient.

The game is very relevant in the fact that everyone knows the plight of having a low-wage job. Coupled with the stress of being a single parent, a lot of people can relate to this type of real-world problem presented in the narrative.

Confidence also plays a part here since designers of this game ask the players to prove they can survive the month, despite their economic background. The game provides opportunities for the player to succeed, but there are consequences to their actions within the narrative. Perhaps the player must take a different route than they normally would in real life, but this is to immerse the player into this particular situation and making tough decisions to make it through the month.

There is satisfaction in getting through the month without going bankrupt, though I think the game provides a different type of satisfaction. Yes, the game elements are there. There is ample feedback provided at practically every decision to let the player know how their actions have made an effect in their virtual month. However, I think there is also satisfaction for the player in not having to live in this situation in real life. The game provides another decision once the game is over: to donate via paypal to the Urban Ministries of Durham. I have not personally heard of this organization, so I cannot advocate for donations on their behalf because of this game. However, the end result of the game could lead to donations to this or other worthy organizations, which could be seen as a form of intrinsic satisfaction that the player receives due to the game.

While the designers probably didn't use the ARCS model when creating the game, it's interesting to see that it can be applied in so many ways to a variety of software, apps, and tutorial programs.