Spent (Game Review)

Thank you to the person who sent me this game originally. As promised, I sat down and played it a few times, but still have to strongly disagree with you on its premise of poverty (at least in the west) being completely outside of an individual's control.

Every time I play this game, I end up in profit.

If the point of this game is to highlight how difficult it is for an individual in low paid work to survive (or even save money), then it fails spectacularly. In fact, to me it only emphasises the effects of an individual's bad choices. Sorry, not sorry.

Some of the scenarios it includes just forgo any basic common sense:


"Your family pet is sick and won’t get better without treatment. What do you want to do?"

Who on earth has pets while on low paid, insecure work? Especially when you already have a child to take care of (also a stupid decision to make if you can't afford to look after them). I didn't think of getting another cat or dog until I was on a decent salary, with enough savings to cover long term unemployment, had secure housing, and knew I could afford to take care of said animal even if my financial situation dramatically changed for the worse. I certainly couldn't have afforded to raise a child. You plan ahead for these things or simply don't do them. Having a pet or a child is not a necessity in life. You may really reeeeeally want one (I would have loved to come home to a cute, furry creature after a hard day at work), but adults are supposed to have this thing called self control that stops them acting like self entitled brats after puberty ends! If you can barely afford to take care of yourself, you have no right to be demanding that another living creature be dependent on you.

"Your child’s sneakers are falling apart and it’s time to buy new ones. Name brands are important, but they don’t come cheap."

Why the hell are "name brands" important? Even if I was a super rich parent, I would refuse to waste money on fashion labels. I have money to waste on fashion labels now and still don't. You teach your child how advertising works, how and why so many things are over-priced junk, and why they should save their money for more important things in life than impressing shallow idiots.

"Your credit card kept you afloat while you were trying to hold onto your home. But even though the house is gone, the balance isn’t."

If you over-leveraged yourself on a house purchase (a stupid thing to do in the first place), you should have downsized the moment you realised you were struggling to pay the bills rather than dragging it out and using credit cards to continue living a lifestyle above your means.

"Your payment of $500 for your car loan is due..."

Why on earth do you have a car loan that is a third of your take home pay? Why on earth do you have a car loan at all? If you're broke, you either get up earlier in the morning and take the bus/train (yeah it's rubbish to do, but most of us had to at some point) and/or save up cash for a low end second hand car. And even if you do earn enough money to easily cover a $500 a month car loan, it's far more sensible to just pay in cash so you don't have a debt hanging over you if your situation changes. You certainly don't waste money that's not even yours just to get something 'nicer'. "Oh my god, the stupid, it burns!"

"Everyone is pitching in for a lottery pool. What do you want to do?"

Point out the odds of ever winning a significant amount on the lottery are even less than the odds of becoming a movie star or death by falling out of bed. Basically, too low to worry about.

"A bunch of friends are going to a free concert tonight, and you want to go – but you’ve got a kid to worry about."

Yeah, it's not fun being a parent when you didn't bother to consider if you could actually afford to raise a child. Maybe avoid doing that again and make sure you teach your son/daughter to think about the long term impact of their behaviour.

"Your stress level is through the roof these days. A friend who hears you venting offers you a cigarette to take the edge off. What do you want to do?"

(facepalm)

"Your new apartment is too small for your stuff. Do you want to spend $45 to rent a storage unit?"

Yeah, why the hell not. Fill it with those $100 shoes, lottery tickets, cigarettes and cute outfits for your dog (because you probably waste money on those too)!


For anyone who wants to try for themselves, the game is at: www.playspent.org