Subscribe in a readerBe a Budget Hero!Posted by ahc99 on October 5th, 2008
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I just played a pretty new and interesting online flash game called Budget Hero. It’s a funny name but fitting title for this game in which you role play the government and make various budgetary decisions that affect the entire U.S.
In the game you are able to affect the budget through these categories: Defense & Diplomacy, Schools & Kids, Science & Nature, Housing & Living, Misc. XPs, Infra-Structure, Health Care, and Social Security. In each category you have the option of playing a number of Monopoly looking cards, which then have various side effects such as increase/decrease the deficit/surplus, affecting the size of government, and the amount of government I.O.Us to other countries. The game then tells you, based on the budgetary decisions you made, when the U.S. budget is going to go bust and lets you compare your decisions to others that have played the game.
The most interesting part of the game is how comprehensive this simple interactive flash game actually is. Each card that the user can play gives useful and realistic information about how a government decision can affect the U.S. budget. It also contains the Pros and Cons of playing such a card and the overall impact that card will have on the economy and U.S. citizens. So although it is a simple flash game, it is also a deceptively good learning experience about the complexities U.S. government officials face when they need to make various government decisions. In a way, I believe it helps the average user better understand some of the issues that the U.S. government is facing and enable them to better evaluate the policy debates going on in the current election process.
I definitely found this to be interesting and learned something new (or three or four) things about our government’s budget. Hopefully this “game” will help other people get more interested about the platforms of the current candidates and into the election process. Because seriously, although this is just a game, those policies and decisions are real and will affect our collective future.