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Spent (video game)

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Spent (stylized SPENT) is an online game about surviving poverty and homelessness [citation needed]. It was created by ad agency McKinney for their pro bono client Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD), a nonprofit organization whose mission "is to provide food, clothing, shelter and supportive services to neighbors in need".[1] Players must make the difficult decisions necessary to live for one month on $1,000, often having to choose between equally disagreeable options, such as choosing between a healthy meal and working electricity, or covering the minimum on credit cards and paying the rent. The game ends when players either run out of money before the end of the month or make it through with money left over.

Since its launch in February 2011, the video game Spent has been played more than 4 million times in over 218 countries.[2]

Gameplay

Spent players are given $1,000 to live on for one month. The goal is to end the month with some money left over. Throughout the game's one-month period, players learn how quickly changes in employment, housing, medical costs, and other expenses can have disastrous consequences. Due to this difficulty, players are encouraged to use their real-life social media connections on platforms such as Facebook, serving as organic advertising for the website and personalizing the play experience.

The game also utilizes real-life statistics as features. Using Durham’s fair market rent values, the McKinney team determined realistic housing costs to offer players. After deciding whether to live closer to work (where the rent is high but the transportation costs low) or to live farther from work (where the rent is less expensive but the transportation costs are much higher), players are shown the message "A lack of affordable housing is the number one cause of homelessness."

Whether Spent players make it to the end of the month with change in their pockets or whether they run out of money before the month is up, all players are invited to "help someone living SPENT today" by learning more about UMD's mission and donating to the organization.

Development

McKinney’s 11-member team[3] noted that tens of millions of people each month play games like FarmVille[4] and Mafia Wars,[5] harvesting virtual crops and assembling a virtual crime family. They suspected that the characteristics of these fun social network games could engage people in a powerful learning experience about the reality of poverty and homelessness lived daily by those helped by UMD. The team conducted focus groups with UMD caseworkers, and the families and residents assisted by them, in order to glean the details necessary to construct real-life situations for Spent players to negotiate.

Donors have said the organization had endured many tough years to deliver the game.

  1. ^ "Mission, Values, History". Urban Ministries of Durham. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  2. ^ "McKinney launches mobile version of SPENT" (PDF). Urban Ministries of Durham. Urban Ministries of Durham. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  3. ^ Flandez, Raymund (February 14, 2011). "Online Game Draws Attention—and Money—for the Needy". Prospecting. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  4. ^ Schreier, Jason (February 15, 2011). "5 Top Social Games and Why They're So Successful". Social Gaming Development Series. Mashable. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  5. ^ Mack, Christopher (April 7, 2009). "Mafia Wars Comes to the iPhone". Inside Social Games. Inside Network. Retrieved January 11, 2012.

Release and acclaim

The game raised $45,000 from 25,000 new UMD donors in just over 10 months,[1] and received praise from CNN,[2] ABC,[3] and Fast Company[4] for its ability to increase awareness of poverty in an immersive social media setting.

In September 2011, McKinney and UMD launched a petition to the U.S. Congress[5] to take 10 minutes playing the game in order to "experience the challenges that more than 14 million Americans are facing".

As of December 2013, the game continued to get about 5,000 new plays each day. An HTML version was released in July 2014.

Almost 2 million people had spent an average of 11:46 on the site.[6]

References

  1. ^ Hampton, Angela (2012). Urban Ministries of Durham (video) (Television production). ABC 11 Eyewitness News. Event occurs at 10:48. Retrieved January 11, 2012. We have had donations from about 5,000 new donors totalling about $25,000 year to date.
  2. ^ TED Ads Worth Spreading (2012). Spent (video). Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  3. ^ The Conversation: Homeless Simulation Game (video) (Television production). ABC News. February 16, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  4. ^ Coren, Michael J. (October 5, 2011). "Live Life Below the Poverty Line by Playing Spent". Co.Exist. Fast Company. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  5. ^ "Challenge Your Congresspeople to Play SPENT". Petition2Congress. August 29, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "McKinney launches mobile version of SPENT". mckinney.com. McKinney. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
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