French Budget Minister taps gamers for help
Posted by Peter Smith on 06-05-02The BBC is running a story about a new game from the French Budget Minister, called Cyberbudget. In the game, players are tasked with the fun filled pleasures of balancing the French Budget. Similar programs have been used here in the States on a State budget level, but this is the first time I have heard of a whole country handing over its budget to gamers. While it would be interesting if the best gamer won the Budget Minister’s job the game is designed to instill empathy in the player for what the Budget Minister has to do to balance the budget. So, most likely, players will have to make decisions like increasing taxes or closing down orphanages and homeless centers. Once the player has their budget ready they can even present it to a virtual parliament for approval. With the capacity for 10,000 concurrent players hopefully someone will figure out how to balance the budget, cut taxes, and save those orphans. Thanks go to Kevin Corti from PIXELearning Limited for bringing this to our attention on the listserv.