Disaffected! Game Information The game I chose to review is called ?Disaffected?. Persuasive Games LLC created the game and suggests that it may be used to discuss labor issues and management. It is free to play and suggests no target age. It is a game that you can download from this website http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=disaffected Game Structure and Teaching The purpose of this game is to show issues related to labor and management issues within businesses. It also has an underlying context of suggesting that monotonous work could lead to ignorance and inefficiency. Curricular based goals and objectives could be derived from U.S. History in Goal 5 and Goal 11. Both of these goals deal with industry, labor unions, movements, and other issues relating to the impact industry and manufacturing has had on social, economic, and political relationships. An indirect educational aim that this game entails is the empathy that is gained for the employees of these stores. It shows how difficult it might be to run a business with low staff and impatient people. It might encourage students to be more patient and understanding at consumer stores. Instructional uses of this game could include using it to analyze relationships between employees and bosses, and talk about the impact this has on business success. You might also be able to talk about the importance of customer satisfaction in business success. This game seems to be geared more toward high school and post-secondary education. This game does achieve some of the 21st learning skills such as communication and problem solving. Both of these skills are needed to keep the customer happy and make the simulated business successful. I think also that this game aims to suggest a new way to look at business operations and take a critical eye at the problems that employees face in big business. It also suggests that some problems are not addressed by companies and employees are forced to work in those conditions. Game Play The game starts off with choosing a level of difficulty. Next, you are given instructions on how to use the keyboard to move your ?employee?. You see a simulated store front (FedEx/Kinkos) and my game started out with two employees. The computer automatically issues problems that employees often encounter, such as too many customers at one time, boredom, and fatigue. This makes it difficult to make the customer happy. The game can be played with one or two players at one time. The objective of the game is to service the customer and get them their product as soon as possible. The computer automatically makes the customer leave if they are unsatisfied, so there is a time constraint. The game proceeds in levels, you must master the first level to proceed to the next. The game ends on the last level of game play, when you have satisfied all customers appropriately. Game Critique The limitations of the game include only focusing on the relationship aspect of the business situation. I think it could be better served if they talked more about the economic side of how the business runs. They did a fairly good job in indicating what things might help or hinder a business?s success. The non-monetary costs are low, depending on how well you play the game. If you are not that good, it might take you much longer to succeed. The cultural context of this game is very contemporary and includes only white employees, but several ethnic customers. It is obviously presented in an industrialized town/city with younger employees and older customers, perhaps sending a message about what kind of people work where. Finally, the downsides of this game could be that it doesn?t do well enough to address the economic side, and also it seems to ?put-down? service workers in retail by suggesting that they sometimes cannot do their job appropriately. Posted by amlong3 ( Oct 01 2007, 07:03:13 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]