Games: Cost of LIfe

Cost of Life: Questions

Cost of LIfe

Oh my goodness. This game made me feel like a total idiot.

First of all I couldn't figure out how to play and by the time I finished the summer season of year one I had killed 4 out of the 5 poor Haitians.

These poor people would have had a better chance on a raft to Florida...and thankfully I don't live in Florida anymore so I wouldn't be there to do them anymore harm.

Again, this game is MUCH too difficult for my sweet little first graders (not to mention way too morbid for them).

My two essential questions would be:
-In a country like Haiti, how do we help people when the resources are so limited?
-Is it fair that Haitian children don't have fair access to education?

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Mary Ellen,

I agree that this game wouldn't be appropriate for little ones. It is definitely for Middle School and older.

I, too, had trouble figuring out how to assign roles. I had to ask a teacher friend for help who finally figured it out by accident.

In response to your essential questions, perhaps we need another program like Hanley Denning's Save Passage in Guatemala. The children go to the school she founded and the parents receive money to replace what the children would have earned if they were working instead of being schooled. This type of program, however, takes huge amounts of funding from generous sources.

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I agree with Martha that this game might not be age appropriate for young elementary school students.

I had difficulty with the game too and this made me think about the difficulty that the Haitian's had figuring out their lives. In the US, our affluence provides many of us with the opportunity to make some mistakes, adjust and get on with reasonably productive and happy lives. It seemed to me that the Haitians depicted in the game had very little margin for error. There was little or not safety net to help with poverty, poor health, and poor education.

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Indeed, very little room for error, and even good choices were often overturned by something bad happening which was clearly out of anyone's control.
I think that it increases appreciation for the lifestyle and opportunities available to the other folks, and also respect for the struggles and whatever hard choices people are forced to make when they are much less fortunate.
I am certainly aware that this game is so much more appropriate for older students. Does it make you feel thought that you would like something like this, but for little kids? Something similar, but more censored (of course, the kids from Haiti or Darfur don't have the luxury of censored content)? This - you know what you are looking for now - and the appreciation for a good game should help you when you decide to implement a game in class.
Oh, if you thought this game was depressing, try Darfur is dying games. There, everything is against you.

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How can we educate without making it morbid,scary?

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Mary Ellen, I certainly agree with you about this not being for first graders. I had a difficult time in the navigation of the players in the game. I liked your essential questions. I also

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