Credit Union Financial Education Game

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Contents

[edit] Machinima

[edit] Survey

[edit] Goals

The goal of this game is to teach teens how to manage their finances in real life. This is accomplished by simulating one lifetime, but on a much faster pace. Where one week in this game is equivalent to one lifetime, players are able to see the consequences of their decisions in a much faster atmosphere. They can learn which choices in the game led to bad long term decisions and thereby avoid similar bad choices in real life.

[edit] Overview - Game Play

Each player will start out with a HUD (Heads up display) that contains several important pieces of data.

[edit] Basic HUD Info

  • Cash - Balance of account (checking)
  • Credit Score - Your credit score is similar to what you would expect in the real world. It is based on your punctuality of payments (you miss payments when your income is low compared to your bills), revolving debt (credit cards), length of credit history, type of credit, and recent activity. Your score is displayed in your HUD and will change throughout gameplay based on your decisions.
  • Age - Current age during 'Your Life'. Ranges from 18 to 65, then the game is over and you get to retire.
  • Speed - 1x to 6x. This is the speed of game play. The default is 3x, but you can speed up or slow down at will.

[edit] Additions HUD Balances

These details can be viewed during game play by clicking on 'More Info' from the HUD.

  • Date - Current Month and Week of the game.
  • Mortgage/Rent - Your monthly rent or mortgage payment. This is based on the house you've chosen and whether you have decided to rent or buy.
  • Car Payment - Your monthly car payment. Not all car choices have a loan associated with them.
  • 401K Balance - The balance on your 401K. This is a great example of how fast money can grow with compounding interest, especially when your employer matches funds.
  • Paycheck - Your current 2-week paycheck. This is vital to help you make intelligent decisions during game play.
  • Home Equity - The Equity accumulated while you own your home. This money can be applied as a down payment on your next home or added to your cash balance if you choose to rent later. We do not adjust for inflation or rising home value, so we sacrifice realism for simplicity here.
  • Student Loan Payment - After college, you start paying your loans back. This is the monthly amount you pay after interest has been calculated.

[edit] How to Play

The player will also start with some money ($10,000), but no job, car, or home. This forces them to make some tough decisions from the start. They will need to choose a car first, then a home. They will have an option of buying or renting depending on their finances available. They will also need to choose whether they go to work right out of HS or if they go to college. It is possible for them to change from renting to buying during game play as well.

If the player does badly, they may be forced to file bankruptcy. This would have devastating effects to their accounts, would flag them as having bad credit, but would allow the game to continue. They may also lose their possessions or at least some of them. Unexpected costs could include marriage and children as well as needing another vehicle, house repairs and so on.

The Credit Union island has objects throughout which are essential for game play. You must move around the island to buy a vehicle, choose a house, or make investments. When a player does well during the game, they can receive hints on the location of hidden keys. These are keys hidden on the island which provide the player with additional items that are not possible during the normal course of the game.

At any point in the game, the player can stop gameplay and log out of second life. At this time, the current state of the game will be saved, and they can resume the game at a later time.

[edit] Quick Overview (Slides)

Download Powerpoint Slides

[edit] Screen Shot of HUD

Image:Ss1_sm.jpg

[edit] Financials

[edit] Game Scoring Formula

GameScore = ( (houseEquity + cash + Balance401K) * (CreditScore/PerfectCredit) )/100

(perfectCredit is 850)

[edit] Costs

Initial Finances:

  • cash: $10,000
  • game score: 0
  • credit score: 645
  • Age: 18
  • no 401K
  • no job
  • no home
  • no car

House (Buy) INTEREST: 6.23% (30-year)

  1. $50,000
  2. $150,000
  3. $350,000

Apartment (Rent)

  1. $400/month
  2. $800/month
  3. $1200/month

Cars (Buy) INTEREST RATE

  1. $4,000 (used car) buy outright -> life expectancy 2-5 years -> trade in value: $1,500
  2. $19,000 (decent new car) -> 48 months @ 5.99% -> life expectancy 2-10 years -> trade in value: $7,000
  3. $55,000 (luxury car) -> 48 months @ 3.25% -> life expectancy 2-10 years -> trade in value: $14,000

Car Repairs

  • Random between 6 months and 3 years from when you buy the car.

Jobs (Pay)

  1. High School Education = starts out @ $7,200 for 2 years, then raises to $16,000 with pay raises until a cap at $32,000 - These figures are after a 12% income tax
  2. Associates Degree = starts at $7,200 for 2 years, then raises to $30,000 with pay raises and cap at $55,000 - After 16% income tax
  3. Bachelor's Degree = starts at $7,200 for 4 years, then raises to $40,000 with pay raises and cap at $65,000 - After 18% income tax
  4. Master's Degree = starts at $7,200 for 6 years, then raises to $55,000 with pay raises and cap at $88,000 - After 19% income tax
  5. PhD = starts at $7,200 for 8 years, then raises to $65,000 with pay raises and cap at $100,000 - After 22% income tax

Student Loans

  1. Associates = $25,000 @ 6% for 25 years
  2. Bachelors = $100,000 @ 6% for 25 years
  3. Masters = $150,000 @ 6% for 30 years
  4. PhD = $200,000 @ 6.23% for 30 years

Credit Cards - not implemented yet

- Limit for High School and Associates Degree will be about 10% of income, interest rate will vary from 6.25% - 29.99% depending on credit for game

- Limit for Bachelor's = $10,000-15,000

- Limit for Master's = $15,000-25,000

- Limit for PhD = $20,000-$40,000


Scenarios

  1. Buy used car ($4,000) and Choose a Bachelors Degree: 
 - Car repair $396, $184, $387 at age 19
 - Rent $50,000 house for $400/month at age 20
 - Car repair $487 at age 20
 - Car died at age 21
 - Purchased $19,000 VW Beetle for $420/month
 - Car repair $796 at age 22
 - Married at age 23
 - Car repair $1250 at age 24 - cash now negative
 - Graduated at age 25, Student loan payment $908, paycheck $2,291
 - Car repair $831 at age 27
 - Added 6% 401k at age 27
 - Car repair $728 at age 29
 - Car died at age 30
 - Purchased new VW Beetle at age 32 for $288/month after trade in
 - Purchased $150,000 house at age 32 (moved from Rented house) mortgage: $930/month
 - Car repair $585 at age 34
 - House repair $400 at age 35
 - Car repair $735 at age 37
 - House repair $400 at age 37
 - Car repair $684 at age 37
 - Car repair $639 at age 38
 - Car died at age 39
 - House repair $1017 at age 39
 - House repair $1273 at age 41
 - House repair $1389 at age 42
 - Sold house at age 43 Equity $28,674
 - Car repair $649 at age 43
 - Car repair $1078 at age 43
 - Purchased $350,000 house at age 43, mortgage: $1,993
 - Car died at age 44
 - Purchased $55,000 formula racer at age 44, car payment $1,082/month after trade in
 - House repair $850 at age 45
 - Car repair $1654 at age 46
 - House repair $850 at age 46
 - Car repair $2073 at age 49
 - Car repair $1710 at age 51
 - Car died at age 53
 - Purchased VW Beetle at age 54 for $120/month after trade in
 - House repair $1747 at age 54
 - Car repair $456 at age 55
 - House repair $2270 at age 56
 - Car repair $1231 at age 57
 - House repair $3043 at age 59
 - Car repair $830 at age 60
 - Car repair $795 at age 60
 - Car repair $450 at age 60
 - Car repair $806 at age 62
 - Result: Stack error at age 62
   Cash: $672,343
   Game Score: 10,256
   Credit Score: 807
   Age: 62
   401K Balance: 275,426
   Home Equity: 134,052
   Paycheck: $3,666

[edit] Initial thoughts

"I feel that to target teens and teach them real-life lessons we can have them face real-life decisions. First they start out with a certain amount of money. They have no job, and they need a car. We can implement some sort of happiness meter so that they can not just make the decision based solely on the price of objects. They will have to get a car, a job, an apartment or house, etc. They will then chose furniture for that house, entertainment equipment, kitchen stuff, etc. It would be much less engaging than some of the other ideas, but would teach them real life lessons. You can't go through the game buying only the cheapest things, because you will not be happy enough. However, you can't buy the most expensive things either. We could put some unexpected costs in to through them off, and they could chose how to use their paychecks (checking, savings, certificate of deposit) and how to get money for their items (checking, credit card, savings bonds, etc). Their final score would be based both on their happiness and their account balances vs. their debt. Since you mentioned an ATM machine on the phone, I do think this would be a good idea. They could check their balance, take cash advances on their credit cards, etc."

For happiness factor in Financial Game - Each item will have a predetermined happiness rating 0-100. The character will have a happiness meter 0-100. During gameplay at predetermined times, the happiness of the player will increase/decrease based on their previous decisions. i.e. a good job may make the happiness go up each pay period, an overly expensive house will start out with high happiness but decrease over time. The user must maintain a certain happiness level while keeping a certain amount of debt/income ratio. The actual numbers are dependent on the item.

[edit] Revisions

Rev 0.22 

 - Trade in value is dynamic based on actual depreciation (calculated by repairs completed, 1st year depreciation, and depreciation based on cars age vs. expected lifetime.)
 - Added real data for computing interest rates based on information from Scott

Rev 0.21.3 

 - Added ability to buy new cars (beetle, MG, etc)

Rev 0.21.2 

 - ?

Rev 0.21.1 

 - Added pulsating icons to navigation, detailing where the user needs to go to accomplish the objective

Rev 0.21 

 - Restructured timer events.  Now time is stopped until choice is made (i.e. buying a car, buying a house)
   + Allows more time to digest information and slows down gameplay
 - Added choice to not repair car (no consequence yet for not repairing car)

Rev 0.20.8 

 - BUG FIX - Some For Sale signs were not updating correctly, but is now fixed.

Rev 0.20.7 

 - BUG FIX - when game start the Objectives always shows 3
 - BUG FIX - Objectives list stays until full (5) things are shown and then removes the oldest finished objective until the list is less than 5.
 - BUG FIX - When objectives list updates and removes items, remaining are only shown once (before would not refresh fully)

Rev 0.20.6 

 - Added Deeds to homes

Rev 0.20.2 

 - Finished and fixed Objectives section of HUD.
 - BUG FIX - check boxes on Objectives were sometimes disappearing.

Rev 0.20.1 

 - Added prompt for 401K when a full-time job is received.
 - BUG FIX - some icons on navigation were disappearing behind compass, fixed.

Rev 0.20 

 - Added Game Score to HUD ( color changes from green to yellow to orange to red ) - This shows the direction your score it taking
 - Added framework for Objectives, added button and 5 objectives ( temporarily static objectives)

Rev 0.19.6 

 - More Info button switches to Less Info at logical times
 - BUG FIX - When buying more than one house during game play, expenses were incorrectly $0 on new house. Now fixed.

Rev 0.19.5 

 - Randomized expenses
 - Expenses based on purchasing patterns
 - Randomized life events (married age, number of children, timing of children, etc.)
 - Expenses on house will automatically take out home equity loan if not enough cash, or sell house if not enough equity or cash.

Rev 0.19.4.4 

 - Navigation almost perfect - still somewhat buggy

Rev 0.19.4 

 - Added Car icon to compass
 - Added Home icon to compass
 - Added Credit Union icon to compass
 - BUG FIX - compass pointed E instead of N, changed image rotation to correct.

Rev 0.19.3 

 - Added Compass to HUD
   + Still needs prims for items on island
   + Calculates distance and angle, but does not display it yet
   + Will add graphical display on top of compass

Rev 0.19.2 

 - Added Scoreboard to keep score of all time high scores and current players scores.
   + Scoreboard is added in world
   + Communication to Scoreboard from HUD added
   + Communication from Scoreboard to Web server and back is added
   + New Database added to web server to keep scores
 - BUG FIX - rewind button shows active at end of game (sometimes).
 - BUG FIX - fast forward button showing active at end of game (sometimes).
 - BUG FIX - Improved responsiveness of fast forward and rewind buttons.
 - BUG FIX - Dialogs come from 'Credit Union Game' instead of 'Timer'
Retrieved from "http://steam.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Credit_Union_Financial_Education_Game"
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