Credit Union Financial Education Game (for players)

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The Teen Financial Literacy Education Game is a financial literacy education game that teenagers can play in the Second Life 3-D online virtual world. It was jointly developed by the VITAL Lab at Ohio University, Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union, and Filene Research Institute. The objective of the game is to learn how to manage one's finance throughout his or her lifetime in a simulated environment.

Contents

Overview

Credit union financial education game is a 3-D multi-player online game aiming to teach teenagers how to manage their finances in real life. The game provides teenagers with an opportunity to safely experiment with personal finances. It takes them through a virtual lifetime and allows them to see the results of various life decisions. Players have the opportunity to attend college or start work immediately after high school, and they can choose many different cars and homes to purchase or rent, and can also make investments such as 401K. The game automatically keeps track of players’ income and gives them feedback about their own financial health.

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.

Location

The game is available on the Credit Union island on the Second Life Teen Grid (SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Credit%20Union/89/116/24/)

Machinima

Game Play

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

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.

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.

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.

Detailed game instruction is available at http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Credit_Union_Game_Instructions.

Quick Overview (Slides)

Download Powerpoint Slides

Screen Shot of HUD

Image:Ss1_sm.jpg

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