One of my favorite blogs, Pruned, called my attention to a game called 3rd World Farmer.
The game is, as one could probably decipher, in the "third world." The point of the game is to raise your family and increase your earning potential. The game simulates common third world problems such as drought, revolution, and corruption, which all affect your ability to make a living. It goes into surprising depth for a flash-based simulation: you raise children who can either go to school (and so be available less for work) or get married and leave the farm (but earn a nice dowry), there are infrastructural building opportunities, and aging is a factor. To go directly to the game, click here (but look over the hunger related subtexts at some point).
The game must be a bit too easy once you get the hang of it, as I won in 26 turns. But the high scores reveal a much deeper obsession with actually making that Saharan farm worth millions. All intelligent people will understand this isn't a simulation per se, but a metaphor for the hardships and catastrophes faced by "third world" farmers. (Now you too can toil the African soil, but from the comfort of your first world nation.)
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"(Now you too can toil the African soil, but from the comfort of your first world nation.)"
Interesting and a little sick at the same time. I guess the difference between meaningful and just mean is in the details, however, and I haven't played the game.
The facebook post was something I've wanted to write for a couple of years now, but just never got around to it. It is academic, but wasn't for any class.
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