New Game Allows Users to Take a Crack at the Debt Ceiling

A new computer game now enables users to take a stab at handling the U.S.’s national debt crisis. The game, “Budget Hero 2.0,” is a newly updated version of the game released in 2008, and allows players to try to virtually fix this nation’s problems with real obstacles cropping up such as party policies and debt constraints when they try to implement solutions.

The game has been issued at a crucial moment in American history as the nation balances a tumultuous load of combined wars abroad, internal job strife, a suffering economy, and general unrest and displeasure with governmental processes.

As both a game and a teaching tool, the creators aimed the game to be an educational portal for regular ol’ Joes who probably don’t grasp the broadest scope of this nation’s issues when it comes to the debt ceiling, health care issues, tax cuts, and foreign policies.

Former Representative Jane Harman, who now works with a think tank that partnered with American Public Media to develop the game said that the game is geared to give users insight into the "difficult choices involved in reducing the deficit and raising the debt limit."

Players are allowed to pick from 100 policy cards and earn badges that demonstrate their political opinions and sentiments. The badges are not simply Democratic or Republican, but can also indicate a leaning towards environmental policies, or defense practices.

In testing the game with various members of all political parties, the usual end result was the player breaking the government’s bank, demonstrating how difficult it would actually be to come up with a solution that would fix what we’ve broken.

John Tanner, former Democratic lawmaker from Tennessee, stated, "This game will lead you to the conclusion that there has to be structural change" in the big entitlement and revenue programs.” See if you can fix our debt crisis for free here.

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca