The Cost of Life: Evaluating an RPG

I played RPG, The Cost of Life, first. In this game, the player guides a family in Haiti as the family attempts to improve the standard of living of its members. This was an interesting concept and I anticipated that it would be interesting and fun, but sad. Unfortunately, it was very lacking in "flow."

"Flow," is Csikszentmihalyi’s term for the way that an RPG or strategy game immerses the player into the game world. Game creators and evaluators can assess "flow" by using seven categorical aspects:

Elements of Flow	Manifestation in a game
1. Task that the learners can complete	Does the game provide small sections that lead to the completion of the entire task?
2. Ability to concentrate on task	Does the game world draw learners?
3. Task has clear goals	Does the game have components such as survival, collection of points, gathering of objects and artifacts, solving in puzzles?
4. Task provides immediate feedback	Does the game respond to learners’ choice or movement?
5. Deep but effortless involvement	Does the game create worlds that are far removed from what we know to be real?
6. Exercising a sense of control over their actions	Does the game allow learners determine paths?
7. Concern for self disappears during flow	Does the game provide an environment that is a simulation of life and death? Does the game allow decision or activity that might dangerous “only” in the game world?
8. Sense of duration of time is altered	Does the game allow learners play year-long tasks in hours or minutes? Does it make learners lose track of time? Does it make learners’ perception of time distorted?

Cost of life is not broken down nearly enough. The player chooses family members and one element of life in Haiti on which to focus. After that, the player sends each family member to a place of work or to school. So far so good. However, once the player clicks the "Start Season" button, the family begins to work without any further intervention from the player. 

After my first season, my family was in debt and the youngest child had starved. This is the kind of tragedy that happens all to often in Haiti, so the events were very realistic. However, there was nothing I could do to change the family's fortune in the moment. The entire season of the first year was based completely on one decision of mine. That ruined the game for me and I quit playing. Below is my analysis:

1. Tasks - There were no small sections.

2. Concentration - The game world was intriguing but disappointing.

3. Goals - The goals were clear but frustratingly simplistic.

4. Feedback - Game feedback was too little too late. The very first move of the game should not control so many game components.

5. Involvement - The game world had the potentially to be very deeply immersing. It failed because decision-making opportunities were too few.

6. Sense of Control - As I have said repeatedly, I felt no sense of control over the course of this game at all.

7. Sense of Self/Time - I did not lose track of time at all. The game did not give me a chance to.

After letting the frustration out of my system, I tried Cost of Living again. This time, I made a wiser first move and was able to keep my family alive and out of debt for the first season. One problem that still remains is that the player must watch the fate of each family member at rapid-fire pace. There is simply too much information presented too quickly about each member simultaneously. I could simply ignore this information, but then I learn a lot less about the hazards and blessings of life in Haiti. Needless to say, this makes the game much less valuable as an educational game. So what did I learn about life in Haiti? Well, parents work very hard and children go to ineffective schools. Nothing new there. I am unimpressed:

1-2. Tasks - I understand the tasks of the game better, but there are still too few tasks and they don't bring me into the game world.

3. Goals - The goals are still clear, but they don't involve the player.

4. Feedback - The game responds to the player's choices, but not in any ways that teach me about the game world.

5. Involvement - Although I am less frustrated with the game the second time, there was still very little opportunity to get involved.

6. Control - The players can control their paths, but cannot to much of an extent.

7. Sense of self/time - Even the second time, I was not involved enough to "lose myself" or my sense of time.