Agreed, it seems that no matter what choices you make you're going to get fucked one way or another. Aside from all of the bullshit scenarios/choices others have mentioned, here are more that pissed me off: -I specifically chose to live as close to work as possible in case I couldn't afford/something happened to my car. Sure enough, something did. Yet the game didn't give me the choice to walk/ride to work despite the fact that's exactly why I chose to live so close in the first place. -I elected to pay $300 dollars to get my car fixed (Which, according to the scenario broke down while I was giving my kid a ride to school. Why the fuck can't my kid take the bus?) since it was obvious the game was making me keep the car running despite the other choices I made. Two days later I get a call from a collections agency asking for a payment. Fuck that, had I known my car was a single payment from getting repossessed I wouldn't have paid to repair it. I'm generally a soft-hearted liberal type, but that game frankly made me less sympathic to poor people. If the multitude of bullshit choices were presented in the fashion they were because that's how your typical impoverished person thinks then they can wallow in their own self-inflicted misery. I'm all for helping out the less fortunate members of society and am willing to pay higher taxes to help fund social services programs that do so, but on the other end the people that receive such help need to take some measure of personal responsibilty to improve their own situation. That game certainly doesn't impress on that side of the coin at all. Focus: I've been pretty fortunate in my life and have never had shit hit the fan all at once in such a live-impacting way. I make life choices to minimize such things from happening as well, but I can't say I've been particularly unlucky.
Nope, it's very possible, I did it like 3 times in a row. I don't think it cares about spelling mistakes, just how long it takes for you to enter letters into the thing.
I finished with $1193, so basically after living costs I am saving $14k a year. Being poor is easy, I have no idea why everyone complains.
Passing the typing test is very easy. Copy the message. Paste it in. Click finish. (Hey, job-hunting rewards the clever).
$982... shouldn't have bought peanuts and peanut butter. Hey I'm a big spender. My kid is sad, my pet got put to sleep, I missed my grandfather's funeral but I made it through the month which was the point of the exercise. The economy is still in the shitter around here so I'm sure this little game bears a close resemblance to the decisions some people have to make. But I'm not one of those people so I'm not going to spend time worrying about yet another thing that could maybe possibly happen someday. Has anyone passed the Temp Office worker thing? I think it's rigged because I tried it twice and had my secretary that types like lightening do it and she failed too.
every time I've tried I've passed. My coworkers failed, then I pointed out they were adding an extra comma to the sentence.
My favorite was when they said "You need to buy your child new shoes. Name brands are important, but they cost a lot more." Name brands are important? Screw that. Welcome to the thrift store. Same thing when the electric/gas bill pops up. They tell me I can't pay both, but I'm looking at my money to the left and I most certainly can pay both. If I choose, then I get to pay extra for the other one.
I finished with $676 at the end of the month. This game is unrealistic. I have a problem with the root canal situation. 1. I've never even had a cavity, so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be in need of a root canal. 2. Dental insurance is a sham. I'll never have it.
"Child of mine, they're not making fun of you because you're eating free lunches or wearing shitty sneakers, they're making fun of you because you're small, pale, unemotional and have no social skills. Unless I stole you from normal people or something. So you're going to do your math homework, then I'll check it with the calculator on my now functionless cell-phone and if you get it right, I'll teach you the proper way to hit someone with a lunchroom chair. I'll give you a hint: it's not when they're looking." Man, I was in gifted programs and I'm pretty sure I'm mentally handicapped. I think they select for those randomly. How am I making $8/hr serving? What am I, a food-runner at Denny's?
After playing this game several times I just can't get over the absolute shit storm of events (mostly) out of our control they expect us to swallow happening to one person in a single month. Have you ever talked to someone that: - Had their car break down - Had their kid fail math - Had a death in the family - Felt so shitty that they needed to take two days off from work from separate incidents - Had both their jacket and their kid's shoes completely break down - Had a wedding to go to - Needed major dental surgery - Had their pet need major surgery or be put down In the span of thirty days? Not to mention this is right after they lost their job and house.
I've gone through the game about 6 times now checking out the different combinations, and passed the office worker typing thing every time. I just tried taking it a few times by typing deliberately slower (I type about 90 wpm) and it didn't take much slowdown to fail it.
This game is bullshit. First off, I'm a warehouse worker. I doubt that I need to go to the gym to lift heavy objects and put them down in the same place, when somebody is paying me to pick stuff up all day! Secondly, who the fuck came up with the pay schedule in this game? I get paid the 10th, 17th, and 24th? My first paycheck of each month should be fucking huge! Finally, the bill pay system is fucked up. How about allowing you to tier your bills on a monthly basis? Fuck that cell phone. I had it shut off. And why couldn't I pay my electric and gas at the same time? What this website taught me: When thrown unrealistic problems, poor people can't think outside the box and only do the choices directly in front of them. EDIT: PS. Just like in Grand Theft Auto, the secret to reducing your stress level is to get a hooker, pay her $50, and then kill her. As long as your refrigerator still works (or it's winter), you can enjoy her for a few months before freezer burn sets in.
I checked out the game. What it taught me was that poor people aren't even able to obtain a box that they'd be able to think outside of, lest they be struck with horrible dental pain and sick pets. And what grocery store are they shopping at? The Mobil station down the street? Plus, when I did say that I wanted food stamps (so I could go to a grocery store that doesn't pre-toast their bread), it said they wouldn't come until next month. But when I chose electricity over gas, out goes the heat, cooking, toilets, front storm doors, and my child has been shot, all the very next day. If they were going to make things that unrealistic, they might as well have given me the option to sell organs or prostitute myself.
Actually, now that I've calmed down, what this game teaches me is that if you are unemployed, you have 2 options: Find a job, or exit. At least your kid will have meat for the next month (as long as you are a good father/mother and teach your kids not to waste "gross parts" like the tongue and entrails). He'll also get to live in a nice foster home and be eligible for Social Security until he turns 18. Win-win!
This game taught me that there was no negative consequence for buying beer. So now I'm gonna go home and buy me some beer. Of course, I make slightly more than $9 an hour so I think I'll be ok.
It's got to be the worst grocery store in the world because I've played the game several times and no matter what combination of food items I choose to buy it tells me I'm either looking at starvation or obesity, with no in-between. And in what fucking land of make-believe does beer cost less than half what orange juice costs? I'd like to shop there. Also, what kind of shithole are you living in? According to the game you're paying around $800 a month for a place that makes you pay for both electricity and heat, and the landlord can jack your rent on a whim, make you pay for damage caused by 3rd parties, and evict you in an instant. Maybe my city is strict but even the slumlords around here wish they had it so good.
This is actually a very good point. This is probably attempting to be representative of the corner store/liquor store/bodega that populates the hood, where the closest real grocery store (with fresh produce) is 2 or more bus stops away...and then you're limited to what you can carry in your hands/in your backpack/in a cart. I was stuck in this situation for half of '09 while trying to figure out DC/where to shop/how to manage myself and my daily routines in an urban area without a car. It sucked.