Ayiti Review
Not all games are the same. Some are video games played for gaming systems. Others seem to be designed to inform people of causes in other counties. This games are to give information to people around the world about people in different situations than there own. These games may be realistic or may be fantasy, but are intended to get a message out to viewers. While others are played simply for entertainment and pleasure. Whatever game it is, the goals are always the same, to allow a player of the game to enjoy themselves, and go through many tasks in order to reach a certain destination. In board games you go through many challenges, while in video games you might go through different levels. In sports games you have to defeat your opinions. Whatever the game, there is always a certain goal you have to reach in the end.
I occasionally enjoy playing and watching sports games, video games, and board games. I play soccer, sorry, monopoly, Donkey Kong 64, and Tag. Anything and everything that included playing with other people and having a good and enjoyable time.. I love to win and the challenge of a good competitor,which makes me feel awesome, and I also like physical activity and challenges. I enjoy knowing that I'm one step closer to becoming a better competitor, to being a winner. If I happen to lose, I do what any other occasional player would do. I tell myself that my opponent just got luck this time. even though I lose, I go back to playing these games because I love the fun parts of these games.
Recently, I've been spending some time playing the game Ayiti: The Cost of Life. This is a game in which you have to control the lives of people in Haiti who are currently going through poverty by allowing them to succeed in many aspects of life. The goal of the game is to allow these people to raise there education, economy, health, or happiness. This is a goal easier said than done. This goal is not easy because the game challenged through real life situations. The players of these games in counter many problems, like death and sicknesses. By the end of the game, if you are lucky enough to make to the end of the last season, I bet you have a great amusement, but i have not felt this yet because I haven't got to the last season.
The first time you play the game, you find it very hard. In the beginning of the game, it is hard to make money, and your avatars do not have much education. It really isn't until the third or fourth time when the game starts to get repetitive that you truly realize that you have to go by season, and you game money and everything by season. After you play it, you understand that you have to move your players around the different places in the game in order to raise your score. You begin to realize that this game is a lot about strategy.
There are times when you are playing this game that you want to quit. You don't want to because this game is very real, and it makes you believe that these characters are actually people living in Haiti.So you keep playing, keep trying. Trying to get education, happiness, money, and health for these characters. You want to get these people back on their feet after a horrible earth quake has hit their nation.
In the course of playing this game I learned the issues of life In Haiti. I learned that people in Haiti are going through a very rough situation currently and they need our help. I also learned that Haiti has amazing potential to getting back on their feet
In my opinion, this is a good way to learn about these issues. This is because it is a reality game, that makes you feel good about trying to help these people who currently need it. It also teaches you how to make money and how to have good health and education in a modern society. Games should be a larger component of education because they put real life situations in fake enviornments.
Comments
Dear Lenny, I like the way
Dear Lenny,
I like the way that you looked at this game as Haitians trying to piece their lives back together. I also like how you said not to give up on the game, because I feel the same. I want to win this game at least once, even if it takes me a billion years (just kidding). And I agree with your last statement, Its better to mess up in a game than to actually mess up in real life.
-Mike
Dear Lenny, I
Dear Lenny,
I agree with you. This is a very difficult game to play at first. i had A LOT of trouble trying to get my chracters to go work and going into debt was also a big problem. i also couldnt put my family into the hospital. This game can help you learn about the lifestlye of people in haiti, but its also that this game wouldnt have been put out were it not for the earthquake in Haiti. I only finished the four years of the game once or twice. i keep tring to finish the game buts it is really really depressing.
I couldn't agree with you
I couldn't agree with you more. Ayiti is a strategic game with a lot of applications in education. It is a fun way of bringing light to the living conditions in Haiti, as well learning a lot of management strategies which can be applied in the real world. These skills are learned with a very hands-on, trial and error way without the actual consequences of failure in real life. Players can also think outside the box without simply going for health to keep the family alive, and realize that the usage of health requires the support of other aspects.
Dear lenny I dont like the
Dear lenny
I dont like the last part of your post because i disagree with it. this is not a good way to learn about these issues. This game does not neccesarily help anything. Games should be a larger component of education because so many people play
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: "You begin to realize that this game is a lot about strategy.." I think this is true because thats what happens but you need some sort of motivation to ensure that you keep playing. Thinking about hose in Haiti really does motivate me.
Another sentence i liked was: I learned that people in Haiti are going through a very rough situation currently and they need our help. This is true the game does provide this to the player but some might find it a bit offensive because the game is a game where the player approaches it with a happy modd. This is not true because it is very upsetting.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because you think like me and I believe that this game does not inform rather it makes people think more about the people. For others like me, I found it offensive but it made me compare my life to those in Haiti.
Lenny, I agree with when
Lenny,
I agree with when you stated " After you play it, you understand that you have to move your players around the different places in the game in order to raise your score. You begin to realize that this game is a lot about strategy", this is because after attempting to play Ayiti, I soon realized that the reason i kept dying was because I did not have a good setup of the way I played it. You have to skillfully employ everything you do, so that there is enough income coming in and that you make a net benefit at the end of each season. This can help you go to school and allow you to buy things to keep you happy, along with pay for hospital expenses and clinic visits to keep the family healthy. So I guess what it all comes down to is money...another thing that I learned from Ayiti.
I am kinda confused however, when you stated what you learned through playing this game. You said that " I learned that people in Haiti are going through a very rough situation currently and they need our help. I also learned that Haiti has amazing potential to getting back on their feet", how exactly did you learn this? What was it that made you feel or react this way toward the game. I am asking simply because i did not get the same reaction you did after playing Ayiti.
Also there is one thing i disagree with, this is when you write "This is because it is a reality game, that makes you feel good about trying to help these people who currently need it" how exactly are you helping people? I understand what you are trying to say, but this just creates this mindset that you are helping people in Haiti when you really aren't. You are playing this fictional game about their life, in which you believe you are helping them, but at the end of the day, nobody in Haiti is going to be benefited through you playing that game. Atleast that is what my opinon is.
I look foward to seeing what you write next, because I like your ideas and they make me think...
-Mariam