3rd World Farmer

3rd World Farmer is a free browser-based simulation game that drops players in the role plainly described in its title; that is, it simulates the mechanisms that cause and sustain poverty. Sim-savvy gamers will easily recognize simple click-and-drop game mechanics enabling the central character to grow crops, purchase livestock and basic technologies, and build farm infrastructure, such as a barn for your pigs. In each turn, players choose how they'll spend their very modest income and then review the outcome of their harvest months through an annual report. Crops may yield positive outcomes after harvest, but an Event of the Year paints a bigger, usually gloomy picture wherein poachers, disease, civil war, corruption, unreliable markets, and political turmoil threaten the life and livelihood of the farmer and family. Reports of family members contracting illnesses or having babies are also included in the report.

Players begin with a hut, four family members -- two adults and two children -- and $50 to spend on a small arid plot on an unnamed plain. Earnings seem, at first, to be the primary goal, as it's the only conspicuous on-screen metric, but as the game unfolds, it becomes clear that means come second to keeping the family alive. Players may end up focusing on planting enough food and dispensing enough medicine to even make it to the next round. Thought-provoking ethical questions, like whether to earn some extra cash dancing for tourists, are periodically woven in with practical ones, like whether to grow peanuts or invest in chickens. In the end, the very notion of success is put into perspective as students will struggle just to get by in grim circumstances. The Game Over screen foregrounds a link encouraging players to learn how to make a difference through relief agencies, a nod to the game's larger purpose.

Players will learn not only about the costs of doing business -- for example, planting peanuts can be expensive and risky but more profitable if the harvest succeeds -- but also about the greater risks of doing it in a developing country where simple errands can cost family members their lives. The issues are made more generic than in other serious games like Darfur Is Dying, which offers teachers a lot of opportunities to connect to curriculum. The game isn't intended to be a deep investigation into the issues it covers, so students would benefit from connections to primary sources and reporting of contemporary issues. Still, while it has aged quite a bit, it's a surprisingly powerful vehicle to spread the message about the problems of global illiteracy and the uphill battle that these families face, as well as serving as an immersive starting point for longer discussions with students. It's meant to have an emotional impact on players who can't succeed simply by making the "right" choices. Here, it's almost inevitable that you will fail. Fortunately, the game isn't timed, so students can study and contemplate their options, trying to sustain the family and the farm as long as they can.

For the brave educator, the game is also a great opportunity to integrate economics and basic financial literacy with current events and global issues. Breakdowns found in the annual report of elements -- such as crop yield, annual spending, and earnings -- are presented simply but end up being great tools for learning financial vocabulary and analyzing data. Players might have questions like "Why does the price of growing cotton change each year?" which presents ripe inquiry-driven opportunities. The game even offers nine different language options, so kids can play in a different language. The catch is that while the game suits most early teenage learners, the developers don't sugarcoat death, disease, and some unsettling violence and visuals. Though it's almost entirely text-based (a fair amount of reading is involved), the tough stuff comes with nearly every turn, and teachers should prepare to answer unsettling questions.