Ayiti

From: Kotaku

"Students at South Shore High School in North Carolina have been passing up normal after school activities for video games...though not to play them. For the past year they've been meeting after school in order to develop meaningful video games with messages attached. It's all part of a program that melds game development with social awareness, and with the help of Global Kids and local developer Gamelab their first game has just been released online. Called "Ayiti: The Cost of Life," it puts the player in control of a family of five poor Haitians in what can best be described as a family management sim."

This game is freaking hard (as, i can imagine, life is for some people in Haiti), as well as depressing, it makes you realize that most of time you ain't got a damn thing to complain about. The game is simple, yet surprisingly deep in it's structure, the best way to describe it is a very basic game of the popular EA franchise "The Sims". Your choices include: going to work on the family farm, going to school to get an education, or going to work at the market of the factory etc,. Obviously each one of these choices have their advantages and drawbacks, as working too hard can make you sick, and not having an education prevents you from getting a better job. Levels are replaced by seasons, Summer, Hurricane, Rainy, etc, and each one of these also have good and bad aspects. The main goal of the game is to keep as many of the family members alive (there are five) by keep them happy and healthy. I think we should send a copy of this game to all the spoiled brats who whine about getting thier favorite cereal in the grocery store, you know, the ones you want to slap the shit out of, especially in the PS3/Elmo grubbing holiday season.

Play: Ayiti: The Cost of Life

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