It’s time. You’ve waited for the video game industry and awesome developers of your favorite Xbox games to make it and it’s finally here: your very own interactive opportunity to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve!
This immersive and educational experience brings down the operations and functions of the Federal Reserve to an understandable level and allows users to run their own simulated economy – contain your excitement!
Fed funds, unemployment, inflation … Oh my!
Okay, so the game isn’t that exciting or as immersive as “The Sims,” but it’s very interesting and takes the intimidation and government jargon out of understanding how the Fed operates.
Wanna pull a Volcker and jack up the federal funds rate through the roof? Or maybe you want to see what a really low fed funds rate does to the economy? Either way, the game does a pretty good job of simulating how an economy would react to your kind of rule in the Fed.
[postquote]
Along with reacting to your method of operation as Chairman of the Fed, the game is designed to throw random curveballs at your economy. The game can muster up anything from a housing crisis, investment uncertainty or changes in public confidence due to things like inflation and unemployment; it takes into account a lot while maintaining that “game” aspect.
Why this game is more than a Fed video game
This game is more than a fun little economy simulation, it’s a step in the right direction for economic and financial education. Any college student can take a financial markets lecture at school, but the endless slideshows and the rote memorization of terms and names doesn’t do them any practical good. They might be able to throw a few more phrases and historical events in their Facebook arguments, but it’s important to understand what the terms really are and how they affect things.
The key to educating people is to cater to their style of learning. Personally, I’m a kinesthetic learner; that is, I learn and retain information best when I interact with the supply and demand graphs myself or talk my girlfriend’s ears off about what I learned that day in urban economics.
Nowadays however, you don’t have to know how everyone learns to cater to their style. This game has visual indicators, buttons you can change things with and updates that tell you what’s happening; it’s the best of three different worlds and learning styles.
And that’s what we need.
We need people to be at least somewhat literate in finances, economics and important things that influence things such as their political allegiance or voting preferences. Telling everyone and their mother to “Get out there and vote!” may not be the best way of ushering change into the 21st century.
Our take
We live in a very digital day and age where computers and interactive learning are slowly but surely replacing pencil on paper notes and lectures. Given this, we need to cater to the learning styles of people by creating interactive learning experiences that bring down somewhat difficult concepts to an understandable and approachable level. Telling people to get out and vote doesn’t solve the problem of people educating themselves on the issues, creating ways for them to learn the issues truly allows an educated opinion to be formed.
Chair the Fed is an interesting and informative way of seeing how the Federal Reserve goes about tackling the economic and financial debacles of the country. Furthermore, it’s a step in the right direction for the future where we actively work to create engaged citizens, not zombies.
Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.
Header image: Getty
