I recently got an IPod Touch (FAR with new apple laptop) and downloaded a free Tower Defense game for it called Tap Defense. The basic premise of the tower defense genre is that enemy monsters walk along a pre-determined path and you must build assault towers to shoot the enemies before they reach the end of the path. You have limited resources to build towers and the game is about resource management. Each enemy you kill gives you more money, but the enemies get harder so you must selectively choose to build new towers or upgrade old towers to make them more powerful.
Tap Defense adds a nice twist to the mix in that any money unused between turns is rewarded with interest. The interest earned can be a lot more than money from killing enemies each turn. The game rewards saving money. In fact, its impossible to beat if you spend down to $0 each turn. The most powerful towers are the most expensive and the only way to afford to build them is to save and earn ~20% interest per turn on unused money.
I realized after playing that this can be a very useful tool to teach young children the value of saving. Perhaps a game could be designed (either within the tower defense genre or something entirely different) where the player can also go into debt. Suppose I wanted to build a new tower but couldnt afford it. I could borrow money at 30% interest to build it. Then watch 3 turns go by with all the earnings from killing enemies go to the bank as interest.
Suppose we can get the child interested in such a game between the ages of 5 to 10 years old. Then around age 10 you start giving them an allowance. And offer to be a bank for them, giving them absurdly high interest - perhaps 10% a week. Tell your child that he can have his $10 allowance this friday or "save" it in the "bank of dad" and get $11 next friday plus a new $10 for $21 total.
I think the problem with using traditional banks and savings accounts to teach children to save is that its not exciting enough for them. I think a video game system would work. I also think bank savings rates are too low. Its hard to teach a 10 year old the value of saving at 2% annually on small sums of money. But if you offered high rates over short periods, it could get them excited and ingrain good habits for life.
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RedCelicaGT said:I like Bloons 3. Monkeys and Balloons are much more kid friendly than monsters.
Bah! I loved killing monsters in games as a kid.
TripleB - I think it would be a great idea. But the real challenge comes from having a "debt" game mechanic that doesn't fundamentally break the overall gameplay. There needs to be some reason that it might get used, otherwise you're back to simply showing how saving is a good idea, without any exposure to the borrowing side of things.
Kids will learn a lot of finance from reading your blog. Congratulations on inventing the idea of having a game teach kids certain life values. If only you could dedicate all of your efforts to marketing it not posting on FWF If that doesn't work, maybe you can apply the same interest principles to your posts, where you skip posting for a few days and accrue enough for a good idea and then post...
medicine said:asarat said:Be sure kids don't find a cheat-code to clear their debt.
1. hit enter twice 2. OBAMA09 3. hit enter
Or if you are too lazy to do that, the game will be voice-controlled so if you cry loud enough, they will send someone to your house to enter the cheat code for you.
tripleB said:medicine said:asarat said:Be sure kids don't find a cheat-code to clear their debt.
1. hit enter twice 2. OBAMA09 3. hit enter
Or if you are too lazy to do that, the game will be voice-controlled so if you cry loud enough, they will send someone to your house to enter the cheat code for you.
Pixeljunk Monsters on the PS3 also has an interest aspect to it. You can even upgrade the interest earned per round using gems (also used to unlock other towers or upgrade your existing towers), but you never have to do that if you are good.
tripleB said:Suppose we can get the child interested in such a game between the ages of 5 to 10 years old. Then around age 10 you start giving them an allowance. And offer to be a bank for them, giving them absurdly high interest - perhaps 10% a week. Tell your child that he can have his $10 allowance this friday or "save" it in the "bank of dad" and get $11 next friday plus a new $10 for $21 total.
Its hard to teach a 10 year old the value of saving at 2% annually on small sums of money. But if you offered high rates over short periods, it could get them excited and ingrain good habits for life.
Good point. Giving them 10% a week from the bank of dad is a great way to ingrain good financial habits.
On their 18th birthday, your kids will be great with money, and will be out signing up with Mr. Madoff instead of buying porn and cigarettes. What more could a father ask for?
tripleB said:I think the problem with using traditional banks and savings accounts to teach children to save is that its not exciting enough for them. I think a video game system would work. I also think bank savings rates are too low. Its hard to teach a 10 year old the value of saving at 2% annually on small sums of money. But if you offered high rates over short periods, it could get them excited and ingrain good habits for life.
What's going to happen when this kid grows up and finds out banks don't normally offer 10-20% interest rates?
My kid got a good financial education with his video games. He started out buying the console and games full price, retail, with gift money, like everybody else. Then discovered used games - and selling the games he either finished or didn't like. Then discovered buying games cheap/on sale/garage sales/rare and reselling at a profit. Made a bundle on Wii just by knowing where to get it when others couldn't find any. He was a card freak and won all sorts of tournaments, started training other people how to do well at tournaments. He's got a pretty good business going in rare game cards, and in specialized winning card decks.
He's got a great eye for spotting the valuable stuff in a pile of random junk.
To be honest, I don't know how you'd teach this to an average child. But it's something to think about.
narshe14 said:tripleB said:I think the problem with using traditional banks and savings accounts to teach children to save is that its not exciting enough for them. I think a video game system would work. I also think bank savings rates are too low. Its hard to teach a 10 year old the value of saving at 2% annually on small sums of money. But if you offered high rates over short periods, it could get them excited and ingrain good habits for life.
What's going to happen when this kid grows up and finds out banks don't normally offer 10-20% interest rates?
I doubt the kid is going to be able to do percentages (or understand APR/interest rates) at 10 years old. And if he does, then you probably don't need to worry about him not making enough money in his lifetime and should probably save that $1 a week to send him to college very soon (early). Anyway.. when you tell the kid he'll get an extra dollar if he doesn't spend that $10 it's not giving a percentage or interest rate, it's just an incentive to save money. I never got an allowance (just money if I wanted to go to the movies or something), but I wish my parents had taught me more about how to save (well, maybe just more about worthless purchases) when I was younger. They taught me to only buy on sale and I did save quite a bit of money for someone my age, but I'm sure I could list a bunch of stupid kid purchases I could have forgone to have an extra grand or two now.
princessida said:My kid got a good financial education with his video games. He started out buying the console and games full price, retail, with gift money, like everybody else. Then discovered used games - and selling the games he either finished or didn't like. Then discovered buying games cheap/on sale/garage sales/rare and reselling at a profit. Made a bundle on Wii just by knowing where to get it when others couldn't find any. He was a card freak and won all sorts of tournaments, started training other people how to do well at tournaments. He's got a pretty good business going in rare game cards, and in specialized winning card decks.
He's got a great eye for spotting the valuable stuff in a pile of random junk.
To be honest, I don't know how you'd teach this to an average child. But it's something to think about.
Indirectly, this has also probably taught him how to not have sex before he's an adult...
narshe14 said: What's going to happen when this kid grows up and finds out banks don't normally offer 10-20% interest rates?
It wont matter. By then he should be indoctrinated into saving money. Just like parents who brainwash their children in church. They still believe in God later in life.
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