The State of Illinois has developed a game called CreditSafe to teach kids how to manage credit cards. You choose or create a player, pick one or more credit cards, and then do "credit-safe shopping." The latter entails taking on projects like building a darkroom, setting up a home theater, and buying a car. You choose between taking funds out of your bank account or using your credit card (mine is from Rock Star Bank, har har). Your player gets paid every week and you have to manage the payments against your account balances, credit card balances, late charges, etc. I wonder how the state will measure its effectiveness -- always a challenge with these kinds of games.

Amusingly, the game also telegraphs other kinds of propaganda to kids who play. I chose the "buy a car" project, and to complete it I had to buy a car emergency kit in case I get stranded.

The game takes the form of a stylized website. As Mia Consalvo points out, It is a bit, well, errand-like. I wonder if a more effective experience wouldn't have been to create a whirlwind of options for the player, such that after they buy the car they are tempted by all sorts of other gadgets. This is what happens in the real world -- go to any college campus and you'll see banks there hocking credit cards to kids with no incomes, who don't know better.

(thanks to Mia)