The Reality of Poverty - Online Game depicts life with poor options - How long will your money last

reply to post by Ittabena


Thank you for that. My hero today.

reply to post by simone50m

Thank you for that. My hero today.

You are quite welcome, my friend.

I wish there was a single paying child support option.

Your child support is 25% of the income of the job you lost. Your new job pays less that a quarter or your old job.

The state garnishes ever penny of your new pay check-- every pay check-- and the Attorney General's Office files charges against you for what is not paid.

You are not getting a roof over your head, you are not buying groceries, and doing laundry is absurd because everything your own, you wear. You set up a campsite in the woods on the edge of town, but while at work, your backpack was stolen. You have no bathroom, no fresh water to drink, and no place to store food. You are going to lose your job because your smell like the woods and your clothes have not been changed in days.

You lose your job and the child support stops so the judge throws you in jail for contempt of court. You are done and the game does not restart.

reply to post by Frira

I wish there was a single paying child support option.

No doubt. Actually, playing the game struck me as rather easy compared to my real life. My thinking is fail of a good idea, but then it is really only a ploy to get you to donate. I suppose it was a nice idea, but not very realistic. If life were that easy I could do it standing on my head. And I have never been able to stand on my head.

Okay what everybody saying about it being unrealistic, it is for many reasonsbecause if you're poor you'd be stupid to go into car loans and credit cards, in fact, banks aren't idiots, they furthermore wouldn't give you the loan in the first place, futher more if you have an education, student loans or not, you will be getting a job if you have a relevent degree, ie technology, education, science and math, business, or accounting, you can't tell me there's nobody hiring...even some of the call centers are coming back into the states from what I have seen. I call Verizon tech support and I got a english speaking american on the phone today as well as 2 years ago when I signed up for internet. So, I find it really unrelistic, my kids threaten to go hungry because of the free lunches are crappy food (the burnt and old stuff) so instead of $3 a day I started buying them food to PACK (about a weekly average of about $10 for two girls). That is not even offered as options. This is such BS it isn't even funny. Laundry 30 dollars please, Just wash what you need until the next time you can get the laundry (say A week to week wash to wear basis) this is my life every week I do my clothes for the kids and me that we only need to use for the week. That maybe cost $5 as opposed to $30. Also I have three kids and don't spend that on cleaning clothes because you ONLY NEED SEVEN DAYS WORTH PEOPLE!!! And hanging to dry saves a crapload too, depending on your weather here I can all year long cos I am in Florida, but even in the winter you can hang them up on hangers on you shower curtain rod and they will dry too. That's not offered as an option. Tutoring I already answered unless you're illiterate or have not passed simple addition and subtraction, you can understand the concepts the math books put forward in the texts. It's not rocket science people!!! I mean I even only have a basic understanding of Spanish but I even help my kid with that! Sheesh

Originally posted by ldyserenity
Okay what everybody saying about it being unrealistic, it is for many reasons...

Yes, but there are balances.

Where I live, rent of $400.00 would be an unfinished unattached garage and not including deposit or utilities.

In reality $1,000 to start will not get anyone in any housing in the county where I live-- you are couch surfing-- and not likely with a child. Come on, first and last month's rent, plus deposit, plus utility deposits on a thousand?

City code does not allow a parent with child to rent a single room apartment-- I would sleep on the couch anyway-- but that is not a legal option.

Vaccinations for the kids to attend school are required to get them in school.

In the game, you don't buy toothpaste, soap, detergent, clothes. You have no debts (or at least I didn't) you are not filling the car with gas or buying bus tickets. You are not changing your oil or coolant, or replacing a tire. You drivers' license has not come due; you have purchased no aspirin, coffee, or furniture. Your kids have not outgrown their shoes or jeans; you are not putting anything in the plate at Church or contributing to the coffee pool at work. The collections of the bosses birthday has not come up.

Your boss has not come up demanding your signature stating that you have witnessed and approved his false travel expenses of $1,000.00. Your ex- has not created credit card accounts in your name and given the bill collectors your new address. The IRS has not emptied your account because your ex told them the check she sent last year was only for his or her taxes-- what is left is your responsibility. You have not ripped a hole in the knee of your only work suit. You have not lost and been required to repay a library book.

You have not been criticized for not being a team player because you never attend the after hours functions at the office. You have not lost friend and family relationships because you cannot afford the cell phone charges or gasoline to visit. You have not gone out with friends in six months-- because a movie ticket or even a single beer will mean you cannot afford to fill the car or add a piece of chocolate to your kids lunches.

The light bulb in the kitchen went out, and the light bulb in the lamp has been out for weeks. Your cell phone fell in the toilet. You spilled coffee on your laptop. You have said, "No." to every invitation to your child's friend's birthday parties, ski-trips, night at the movies and so on. You do not have TV, because cable is luxury, and your children have no toys, no bicycles and few friends, because you are working two jobs. One doesn't come home one night...

Yeah, you are right, the game is not realistic.





The heartache of birthdays and Christmas when you cannot afford a celebration, much less presents.

Why didnt this game have section 8 housing, WIC, and foodstampsv

reply to post by Maluhia


I didn't do any math in my head to keep my numbers, I simply answered how I assumed I would in the situations, and once I was done, my rent was due, I had 801 dollars, and rent was 800...

ONE DOLLAR TO SPARE..

Alas, this is no game, this is how I actually live.

reply to post by Domo1


This is exactly what I was thinking, it starts out fine then suddenly you have a kid. Then you have pet, it just keeps throwing bull at you to force you to lose. You can't choose any good decisions because they're aren't any.

The game won't let you win because its trying to prove a point. Well that point was lost on me. I've been poor lots of time. I've lived out of a trailer that you could spit to the other side. I've lived paycheck to paycheck off of a 8/hour job and still managed to save money. My grandparents even did what everyone thought was impossible. My grandmother raised three kids by herself and worked 3 jobs, after meeting my grandfather who was raising a daughter on his own and pay child support worked in the Navy and they both managed to become teachers and now have a nice house out in California that they restored themselves.

They've had no luck whatsoever and almost every bad thing thrown at them and they worked through it.

EDIT: So I finally go through the game with enough money to pay rent and I still lost somehow.

reply to post by Mcupobob

The game won't let you win because its trying to prove a point. Well that point was lost on me

That's because the point it is trying to make is something you already know and have experienced, as many other posters have. The game is really geared toward those who have no idea about how tough life can be for some people with limited means - and how hard it is for them to "win"

.

reply to post by Maluhia


I played, and had $246 left on the last day.

Yeps..

reply to post by Maluhia


I suppose so, I guess I shouldn't be against the game. It does encourage helping thy neighbor and all that.

It seems that everyone is trying to deny any responsibility. Being poor is not a privilege.

It is the result of choices made by people. Most likely, it starts with your parent(s). I remember reading one article that said there were three things that you can do to pretty much guarantee that you will be poor. First, don't graduate from high school. Second get pregnant before you graduate from high school and third don't marry before you get pregnant.

If you are a child of poverty, it is very difficult to escape. You need to find a role model other than your parent(s) and you shouldn't listen to your peers. Most likely your peers will end up trapped in poverty and your parents never figured out how not to be poor. As a result, you live in a poor neighborhood where most of the people are also trapped.

To escape, you need to place a high value on education and develop a good work ethic. Both of those things are counter intuitive for people trapped in poverty.

If you are poor, what choice can you make to improve your life?
Don't have children
Don't have pets.
Go to community college and get a degree in technology, engineering or accounting.
Get a good job.

Simple but not easy.

again this game shows what you have to go without or neglect inorder to make ends meet if you are a low income earner, anybody can save money if they really wanted to, but at what cost? that is the point of the game.

neglecting your health, not being able to include your child in school trips or ferther educational oppertunites, not being able to cloth you kids in decent cloths, not having a social life or the ability to go out and relax now and then, having to give your pets away or take them to a pet shelter, not being able to chip in when friends are in need etc etc, the list can go on and on.

anyone can survive, but at what cost? that is the point.

in reallife if i decided to never shave and never wash i would save money, but at what cost? and should i really be going without those things inorder to survive? is health and hygiene for example something we should neglect inorder to make ends meet? (just an example).

I played the game and agree with the unrealistic ciomments.
they saddle you with a kid, a car loan, student loans, and auto accidents all opf which I would not have had.

reply to post by VforVendettea


Then I think you are in a minority group and very lucky. How can you be so sure you will not have "unanticipated" medical expenses?

Just saying - sometimes it's something you don't expect that can trip you up. And those circumstances can be dire to people who live paycheck to paycheck.

reply to post by VforVendettea


but they occur and lots of people do have them, the game was not designed to match your life, but give an insight into what many families have to pay for and the choices they have to make.

if your on a low income and the unforeseen happens it really messes things up, it could be a car crash, being robbed, having health issues or what ever else, the unforeseen occurs regardless, and low income families do not have enough budget to deal with it, and have to make the choice of wether to pay to repair/replace etc or go without.

alot of people do have kids to even if you do not. the game is realistic as it matches alot of peoples experiences, it obviously is not going to match everybodies.

my experience of life and managing money is that things do often occur on top of each other, for example, the washing machine brakes down, and one week later it is followed by the kettle and oven.

even recently we had to pay for the bolier to be fixed followed closely by an electrician to fix the shower and sort out a socket that came away from the wall because the metal bit the screw was screwed into had snapped.
before this we had not needed to call anybody out for over a year.

Played the game and ended up with $1032 at the end of the month and my rent was $700... but I had to hang up on the bill collectors.

However, this game certainly doesn't relate to what it's like living here in Canada. No need for medical insurance or medical expenses, although we do have to pay for our own dental care (if you don't have a free benefits package from your employer). Rent is no where near the high costs this game claims (at least not in the city I used to live in) and you can find apartments where water, electricity, and cable tv are included. And I don't know about the US, but up here it's against the law for an employer to threaten your job status because you need to fill out a worker's compensation claim... their butts would be dealing with the Labour Board so fast, their heads would spin.

reply to post by Maluhia

I ran out of money on day nine cause I was too generous with my kid. I guess I got to go get an overdraft on my checking account so I can always live in the red. Funny, I remember starting out this way when we started our family.
I would not want to start all over again today, it is very scary economically.

The game cheated! I was doing well and then it doubled whammied me with gas and electric bills, totalling more than the 764 or so I had. So, I was dead at day 17.

In real life though, I've done this scenario over, and over and over. Shoot, at one time I was a homeless, unemployed, extremely ill, single parent with $1 to my name - and a girl begged a dollar from me (she had a baby) and I gave it to her. Karma paid off! I got LUCKY.

Point is, it can and does happen to even the snootiest, richest, and most secure-feeling people out there.

Poverty doesn't discriminate when it goes for a new victim.