Lots of corporations are eliminating redundancies these days. Now you can do the same in a free web game dubbed Layoff.
Inspired by games that require you to match three objects, such as Bejeweled, you start with a grid of workers. You swap positions of any two workers to align three or... (Read more)
Reprinted with permission from VentureBeat. Story copyright 2009 VentureBeat Inc. All rights reserved.
I think this game is deeply flawed.
Leaving aside several poor gameplay decisions (it's slow, there is no time pressure, there is no reward - which might be intentional since it's about making redundancies), it leaves out one important truth.
Layoffs are necessary to help strong firms survive difficult economic times.
It's terrible when people get laid off.
It's terrible when bosses get mega-bonuses at the same time.
But layoffs, themselves, are a pre-requisite for the survival of our businesses, the businesses whose tax revenue will pay off the vast fiscal deficits most Western governments are currently incurring.
It would have been possible to make a game that reflected both sides, and satirised greedy bosses at the same time (see http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/03/misguided-layoff-game-takes-on-bejewel...) but for this team of academics, political prejudice beat out *both* useful edutainment *and* good gameplay.
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