Sweatshop

Today in class we had the option to play one of three games- Karma Tycoon, the McDonald's video game, and Sweatshop.  Developed by Channel Four and Littleloud, Sweatshop is in all appearances a very lighthearted game; however, it was designed to address the very real issues that many workers around the world deal with every day.  The developers also worked with experts on sweatshops to integrate as many of these realities as possible into the game, as well as spread numerous fact and figures throughout the game.

After playing about 10 levels or so into the game, I had had a chance to gain a understanding for the mechanics of the game.  Thinking about it now, I believe these mechanics play a huge role in helping the player understand at a deeper level the plight faced by sweatshop workers.  In other words, I believe the developers did an excellent job using the game mechanics to convey their point.  For example, the use of water coolers to restore your workers' energy- if your workers get dehydrated, they stop working, and can even die.  This connects the game to the reality of the sweatshop- for example, in one Mexican sweatshop, "workers are expected to meet a quota of 1000 pieces a day".  This means making more than one piece a minute, making the quota "so high that the worker are unable to have a drink or go to the toilet all day."

The game also employs a karma system, in which treating your workers right gains you karma, while ignoring or mistreating them loses you karma.  This is based on the huge amount of abuse workers face.  For example:
"In 2005 the building of the Spectrum/Shahriyar Sweater factory in Bangledesh collapsed killing 64 workers and injuring 80. These deaths were entirely preventable. The building collapsed as a result of factory owners violating building codes and health and safety regulations".


These two points are just a few of the examples that show the connection between the game mechanics and the realities of the sweatshop workers.


http://www.playsweatshop.com/sweatshop.html