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Ayiti: The Cost of Life

Hello everybody in computer land this is David Miles reporting from Tech II with a review of a game called Ayiti: The Cost of Life, which revolves around the life of the Guinard family attempting to balance happiness, money, education and health. The game lasts for four years, each being divided into four seasons, Summer, rainy season, hurricane and dry season, each having their own natural problems, such as sickness and hurricanes.
The agenda of Ayiti: the cost of Life was to raise awareness about the living conditions of rural Haiti, as it seems nearly impossible to balance all aspects of life. Whenever I made some extra money, a hurricane came and tore the family’s house down making them poor, and unhappy. When one of the kids got sick, they spread the germs to the rest of the family, forcing them to take off from school, and affecting their health negatively.

The goal of Ayiti: the cost of Life was to survive through four years of rainy, summer, hurricane and dry seasons, while maintaining a happy life, getting an education, earning money and staying healthy.

The game works as it simulates an under privileged region of earth. It successfully educates the user through the interaction of a family going through different but limited aspects of life, and it shows how hard life is for this family, and how hard they struggle just to make it through the day. Some cons to this game though are that a lot of the events that occur happen at the worst time, and the game exaggerates a few situations. For example, if one of the family members get sick, you can choose to rest them or make them keep working, but no matter the choice, the sickness will almost always spread to the rest of the family. Then a hurricane will come and blow the roof of your house off, and before you know it every family member is in a grave. All in all, this game accomplishes its primary goal, but in my opinion it exaggerates a bit too much.