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Night of the Living Debt Game Teaches Credit Score and Financial Literacy

Our successful financial literacy game Night of the Living Debt is now available on web browser for all audiences! Play it at nightofthelivingdebt.org. Previously designed for iPad only, the game now reaches new audiences through computers and web browsers on mobile devices. 


Night of the Living Debt is designed to promote financial literacy among young adults, particularly around credit score. The game immerses players in a post-apocalyptic world whose perils involve credit, debts, and choices about housing, education, and transportation. 


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Title screen of Night of the Living Debt.

In 2024, thanks to funding from Extension Foundation’s New Technologies in Ag Extension, the Learning Games Lab redeveloped the game for a web platform. Developers retained all gameplay and learning content from the original 2016 version of the game, while adding accessibility features (such as keyboard control, additional onboarding, and game instructions) and some new graphical flourishes. Dr. Luke Erickson of University of Idaho Extension, a collaborator in the original game, continued to serve as a financial literacy content expert and consultant on game development, as well as producing a new series of educational videos delving into financial literacy topics. 


Originally created with University of Idaho Extension and NW Youth Financial Education, with funding from CoBank, the game was first built for iPad and had been used successfully with young adults learning about credit score, debt, and how to choose and pay off loans and credit cards wisely.


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Wise use of credit cards: One of the teaching purposes of the game.

Why It’s Important to Reach More Learners with Night of the Living Debt

Despite the importance of financial literacy for youth (Frinancho, 2022), education and outreach systems still struggle to provide finance training and education programs tailored to youth needs (Erickson, Hansen, and Chamberlin, 2019). Young adults often report not receiving enough personal finance-focused education during high school, and many graduate with an insufficient understanding of how and why to build and maintain good credit for future big purchases such as a car, house, or college education. First-generation college students may also face a steeper learning curve in understanding how student loans and other debt interact with credit scores. As a fun and accessible way to introduce learners to these topics, Night of the Living Debt uses game-based decision making to provide learners agency within a low stakes situation. The player's goal is to finish the game with a high credit score and end debt-free. 


To confirm usability and suitability of learning content in the new version, our team tested the game with young adults and gathered qualitative feedback about whether any adjustments were needed to support the user experience with the game. Testers identified certain topics introduced by the game about which they wanted more explanation and clarification. The Innovative Media Research and Extension video unit collaborated with Luke Erickson of the University of Idaho to address these topics in supporting videos, a new component of the teacher support materials for the game.


May be a screenshot of a videogame.
Make sure to keep a good credit score!

Our team will continue to collect empirical data on the game to ensure Night of the Living Debt is successful in providing youth with engagement, knowledge gain, and intent behavior change on financial literacy issues (Erickson, Hansen, and Chamberlin, 2019). With the game now on web platforms, we hope to reach a more significant national audience, especially rural communities who may have less access to financial literacy education. The WebGL version of the game can be accessed on any device, and our team will pursue integration with larger distribution partners.


We continue to collaborate with the Extension Foundation on marketing campaigns, webinars for agents, and academic publications about the process of redeveloping Night of the Living Debt.



References:

Cezarotto, M., Martinez, P., & Chamberlin, B. (2022). Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity. In B. Sobota (Ed.), Game Theory - From Idea to Practice (pp. 41-59). IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108456

Cezarotto, M., Martinez, P., & Chamberlin, B. (2022b). Redesigning for Accessibility: Design Decisions and Compromises in Educational Game Design. International Journal of Serious Games, 9(1), 17–33. https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v9i1.469

Erickson, L., Hansen, L., & Chamberlin, B. (2019). A Model for Youth Financial Education in Extension Involving a Game-Based Approach. The Journal of Extension, 57(4), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.34068/ joe.57.04.17

Frisancho, V. (2020). The impact of financial education for youth. Economics of Education Review, 78, 101918. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101918


The redevelopment of Night of the Living Debt for web was funded by an Expansion award from the Extension Foundation’s NTAE (New Technologies for Ag Extension) grant, a USDA-NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) grant through the University of New Hampshire. Grant activity focus areas included the development of projects that lead to local impact and align with both USDA Strategic Goals and the ECOP Program Priority Areas. 




Written by Amy Smith Muise, Editor, and Matheus Cezarotto, Educational Technology Specialist, Department of Innovative Media Research and Extension, New Mexico State University



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