Debt is clearly a problem for many people, myself included, just look at the state of our economy. Unfortunately, there aren't too many ways for people to educate themselves on the subject, especially not in games. A while back, I gave some thought to how to design a game with the player managing his debt as a major component of the game play. Obviously this would be a game about educating the public, not necessarily entertaining them.
I envisioned an RPG-style game where the player had limited income resources and needed to rely mostly on loans and credit as a means of paying for in game necessities and items. The ultimate goal was to show the player how quickly one can drown under the weight of debt in the face of shrinking income and increasing interest rates.
Well, it seems someone has beaten me to the punch as Brian Haveri, a grad student, has released Debt Ski. This flash game is simple but quite effective at showing how hard staying out of debt can be. It's a fairly simple platforming game; the player moves a pig on a jet ski from left to right collecting "income," paying for necessities like rent and trying to avoid luxuries like iPods. At the of each level the player has to be in the black to keep playing or take on debt. If the player can't afford his necessities of accrue too much debt, it's game over.
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