The average student finishes college thousands of dollars in debt and
graduates into a world where even the most qualified candidates
struggle to land a decent job. Most young adults give little thought to
their credit scores or retirement savings, and longterm financial
planning is nothing but an afterthought.
But can a mobile
game make money management more relevant to youth before they did
themselves too deep a hole? That’s what Mindblown Labs, the startup
behind the in-development game Mindblown Life, thinks.
The iOS game will
have players navigate a series of life-simulating tasks and adventures
while interacting with other friends in the game. Balancing work and
personal lives while trying not to go virtually bankrupt is meant to
teach kids applicable skills such as the financial cost of a bad
relationship or the effect of two fancy Starbucks drinks each day on
future retirement funds.
A Kickstarter
campaign to fund the project is off to a fast start, already raising
two-thirds of a $60,000 target goal with with nearly three weeks left to
go. Mindblown Labs cofounder Tracy Moore says the game can play an
important role for young adults emerging into a dramatically different
economy than the one that existed just several years ago.
“We’re at an unsustainable point in financial literacy,” he told Mashable
in an interview. “If we don’t do something now, the tomorrow that
exists will be dramatically different from the one we imagined and the
one we want.”
Mindblown Labs went with a mobile-based approach for Mindblown Life in an effort to reach and become relevant to a younger generation that increasingly accesses the web via smartphone and spends less time on laptops or desktop computers.
The company is involved in aiming to equip younger generations for
the future in more ways, too. Moore and two other Mindblown Labs labs
members help lead the Hidden Genius Project, a mentorship program that aims to get young black males involved in tech startup entrepreneurship, design and engineering.
Judging by the Kickstarter campaign’s success so far, Mindblown Life
shouldn’t be able to see how effective it can before long. But Moore
says his startup hopes funding doesn’t dry up at $60,000 because it
would love to apply extra cash to some “stretch goals” that would add
more features and push the game out sooner.
Does Mindblown Life sound like a Kickstarter you would support? You can check it out here, and let us know what you think in the comments.
An article from Mashable.com
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