Online economy game review: Mortgage meltdown

Continuing the tradition of putting up links to economy games on this blog, we point you to Mortgage Meltdown the latest offering from addicting games. I stick to in browser flash games mainly.

Update: I love the moral lessons this game imparts. It is possible to make some money by speculating on properties and watching for a rise and fall in prices but then it hinges on being quick and it is not possible to own several properties at once. It however encourages you to make stable and definite profits out of the value you add to property by renovations. A simple buy - renovate -sell business model can make you a millionaire. I made nearly 6 million like this before the game hung. I would have played it again but I've found a new game. But yes the message of the game is what makes me happy- Do not speculate and indulge in risky market practices, there are a hundred honest ways to make money. The game also discourages deals where anonymous buyers offer insanely huge prices. The several touts who offer to pay off your loans and get you better credit rating are also bad news.

Sorry about the update longer than the post, the first time I played I engaged in speculation and every kind of shady practice thinking that is what I must do to win this game as. Turns out I'm wrong. Shame on me.

Interesting posts on other blogs

This is my last couple of months on the Legal Services Clinic, NLSIU and it marks the end of four years on the committee. This hasn't hit me completely yet. I shall use this opportunity to pimp the LSC blog though. Do check out the latest post (here, if you didn't click on it two lines ago). It is not a LLP report like most other posts. It's by me, but that's not the reason I put up this link under interesting posts.

I had a good laugh for more reasons than one when I read this post by none other than the very influential Krugman. I'll put up the punchline here

So Citigroup is profitable because investors think it’s failing, while Morgan Stanley is losing money because investors think it will survive. I am not making this up.

Another Economy Game

The flavour of the season is economy related games folks. The latest one on offer is the trillion dollar bailout game Trying to explain how the game works would be stupid. it's really simple to figure out. I'll just tell you how this game compares with the bailout game which I had written about previously. Now, gaming wise, this game is as much pie gates as it is about making right policy calls. Now, I might not agree with several of the positions it impliedly takes about the effects of certain measures. But compared to the bailout game it definitely has a more moderate view on the crisis. However it doesn't have any system of points and it is damn simple to win. There is no leader board or high score so there is nothing to get you to try the game more than once (you're almost guaranteed to win the first time unless you are determined to lose or are a strict laissez faire practitioner)

This is not the game I can give you a walkthrough for. For those who are current affairs challenged, I can give the following tip: When you don't understand whether saving a particular entity is good or bad for the economy, the thumb rule in this game is to give money to people below the flyover and deny it to people above unless they seem to be some government entity.

mind your bets

For a game theory analysis of Nadal-Federer encounters check this. Admittedly interesting but just trying to skirt around the fact that Rafa simply rocks.

What you didn't click the link? Perhaps the conclusion of the piece will get you interested.

When choosing the right mix, it is not just about playing to your strength. It is important to play to your advantage, which may require you play your weakness more often. This becomes even more important as your strength improves!