SPENT
SPENT: THE FIRST ONLINE GAME ABOUT HOMELESSNESS
WE HELPED MCKINNEY TO CREATE SPENT, AN IMMERSIVE ONLINE EXPERIENCE THAT CHALLENGES GAMERS AND NON-GAMERS ALIKE TO SURVIVE POVERTY AND SEE FIRST-HAND THAT HOMELESSNESS IS JUST A SHORTFALL AWAY.
The player is given $1,000 to survive for one month.
THE DILEMMAS THEY FACE REPRESENT THOSE THAT BRING PEOPLE TO PLACES LIKE UMD: DO YOU MAKE A HEALTHY MEAL OR KEEP THE LIGHTS ON? COVER THE MINIMUM ON YOUR CREDIT CARDS OR PAY THE RENT? HOPE YOUR SICK KID GETS BETTER ON THEIR OWN OR RISK YOUR JOB BY LEAVING EARLY TO TAKE THEM TO THE DOCTOR?
THE GAME ENDS WHEN PLAYERS EITHER RUN OUT OF MONEY BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH OR MAKE IT THROUGH WITH MONEY LEFT OVER. SINCE ITS LAUNCH IN FEBRUARY 2011, THE INTERACTIVE GAME SPENT HAS BEEN PLAYED MORE THAN 4 MILLION TIMES IN OVER 218 COUNTRIES.
In just over 10 months, the game raised $45,000 from 25,000 new UMD donors, and it was praised on CNN, ABC, Forbes Magazine and Fast Company for its ability to increase awareness of poverty in an immersive social media setting.
In September 2011, McKinney and UMD launched a petition to the U.S. Congress to take 10 minutes to experience the challenges that more than 14 million Americans are facing on a daily basis by playing SPENT.
As of December 2013, the game continued to get about 5,000 new plays each day. To allow for play on mobile devices, an HTML version was released in July 2014, when almost 2 million people had spent an average 11:46 on the site.
Client: Urban Ministries of Durham
Creation and Development: McKinney
Music + Sound Design: WHITE NOISE LAB