An online game on fighting inflation

Two new games that have hit the web not only mock at the inflation but also gives players a chance to step into Manmohan Singh's shoes and an attempt at controlling inflation, Ruchi Hajela tells more...

Two new games that have hit the web not only mock at the double-digit inflation but also gives players a chance to step into Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's shoes and an attempt at controlling inflation, something which the government has failed to rein in.

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The week ending June 7 witnessed a sudden spurt in inflation taking it to a double digit high of 11.05 per cent from 8.75 per cent at the end of May. It has since risen to 11.63 per cent, a 13-year high.

Multilingual portal Webdunia launched a game called 'mehengai' that has a player step into Prime Minister Manmohan Singh trying to balance a common man and commodities. The minister gains points by letting go of things like food items and gas cylinders amongst others in order to prevent a man from falling. The fall of the common man has the minister or the player lose. "With inflation scaling new height, through our game we are trying to convey how a common man can balance it out," said Pankaj Jain, COO, Webdunia.

Real life events have inspired game developers to create topical games in the past as well. The online world has games on the stock market crash that took place on January 21, Union Budget and female foeticide.

Mumbai based Games2Win has come up with a game that teaches users about the importance of budgeting. A player of the 'Ice Cream Parlour' game is supposed to make an ice cream within his limited $10 budget on exceeding which he loses the game. "We launched the game to teach young people the value of thrift," said Alok Kejriwal, Founder of Games2Win. The game has had one million players over the two weeks since it was launched.