Developer: Littleloud
Publisher: Littleloud
Year Made: 2011
Platforms: Web Browser
Price: Free
Content Areas: Social Studies, Math
Suggested Age Level: Middle School, High School
Play Length: 2-3 hours
Number of Players: Single player
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Review:
The use of sweatshops has been a hot topic in the past few years. However, sweatshops can be difficult for students to connect with or even understand given how far they are from most students’ experiences. In 2011, Littleloud developed Sweatshop, a seemingly upbeat and free game that places players in the role of a mid-level manager at a sweatshop factory. The player follows the story of their boss, who demands more and more results, and a child laborer, who hopes you will treat the workers better than their last boss did. As players juggle between meeting quotas and providing minimally safe conditions for workers, they also learn about the conditions of sweatshops and the precarious position they hold in some economies.
Publisher: Littleloud
Year Made: 2011
Platforms: Web Browser
Price: Free
Content Areas: Social Studies, Math
Suggested Age Level: Middle School, High School
Play Length: 2-3 hours
Number of Players: Single player
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Review:
The use of sweatshops has been a hot topic in the past few years. However, sweatshops can be difficult for students to connect with or even understand given how far they are from most students’ experiences. In 2011, Littleloud developed Sweatshop, a seemingly upbeat and free game that places players in the role of a mid-level manager at a sweatshop factory. The player follows the story of their boss, who demands more and more results, and a child laborer, who hopes you will treat the workers better than their last boss did. As players juggle between meeting quotas and providing minimally safe conditions for workers, they also learn about the conditions of sweatshops and the precarious position they hold in some economies.
One of the most surprising and successful features of Sweatshop is the contrast of its adorable animation style and pop tune soundtrack against the darker, more serious material it’s presenting. This kind of contrast allows players to relax and have some fun with a game that they might not enjoy as much if it was all doom and gloom. The game’s storyline also features humor in every cut scene and a few turns in the plot that can also make players fidget uncomfortably as they struggle with the correct course of action. Players can also choose their strategy. They can focus solely on profits and hire and fire workers without providing amenities or they can sacrifice profits and points to care for their employees. Allowing players to choose their strategy involves them in how they choose to run their sweatshop and the difficulty of some of these decisions. The levels in Sweatshop are also fairly quick and the gameplay is simple to learn as you just drag and drop workers and amenities on the screen. With every level completed, students also have an opportunity to learn more about sweatshops in the world, extending their learning beyond the game themselves. Players see far more than the adorable characters and cutesy music as they also learn about the real life consequences of sweatshops.
One issue to look out for is that there are a few raunchy jokes and some slight profanity in the game, but it only happens once or twice. The game also shows characters spurting blood when they are injured on the job. The injury is just as cutesy as the rest of the imagery though. Other than those two minor issues, the game can be played with both middle school and high school students.
Sweatshop is great for a social studies class discussing current events and an issue they have a direct impact on. The facts at the end of the thirty level and the questions raised through the storyline (e.g. “What happens to the child laborers that stop working in the factories? What are their options?) all act as starting points to further researching the topic, how it impacts a number of countries, and possible solutions to the problems of the conditions. Sweatshop also works well in a math class as players must budget their profits to purchase new workers and items. They also have to handle the strong emphasis on earning as much as possible. Students could create their own hypothetical company and try to devise ways to maximize profits while still maintaining a good work environment. Sweatshop is an opportunity for students to apply math skills to a real life issue and extend their learning as well.
In Sweatshop, current issues and an economic focus combine in this fast-paced, adorable game. Hopefully, there will continue to be more games like Sweatshop that allow students an easy access point to a current event that affects them just as much as they and other consumers affect it.
Educational Rating: 7/8
(Classroom Tech Friendly, Motivation, Concrete Learning, Additional Skills, Feedback, Difficulty, Accessibility, Extension)
Overall Rating: 7/8
(Immersion, Environment, Storyline, Replayability, Entertainment, Gameplay, Originality, User Control)
Play Here!
One issue to look out for is that there are a few raunchy jokes and some slight profanity in the game, but it only happens once or twice. The game also shows characters spurting blood when they are injured on the job. The injury is just as cutesy as the rest of the imagery though. Other than those two minor issues, the game can be played with both middle school and high school students.
Sweatshop is great for a social studies class discussing current events and an issue they have a direct impact on. The facts at the end of the thirty level and the questions raised through the storyline (e.g. “What happens to the child laborers that stop working in the factories? What are their options?) all act as starting points to further researching the topic, how it impacts a number of countries, and possible solutions to the problems of the conditions. Sweatshop also works well in a math class as players must budget their profits to purchase new workers and items. They also have to handle the strong emphasis on earning as much as possible. Students could create their own hypothetical company and try to devise ways to maximize profits while still maintaining a good work environment. Sweatshop is an opportunity for students to apply math skills to a real life issue and extend their learning as well.
In Sweatshop, current issues and an economic focus combine in this fast-paced, adorable game. Hopefully, there will continue to be more games like Sweatshop that allow students an easy access point to a current event that affects them just as much as they and other consumers affect it.
Educational Rating: 7/8
(Classroom Tech Friendly, Motivation, Concrete Learning, Additional Skills, Feedback, Difficulty, Accessibility, Extension)
Overall Rating: 7/8
(Immersion, Environment, Storyline, Replayability, Entertainment, Gameplay, Originality, User Control)
Play Here!
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