Playing to Win in SPENT

The first time I played SPENT, I was somewhat subconsciously compelled to attempt to act in a way consistent with my personal beliefs and assessment of the situation at hand. I tried to give my child the best possible life and spared what small expenses I could, while holding back in some of the more costly situations. I ended with a little less than a $100 in cash, still needing $800 to fix my dental issues and $500 to pay for my car, yet no indication was given about the impact of the rest of my decisions besides the occasional tidbits that would pop up after some decisions. I wasn't sure if my child was happy, if those around me had been impacted at all by my decision, or if my decisions mattered at all in any context of the game outside of the monetary values represented. I decided to test these uncertainties through multiple playthroughs.

The next few rounds I played to "win," at least in the sense that I had envisioned the win condition to be based on my first result: have enough money by the end of the game to pay rent for the next month. I shed my moral code and my devotion to the life of my child and sold my soul for money--I tried to see what decisions I could get through by paying the least amount of money while suffering the least amount of monetary consequences. With the experience of a few playthroughs and numerous smashed piggy banks behind me, I ended one round with just over $1100 in cash and no debts, more than enough to cover rent. Yet I was greeted with the same message at the end as I was in all the rest of the playthroughs where I ended with a tenth of the money and ten times the debt: "You made it through the month with $1108 (but rent's due tomorrow)." I was somewhat put off by this endgame state--in some sense, I felt like I had been betrayed by the "game" aspect of the experience. I was neither rewarded for my skilled/experienced gameplay nor for my devotion to the morally just (as in, not throwing my co-worker under the bus and supporting my kid). I felt like there was no way to truly "win."

Given this week's theme, this sentiment did not come as a surprise at all, but did highlight something we take for granted in most games: a completed game state (most often through victory). While I do realize that much of the point of a game like SPENT is to emphasize the seemingly hopeless and perpetual cycle of poverty and unfortunate situations through the unavoidable "failure" game state, I felt that the effect of the game's message was diminished through its lack of diversified endings. I wasn't put face to face with my neglect of my child in favor of money. Nor was I punished in the span of the game for the bills and medical procedures I decided to put off. SPENT's failure state ultimately felt hollow.

I'm interested to hear what other people thought about SPENT's inevitable outcome and maybe some ideas on what could've been improved (if anything) about the game's decision making and consequences to more effectively convey the game's message.