Could A Microsoft Game Solve The National Debt Crisis?

A congressional commission co-chair, Erskine Bowles, has asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about the possibility of developing a game that allows players to solve the national budget deficit. This is certainly a stretch of the word ‘game’ by any means, but the news is a sign that games represent more than just entertainment: they represent a key way to get the interest of the population. The game mechanics are still undetermined, but former Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey, who worked on a similar commission in 1994, thinks a title like this could “go viral”, possibly implying that the game would do best to leverage social networks.