Have Your Played “Layoff”?

Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 by Frank Roche

My buddy, Guillaume, sent me this note about the online game called Layoff:

Basically it is a game where you line up workers to lay them off. Each worker has a story you can read before laying them off. Businessmen cannot be laid off. I guess when you get too many businessmen remaining, you are unable to make any more layoffs. There is also a bailout button you can use. A game for the times I suppose.

Here’s what they say on the site:

Developed by members of the Tiltfactor Lab and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Game Design and Development program, LAYOFF is an examination of the current financial scandal.

LAYOFF uses a simple casual game paradigm to comment on the current state of the US financial crisis. Both friends and strangers face tough times in an unstable economy. Part dark humor, mostly grim portent, in the game players play from the side of management needing to cut jobs, and match types of workers in groups in order to lay the workers off and increase workforce efficiency.

It’s really worth checking out. It’s always worth thinking about layoffs.