The term consumer literacy doesn’t exactly exude glamor. But on the contrary. He even sounds really boring. Who wants to voluntarily read about safe web addresses or fake online shops when the next funny TikTok video is just a tap away? The “Skillstar – Fulfill the mission of consumer heroes” app published by the Youth and Education Foundation is intended to show that it can be fun to acquire skills in areas such as media or finance. For this, the makers have packed the supposedly dry content into a role-playing game.
Aim for a hip career
The starting point of the plot: While you have just finished school, many friends are already a step further in life and work in the recording studio or in the hip co-working space. It is now a question of finding the right job for you. Instead of being a bank clerk or administrative clerk, “Skillstar” offers careers as a make-up artist or wakeboarder. Almost incidentally, players collect followers on the fictitious network YouSimi. This works best by sharing the consumer knowledge you have gained.
Everyday examples for more knowledge
The app conveys this through everyday examples. Why shouldn’t you buy the new smartphone straight away in an unfamiliar online shop? And is everything you read on the internet really true? For adults, this is relatively banal. Compare prices in advance and don’t believe every crazy story on the internet, that’s obvious.
On “YouSimi” (left) you share your consumer knowledge with your followers. You improve your character via the (eternally the same) mini-game.
But the app is not made for them. “The target group we want to pick up with this is all children and young people who like to play role-playing games,” says Ranja Schlotte, project manager at the Youth and Education Foundation. To ensure that everything is right for the kids, the makers have worked with real industry professionals. Including a wakeboarder, an actress and a filmmaker.
Doesn’t it say nice too often?
Only with the dialogues in the game could one get the idea that adult authors meant a little too well with the youth language. The impression is deceptive. “A storyteller had WhatsApp chats copied and developed the dialogues on this basis,” reveals Schlotte. But if you want to read them in peace, you need time. “Skillstar” is very text-heavy, there is no voice output.
Another element provides variety. If you want to learn a trade, you have to improve your skills. This can be done with a mini game. There are balls to collect and blocks to avoid – over and over again. In the long run, that can get on your nerves, it’s also a nice metaphor for professional life. If you want to achieve something, you have to keep practicing.
A hit with the target group
If you show patience and take the game seriously, you will be quickly rewarded. The cash register rings, the player can afford a better smartphone and his own apartment. This is particularly good for young people. “13- and 14-year-olds were motivated to play the game to the end,” said Schlotte. But older children would have stopped halfway through. But they miss something. Once you get used to the many dialogs and menus, you want to become a “Skillstar”. Consumer competence is on top.