Mind Your Own Budget

Comprehensive financial literacy curriculum in a serious game.

Project Descrition

MYOB is designed to show students that the key to financial health is simple: Spend less than you make. Students are expected to set and follow a monthly budget and regularly monitor their checking and savings accounts while avoiding debt. However, students must balance their comfort level as well. In order to win the game, players must achieve and maintain the game goals for each scenario (such as savings, debt, and comfort goals) before time runs out.

MYOB contains ten scenarios, each dealing with different financial challenges and covering a mixture of financial literacy objectives. In each scenario, the player will earn a paycheck every four weeks. After they deposit their paycheck, they are prompted to set a budget for the next four weeks. Then they are free to determine how to spend their TIME, COMFORT, and MONEY, by choosing from any of the options on the screen, from paying bills to going shopping.

Every action the player takes in the game will impact their score in one of these three areas. If the player does not have enough time, comfort, or money to complete an action, the Perform button will be disabled. They will have to either choose a different action or perform an action that will give them enough resources to complete it.

Once the player has used all of the time points allotted for each four-week period, they will see a monthly summary, which provides feedback on their performance during that time. In order to win the game, the player must MEET or EXCEED the minimum SAVINGS REQUIREMENTS, DEBT REPAYMENT GOAL, and COMFORT LEVEL set out at the beginning of the scenario. Throughout the game, the player must strategically use their time, comfort, and money in order to achieve and maintain the scenario goals.

Awards and Publications for MYOB

Gold Star Award: The Nine Things Every College Student Should Know About Money (2015). National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. University of Oklahoma’s “The Nine Things Every College Student Should Know About Money,” was a course created to provide students with an understanding of personal finance and how financial decisions will impact their lives going forward. The Mind Your Own Budget: The Apartment game is a component of this course. 

Wilson, S., Williams, L., Thompson, W., Kuehn, E., Black, J., Dean, S., Elizondo, J., Terry, R., Garn, G. (2020). The power of application in learning life skills: A case study of a game-based learning approach. In O’Hair, D. & O’Hair, J. (Eds.), The Handbook of Applied Communication Research: Volume 2. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 

Bergeron, L., Thompson, W., Wilson, S. (2016, July). NCCEP/GEAR UP Annual Conference: GEAR UP for Gaming: A Financial and Information Literacy Digital Game-Based Learning Experience. Washington, D.C. 

Thompson, W., Elizondo, J., Wilson, S. (2014, July). NCCEP/GEAR UP Annual Conference: Financial Literacy Fun: Financial Learning through Simulated Game-Based Learning. San Francisco, CA. 

Oklahoma College Public Relations Association Achievement Award, Mobile App. Mind Your Own Budget. (2013).

My Role

I was the primary instructional game designer for Mind Your Own Budget.  I was in charge of defining the game mechanisms, instructional content, and evaluations used in this learning experience. I worked directly with developers, artists, and subject matter experts to ensure the instructional experience was engaging and effective at achieving the required learning objectives.

Additionally, I developed companion lessons, user guides, videos, and other materials to help teachers incorporate Mind Your Own Budget into their classrooms and extend learning beyond the game.