Clicking your way to sound financial habits
一路点击，测试理财习惯
Feb 2nd 2013 | ATLANTA |From the print edition
ONE way to learn basic financial literacy is to sit in a classroom and listen to someone drone on about retirement accounts and financial charges. An alternative is to run a nightclub for vampires and rake in money by getting your customers the blood-type they want, while socking away enough cash for retirement (a long one—you’re undead).
学习理财常识的一个方法就是：坐在教室听某人喋喋不休的讲着退休金账户以及融资费用相关的知识。另外一种方法就是开一家吸血鬼夜总会，给他们提供所需血型，大捞一笔，或者为退休存储足够的钱（如果你是不死之身，这一过程遥遥无期）。
That is the scenario of “Bite Club”, a video game created by Doorways to Dreams (D2D) Fund, a Boston-based non-profit organisation that works on improving the finances of low- and middle-income consumers. D2D released its first prototype game in 2009, and its library now totals five games. The other titles include “Farm Blitz”, which challenges players to harvest crops from Uncle Felix’s farm while staving off ravenous rabbits (the bunnies represent debt); and “Celebrity Calamity”, in which you are a money manager who keeps a Hollywood starlet happy by keeping her out of debt.
这是波士顿非盈利机构“梦想基金之门”（注释1）创作的电子游戏《齿痕俱乐部》中的情节，该基金会致力于改善中低收入消费者的财政状况。2009年，“通向梦想基金会”发布首个《虐杀原形》游戏（注释2），其程序库现共有5种游戏。其他游戏分别是《农场闪电战》，即要求玩家避开贪婪的兔子（兔子代表债务），从菲利克斯大叔的农场收获农作物，以及《名人灾难》，在这个游戏中，玩家扮演一位资金经理人，让一位好莱坞新秀远离债务困扰，使其无后顾之忧。
Although the scenarios vary, the five games share a few crucial attributes. Like “Angry Birds” or “Tetris”, they have no extensive back stories and are easy to understand. They rely on real-world decision-making: players have to spend on necessary expenses while also saving for retirement and avoiding excess debt.
尽管情节迥异，但是这五种游戏有着共同的一些重要特性。如《愤怒的小鸟》和《俄罗斯方块》，不需要许多的背后操作指示，容易理解。这些游戏依靠现实决策：玩家必须花费必要的费用，同时也得为退休储蓄资金，避免过多债务。
Most importantly, they seem to help people. D2D recently released a paper showing the results of a randomised control trial, in which participants took financial self-confidence and financial-knowledge quizzes and then were assigned either to play “Farm Blitz” or to read a pamphlet before taking the quizzes again. Both groups improved on both measures, and although the pamphlet-readers improved more, the comparison that matters most is not whether D2D’s games are better than reading, but whether they are better than nothing.
最为重要的是，他们似乎是在帮助人们。“梦想基金之门”最近发布的一份报告显示了一次随机控制试验的结果，在这个试验中，参与者进行金融自信和金融知识测试，然后被指定玩《农场闪电战》或者阅读说明书之后再进行测试。在这两种测试措施中，两组都有所改善，尽管说明书阅读者的改善效果更佳，这一比较最重要的不在于“梦想基金之门”游戏要比阅读说明书要好，而是在于聊胜于无。
Financial-literacy education can be off-putting, after all. D2D’s least popular game is “Refund Rush”, in which players act as a financial adviser helping clients decide what to do with their tax refunds. Wouldn’t you choose vampires?
毕竟，金融扫盲教育可能会使人感到不愉快，“梦想基金之门”欢迎指数最低的游戏《职业理财师》，玩家扮演一位金融顾问，帮助客户决定如何利用退税资金。为何不选择吸血鬼呢？
注释1：D2D FUND（“梦想基金之门”）官网：http://www.d2dfund.org/
注释2：虐杀原形（Prototype）是由Radical Entertainment公司制作，美国动视发行于2009年6月9日发售的开放式科幻自由动作冒险游戏，玩家将扮演一位由病毒集合成的生物体，还要与军队和各种变异生物战斗。该游戏以高超的自由度、肆无忌惮破坏与暴力杀戮为卖点，应用Radical公司独立开发的钛合金游戏引擎IV(Titanium game engine)，游戏的风格类似侠盗猎车手系列，不同的是，当主角抓住路人或敌人时便可以吸收他们的记忆、能力，甚至能变成他们的样子以进行伪装。