Black gold, Finnish newsgame
Game of Oil, by Finnish broadcaster Yle, puts you in control of the 20th century global fuel market
The dips and surges of oil prices may be hard to understand for those who are not entirely familiar with the inner workings of global commodities markets. Game of Oil simplifies an enormously complex and dynamic scenario by tasking users with a simple challenge: make a profit by selling oil at a higher price than you bought it. The game closely adheres to reality by highlighting major events that have impacted oil prices during the last half century, from 1956 — with the Suez Crisis — until the present.
Ville Juutilainen, Juha Rissanen and Teemo Tebest, Game of Oil’s creators, aim to provide a fresh, no-frills-added gaming experience for desktop and mobile. They want “to tell the story of a common commodity in a new way and to make the development of oil prices and the history of oil more transparent,” said Teemo, the team’s developer.
Game of Oil began as a prototype back in June at the Editors Lab Final. From prototype to final product, Teemo only made minor changes working with a Yle journalist. “We kept the basic functionality as it was, mainly just polishing based on comments and user testing. The biggest change was that we translated the game into Finnish,” Teemo said.
The game can serve as a point of entry to news content “relating to oil prices and current events relating to oil.”
Read more! Discover the prototype that got team Yle a spot in the Editors Lab Final: “The Beef”: rethinking audience interaction
