The "Game"!!!!

In the "Game On" exercise, we have to pick one of three online flash games to play.  Without hesitation, I picked the "MacDonald's game. (http://www.mcvideogame.com/game-eng.html) In this game, the player, as "God of MacDonald's" have four screens to manage:

- The farm
- The feedlot
- The Restaurant
- The Office

In this flash game, you have to control the company, from the farm to the feedlot, the restaurant, and deal with all other concerns like negative news, fundraiser or even unhappy employees.  Although it looks like a simple game, but there are so many small details that you have to pay attention to in order not to bankrupt the company.

This game has taught me a great lesson, in both economics and management.  I started out with a small farm, one small cow barn and seeded two pieces of land to provide pasture for the cows when they go into the feedlot.  I hired two employees in the restaurant, one to make burger patties, and one to take care of the cashier. It was smooth sail, and I felt very comfortable with how the business was going.  In time, some of the cows in the feedlot will get sick, and I have to ensure I destroy them before they hit the meat patty machine.  In time, the business started growing.  With constant line up in the restaurant, I had no choice but to hire another cashier.

And the nightmare begins.

It was all a domino effect.  With the new cashier in place, the kitchen is no longer supplying enough burgers to sell.  The only way to create more burgers is to go to the feedlot and to create more meat patties. To create more meat patties, I had to increase the barn size in the farm, and with more cows, I had to harvest more pasture for the cows.  I almost bankrupted the company with all the additions, but I survived.
The storm started again within months; I was getting fines from the government, upset employees won't work, environmentalist protesting...etc and nobody is eating at the restaurant anymore due to all the negative news.  I had to make a choice, to advertise using a fundraiser, or slow down all productions, lay off employees, and stop harvesting pastures to save cost.  And finally, the decision was made, I decided to spend thousands of dollars on a MacDonald's - Disney foundation for kids, and it was a very expensive decision, but it worked and customers started coming back again.  Unfortunately, it still weren't enough to recover from the hit, and the company declared bankruptcy after 16 years in business.

Although this is a game, but it actually reflected a lot of problem on running a business.  It is always easy to manage a small business, but in time, the demand will grow and with the rise of demand comes a shortage of supplies.  In history, we learn that a quick growing business without a solid foundation are very likely to fall and unable to recover.  If I can go back in time in my game, I will probably ignore the line ups and try to build a more solid financial background before expending again.  Well created game!!