In the academic writing and research design I will use qualitative method. In games design and public administration fields, the qualitative research design is commonly used and proper for the topic. And in following case studies, comparative case studies will be used to illustrate pros and cons. Frostpunk by 11 bit studios and Civilization VI by Firaxis Games will the two research cases. Also, I will focus on how 11 bit studios present the history and outcomes by child labor policy in Frostpunk’s Law system.

In public policy analysis, the first step of research is to define the problem correctly, according to Bardach and Patashnik(2019). So what is child labor? The common explanation is the exploitation of children’s human rights and intervention of their schooling. Child labor situation is often related to low productivity, lack of legislation and adult labor market. As Grootaert and Kanbur(1995) point out, even though the first World Summit for Children in 1990 ”were no explicit goals relating to child labor, but the target included basic education for all children. These goals, if met, will reduce child labor.” The problem was and will never be independent from child rights protection. In policy making fields, there are many solution a government can make to improve children situation. Some are even considered unrelated in the first place.

According to Grootaert and Kanbur(1995), poverty, population policy, employment opportunities for parents can all be policy intervention factors affecting child labor. In Frostpunk, the first thing we will face is poverty – lack of heating resources. In order to search for resources and food supplies, player will choose whether they will use child labor. One thing to note is that you can choose child labor from the very start of the game and it will affect till the end. Actually according some interview with players from Reddit, child labor is the first policy they make to increase productivity.

And will 11 bit studios stop at here discussing child labor? No, they took a step further. As we have talked before, the improvement of children education have positive effect on reducing child labor. In Frostpunk, if player were not choosing child labor, they can send children to training schools as apprentices. Yeah they did it into the first policy making for players. Though it will cost resources and one opportunity for policy making, it will later bring more productivity. In actual research it have the exact same outcome. For a sole family, education can be a burden at first, but later it can bring more chances to get rid of poverty for the whole family. In game, 11 bit studios erase the uncertainty and make it profitable in a long period.

One more thing to notice is that, according to Dolkemeyer(2020), Frostpunk provides a “Living-with and Dying with community” to the players. Citizens in game will react to player’s policy making as a community and a family. In making the child labor approval law, citizens will lose hope, which is a system that affect gaming process and ending. Citizens are complaining about that kids should be in school and not be working as adults.

In conclusion, we have a quick review of policy analysis process and child labor situation and affecting factors. Combining with decision making system in the game Froskpunk (11 bit studios, 2018)., we have a quick review on both child labor and the game.

Bibliography

Grootaert, C. and Kanbur, R., 1995. Child labor: A review. Available at SSRN 620526.

Dunn, W.N., 2015. Public policy analysis. Routledge.

Bardach, E. and Patashnik, E.M., 2019. A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold path to more effective problem solving. CQ press.

Dolkemeyer, L., 2020. Autocracy for the People. Modes of response-able Action and the Management of Demise in Frostpunk. gamevironments.