Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie Madoff-Style Scams

Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie Madoff-Style Scams

May 19, 2009

A social game for web-capable mobile phones parodies rogue financier Bernie Madoff's long-running Ponzi scheme, reports CNNmoney.

Made Off, available from publisher Cellufun, allows players to create virtual scams of their owns, promising other players investment returns of up to 20%. Player need to continually attract new "investors" in order to pay back the older ones, lest their Ponzi scheme collapse. No real money is involved. Instead, players trade "cellupoints."

Cellufun CEO Neil Edwards, who says his game pokes fun at the jailed Madoff, not his victims, told CNN/money that Made Off has an educational component:

When your fund goes broke, you go, 'Holy crap, I didn't invite enough people... There is a lot of misconception and confusion on what happened. People don't really understand a Ponzi scheme."

A blurb on the game's website describes the action:

Play as a slimy Fund Manager, a savvy Investor, or both. The game will end without warning when the Feds finally crack down on the Cellufun community, and people managing Funds will get to keep all the Cellupoints invested in them. Investors will keep all the Cellupoints they've acquired through interest payments as well. And we'll give trophies to those who have "made off" with the most profits...

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Re: Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie ...

The media loves to be outraged when a game comes out that lets you "kill prostitutes".  Will this game generate controversy for teaching the children to commit fraud- or is it OK so long as it's a white-collar crime?

Re: Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie ...

Ah, but remember, this is set in real life, whereas 'no-one shoots anyone in the face unless they are a Hitman or a Gamer...' ;)

Re: Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie ...

Not a chance, we have had a massive goverment supported ponzi scheme that has been quite public in it's ponzi stats going on since 1935 and very few people got outraged.

Re: Social Game Lets Mobile Phone Users Try Bernie ...

Do you guys not feel that negative happenings have a bad effect on the things we do. There are a lot of good things that occur as well but we tend to highlight scams and failures and bad loans etc more than we highlight and read and write of the good things that are happening around us. Admittedly there are more negatives things but the more we hear and read about such things it will certainly pull us towards negative actions. Any lawsuit against him is a waste. People will not be able to recover their money from this fraud of the century.

Commercial litigation funding

ECA IconA PUBLICATION OF THE ECA RSS IconSUBSCRIBE User LoginLOGIN / REGISTER

Crispy Gamer




       

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 07/30/10 at 10:25am
ZippyDSMlee: No lan too but that will be hack in, with 2X maps its as big as SC,so....want more now ;P
Posted 07/30/10 at 10:19am
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: @Cheater: Thank you, I´ll try it later. It happened after I installed the new upgrade, btw
Posted 07/30/10 at 08:16am
E. Zachary Knight: Sep 21 is "Civilization V Day" in Maryland.
Posted 07/30/10 at 01:27am
Andrew Eisen: I got hired to sing bass for an a cappella group tomorrow night. I have nine songs to learn. Yikes.
Posted 07/29/10 at 10:53pm
E. Zachary Knight: Zippy, I thought SC2 was only 1/3 of a game? ;)
Posted 07/29/10 at 08:59pm
ZippyDSMlee: SC2 is god! BOW DOWN TO SC2!
Posted 07/29/10 at 07:50pm
Cheater87: Garcia that sounds like a A/V problem. Try turning the TV on and off or doing that with the AV changer. Thats how I fix mine.
Posted 07/29/10 at 06:50pm
Andrew Eisen: The urinals now have floor mats!
Posted 07/29/10 at 04:54pm
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: My PS3 is having some kind of failure. The sound is still there but the image is totally out...
Posted 07/29/10 at 03:39pm
ZippyDSMlee: SC2!!SC2!!!SC2!!!!!!
Posted 07/28/10 at 02:45pm
beemoh: Farmville creator Zynga closes one of its games, customers who paid for in-game content unimpressed (Link)
Posted 07/28/10 at 09:51am
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: Also... [AE: I fixed your link.]
Posted 07/28/10 at 09:49am
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: He blames the internet, but not his abusive mother.
Posted 07/28/10 at 09:48am
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: Akihabara murderer blames cyber bullying for rampage in 2008
Posted 07/27/10 at 02:49pm
E. Zachary Knight: Holy Awesome Game Trailers Batman. Superman heat visioning people in the face and Jedi using Hadouken. Awesome.
Posted 07/27/10 at 01:36pm
ZippyDSMlee: Ah I didnt see it down there :P
Posted 07/27/10 at 01:23pm
E. Zachary Knight: Zippy, you are late to the party.
Posted 07/27/10 at 12:15pm
ZippyDSMlee: Court: breaking DRM for a "fair use" is legal
Posted 07/25/10 at 01:51pm
ZippyDSMlee: Cheater87:I do not think they see the need for it its a shame its more needed than E10.....
Posted 07/24/10 at 08:19pm
Cheater87: Zippy I sent them an email about a 15 age category a year or so ago and they said they had no plans for one at the moment. I'll send another one and see if they respond back again.
Login or register to post shouts