In an era where entrepreneurship has gained significant popularity, a novel tool has surfaced to aid university students in mastering the art of business. What, you may ask, is this tool? A video game! Indeed, Venture Valley, a complimentary mobile and PC game, is making a notable impact in the education sector by imparting essential skills to excel in the ever-evolving realm of entrepreneurship.
Crafted by the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship, Venture Valley is a multiplayer business development game where participants engage in competition and collaboration with peers and online associates to attain optimal entrepreneurship outcomes. Players commence with a dog-walking service, accrue in-game currency to expand their businesses and assets, and utilise cards to gain advantages or to impede their adversaries.
The influence of this game extends beyond virtual triumph. University students like Oliver Stoner-German have assimilated the lessons gleaned from Venture Valley and translated them into genuine business endeavours. Post his triumph in the Venture Valley tournament, Stoner-German deployed his newfound wisdom to promote his peer-to-peer marketplace, Shelp—Student Help, which he established to address a gap he observed within the student community at the University of Arizona.
Despite initial obstacles, Stoner-German altered his marketing approach to enhance the application’s visibility, a skill he cultivated from engaging with Venture Valley. This capacity to adapt to the market denotes a pivotal lesson imparted by the game, as it reproduces the implications of business decisions and market dynamics on player revenue.
The tangible outcomes of the game’s pedagogical impact are evident. A survey by Venture Valley revealed that almost 70% of university students exhibit heightened interest in launching their own businesses subsequent to engaging with the game, illustrating the potential of gamified learning in advocating entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Moreover, over 80% of students and professors assert that the game is efficacious in teaching business and entrepreneurship.
Educators such as Tony Garcia from Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business have lauded the game for its ability to captivate students and aid them in applying fundamental business concepts within a dynamic and enjoyable framework. Garcia encourages his students to partake in Venture Valley’s collegiate cup and to apply the principles they acquire from the game in the classroom, underscoring the significance of comprehending a business as an interconnected whole rather than a series of disjointed components.
Ultimately, the resounding message emanating from this distinctive educational approach is that proficiency in entrepreneurship necessitates fervour and a comprehensive grasp of the predicament being addressed. As Stoner-German advises, aspiring entrepreneurs must be prepared to undertake multiple roles within their business and remain steadfast to their product and vision.
In summation, the innovative approach of employing a video game to instruct entrepreneurship is proving to be a efficacious strategy for engaging and enlightening university students. Venture Valley has demonstrated its potential to inspire students to pursue entrepreneurial ventures and cultivate the skills requisite to navigate the intricacies of the business domain.
This article has been produced by BestColleges and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media. © Stacker Media, LLC.