October 16, 2006 - For those yet to enter the drudgery of the working life, school stands as the greatest obstacle to video gaming. It comes as a surprise, then, that the University of North Carolina at Greensboro offers Econ 201 as a video game. The game/course, titled Econ 201: Principles of Microeconomics, teaches normally un-fun concepts such as opportunity cost and supply/demand in an online adventure game.

According to the official site, you take the role of a commander on a starship called Zeta 33, and are searching for new habitable worlds and resources. Your colony vessel reaches Earth and something goes awry--all of the senior officers aboard your ship are dead, and the Earthlings have inexplicably vanished. Stranded on the planet, the alien survivors look to you for guidance.

The game can be played either on a PC or Mac, and requires a broadband connection to play. Even those who don't attend UNC Greensboro can sign up--to enroll in extraterrestrial econ or to get more information, check out the official site.

Plasma grenade canister? Alien microecon artifact?