I think it’s safe to say the Covid-19 has dramatically changed the way we go about our daily lives. To many of us, it has directly affected either us or people we know and care about.
In recognition of that fact, the developers at Ndemic Creations created a new mode for their cult classic, Plague Inc., where we aren’t eliminating all of humanity with a deadly disease. Instead, we take the role of an international task force charged with putting an end to the pandemic before it spirals out of control.
Additionally, The Cure was developed in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to help promote policies and strategies necessary to combat the ongoing crisis that impacts so many of us.
The thing that stands out most to me is how much this mode is centered around researching, producing, and then releasing the vaccine, to the point where it is the ultimate win condition of the game. Once it’s successfully out in the wilds, it’s only a matter of time before the disease is eradicated. It’s a subtle, yet powerful message in an era where anti-vaxxers and other misinformation is dreadfully commonplace.
I also can’t help but call attention to crucial it is in game to keep the population happy in the middle of the pandemic. If people are suffering because they’re quarantined and unable to work, they’ll start to ignore the safety protocols the player has already put into place. This stresses the real world importance of economic relief that so many world leaders seem completely unwilling to provide in the current climate.
The last element of The Cure that caught my attention was that vaccine production could begin even before research had been completed. This is why, in both games, our production was mostly wrapped up before our research was. While I couldn’t find any evidence that this is the case in real life, I imagine there is some truth to it. Otherwise, we likely wouldn’t have Covid vaccines developed at the speed we have in the reality.
Since the devs have taken the time to use their platform for a social good, especially since this update is free “until the pandemic is under control”, the least I can do is use my own platform to help spread the message.
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