Diseases are rarely fun (except for the names. The names are often great. Bubonic is just fun to say out loud). The Center for Disease Control aims to change all that with their new games jam. It tasks developers to convey something of their work in disease prevention and investigating outbreaks through games.
Coxsackievirus. That’s another great sounding one.
If you’ve ever seen a film where an illness breaks out and folk in hazmat suits turn up and start washing people down with hoses then you’ve some idea of what the CDC does. Their procedures for dealing with disease outbreaks are used all over the world.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Game Jam is the first event of its kind that the CDC has organised. It’s kicking off on 20 September over at Georgia’s Southern Polytechnic in Marietta and running for 48 hours. Unfortunately for folk not affiliated with the college you can only take part if you’re part of the institution.
The winners get a month’s paid work assignment at the CDC.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen health researchers turn to game developers to communicate their findings. Last year the Wellcome Trust ran their first game jam. A game about fighting illness in your bum won.
Further details can be found here.