Anthrax, Ebola, E. Coli – deadly diseases loaded with the potential for creating dramatic tension. Exponential infection rates make speed, effectiveness and professional ability critical. What is causing the spread of this disease? Are a patient’s loved ones at risk of contracting the disease? Can you save a village from contracting a deadly disease? Are you, the doctor, safe? These are all issues the player will struggle with while playing Biohazard.

Biohazard is a simulated world, role-playing game that leverages the dramatic potential of pathophysiology to help learners discover the intricacies of normal human physiology. Animated characters feature temperature, suspicion level (are they infected, with whom have they been in contact, if the disease is spread by droplet infection), hydration level, pain level, hunger, and antigen presence in blood.

Diseases for each level - Ebola or legionnaires disease, rabies, tuberculosis and meningitis - have been selected for their dramatic impact, and their ability to present a varied range of problems for the student to solve. Furthermore, in battling each disease, the player elaborates on skills developed on each previous level. Significantly, Biohazard does not attempt to train doctors, but rather, invokes the dramatic nature of popular cultural forms such as ER, and films such as Outbreak or Andromeda Strain to create a compelling game experience. Biohazard seeks to make physiology meaningful by creating educationally authentic and emotionally compelling game goals. By situating learners in an immersive digital environment where the game goals are congruent with educational goals, Biohazard incorporates pedagogical techniques known to be successful in top medical schools and simulated learning environments (Schank, 1994).

Copyright 2002, MIT.