Legal Niches

Swine Flu Games Continue to Infect the Web

By gamepolitics

The feared swine flu pandemic may be fizzling, but online games based on the H1N1 virus continue to proliferate. Today we'll look at two new offerings.

Based on simple keyboard movement system, Stop Swine Flu requires only that players maneuver their character near others and sneeze. Scoring is based on whether one's germs have infected a child, adult or senior citizen.

The game was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, which the New York Times points out is the world's second largest charity, right behind The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Daniel Glaser, who heads special projects for the Wellcome Trust, told the NYT:

We did it to engage the older teen audience and teach them that where you sneeze matters. All the science is embedded in a contest that will look familiar to the YouTube generation.

[The idea of the game is] no sicker than Ring Around the Rosy, which is alleged to date from the time of the plague. People have always caught virus and died. I don't think there's anything inappropriate about it.

PC Authority points us to the simple-minded Swine Flu: Hamdemic which inexplicably challenges players to hurl pigs across the U.S. - Mexico border.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).