Much of the curriculum of the current cohort of the Karabots Junior Fellows Program has revolved around games, from using games to teach our fellows about STEM concepts such as the spread of disease, , and the to our Fellows . Recently, our Fellows got the chance to flex their game development muscles by acting as play testers for a computer game about vaccines.
The Fellows met with John Theibault who is part of a development team designing a game centered around public health and vaccination. The Pox Hunter puts players in the role of a physician in early 1800s Philadelphia whose goal is to convince people in the city to receive smallpox vaccinations in order to curtail a potentially deadly outbreak. The player pleads their case using different conversation tactics, such as empathy, reason, and intimidation, to convince a variety of characters representing different racial and socioeconomic groups throughout the city. Working individually or in pairs, the Fellows played through the game and offered their feedback. Drawing upon their experience developing and playtesting their own game prototypes, the Fellows shared what they felt were the game's strengths and weaknesses and offered recommendations for what they would like to see in the final completed version.
While The Pox Hunter is still in development, if you are interested in using games to learn more about vaccines, feel free to check out , an interactive activity that explores the evolution of vaccination developed by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.