SurviveCovid-19++ : A collaborative healthcare game towards educating people about safety measures and vaccination for Covid-19

TL;DR

SurviveCovid-19++ is a multiplayer healthcare game designed to educate diverse populations about Covid-19 safety measures, vaccination, and collaborative responsibilities through role-based gameplay, aiming to enhance awareness and empathy.

Contribution

This paper introduces SurviveCovid-19++, a novel multiplayer game that educates players on Covid-19 safety, vaccination, and professional responsibilities, emphasizing collaboration and empathy.

Findings

Players showed increased empathy towards different professional roles.

Participants demonstrated better understanding of Covid-19 safety measures.

User survey results were generally positive and encouraging.

Abstract

Covid-19 has been affecting population across the world for more than an year, with diverse strains of this virus being identified in many countries. Vaccines to help in curbing the virus are being developed and administered. Preventing the spread of the disease requires collaborative efforts from everyone. People with varied professional backgrounds have varied responsibilities in controlling the pandemic. It is important that everyone is aware of their respective responsibilities and also empathize with efforts and duties of other individuals. It is here, we wish to leverage the potential of games in healthcare domain, towards educating about Covid-19. With an aim to educate the population about vaccination against Covid-19, responsibilities of citizens with varied professional backgrounds, and emphasize on the need for collaboration to fight against the pandemic, by following safety measures, we present SurviveCovid-19++, a collaborative multiplayer desktop based game. The game essentially revolves around four roles - doctor, sanitation worker, citizen and law enforcer, delivering their duties, following safety measures and collaboratively clearing multiple stages in the game. We have performed a preliminary evaluation of the game through a qualitative and quantitative user survey. The results of the user survey were encouraging, with volunteers expressing their increased empathy towards efforts of individuals with varied professional backgrounds, and better understanding of the importance of safety measures against Covid-19.