This document discusses how games can be used to improve health and learning. It evaluates the game Solve the Outbreak, developed by the CDC to teach players about disease outbreaks. The game places the player in the role of an investigator who must solve outbreak cases by gathering data and finding patterns. While the game has limited animation and audio, it succeeds in making disease learning engaging. Players can earn points and badges while learning how to identify diseases, prevent their spread, and make difficult decisions as part of a CDC surveillance team.

1. GAMIFICATION
AND SOLVE THE OUTBR E A K
GAME EVALUAT I O N

2. CAN GAMES IMPROVE HEALTH?
• Dyslexic Children playing Rayman Raving
Rabbids for 12 hours
Increased the child’s awareness and
attention
Fast-paced actions games have tons
going on all at once, forcing the player
to learn how to extract useful information
from the game environment.
Referrence: http://www.gamification.co/2013/03/08/study-video-
games-can-improve-reading-ability-of-dyslexic-children/

3. CAN GAMES IMPROVE HEALTH?
• Burn Patients playing SnowWorld.
To alleviate pain in a non-phamacological
way, the university of Washington developed
a virtual reality game that works under the
premise of information overload. Brain scans
show associated reductions in pain related
brain activity during VR. VR distraction
appears to be most effective for patients with
the highest pain intensity levels
Referrence: http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/vrpain/
index_files/Annalspublished.pdf

4. GAME REVIEW
Developed by Centers for Disease Control
Images from the CDC website

5. GAME OVERVIEW
• You’re going to start the game as a Trainee, from
the per level, you can choose a case.
• You’ll be given a scenario of an outbreak, and your
task will be to investigate the cause of spread of
disease.
• Get in the field, find a common pattern, isolate the
data that stands out, and solve the events leading
to the outbreak.
• Available Online, iOS, Android

6. GAMEPLAY PROS
• Detective (Problem Solving)
• Earn points for each correct answer to a
clue
• Points make up for promotions
• Badges and achievements are unlocked for
unique task
• Share your score and invite friends on social
media

7. GAMEPLAY PROS
• Well written cases
• Learn information about a certain disease
• Find out how it can be cured or prevented
• Isolate the cause and prevent the spread
• Learn math equations and formulas
• Develop critical thinking and come up with
hard decisions

8. Formulas and Tables are shown to present data

9. GAMEPLAY CONS
• Limited animation
• Limited audio and visual stimuli
• Lost of motivation after a number of case

10. SUMMARY
The application Solve the Outbreak succeeds in it’s
task of making learning about disease and outbreaks
engaging for everyone. Playing it takes patience,
you’ll have to gather all the data needed to respond
to the question. It doesn’t have the animation and
music that can enthrall you through the whole game.
Although, you will learn to identify more with the CDC
surveillance team, collect useful data, and make
hard decisions. The eureka moments are worth it!
You’ll never know when the information you’ve
learned while playing this can become useful in the
future.