Featured Post

Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (Nosocomial Pneumonia) and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Image
infection in lungs is it dangerous :: Article Creator Transplanted Lungs Likely Spread Dangerous Legionella Infection To Two Recipients, Study Says - CNN CNN  —  For the first time, an organ transplant is believed to have spread dangerous Legionella bacteria, according to a report published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two people who developed Legionnaires' disease received donated lungs from a man who died last year after falling into a river in Pennsylvania. The man, who was in his 30s, had been declared brain-dead after attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. Polish authorities probe whether deadly Legionnaires' outbreak was result of water tampering Doctors were able to transplant his right lung into a woman in her 70s. His left lung went to a man in his 60s. Both eventually developed Legionnaires', a severe form of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria. People who re...

Have You Played… Plague Inc: Evolved? - Rock Paper Shotgun

Have You Played… Plague Inc: Evolved? - Rock Paper Shotgun


Have You Played… Plague Inc: Evolved? - Rock Paper Shotgun

Posted: 15 Jan 2021 12:00 AM PST

Plague Inc: Evolved is a game about killing off the human race with a disease. Billions of human beings are boiled down to numbers of healthy, infected, and dead, allowing players to neatly sidestep the potential well of moral turmoil that such subject matter invites (especially in these times), and instead focus on evolving their plague.

It's a fairly challenging little strategy game that can be played out in the span of perhaps 10 minutes. And, strangely, it's just about the only strategy game I routinely play where I haven't the slightest desire to get any better at it.

There's a surprising amount of complexity in the systems of Plague Inc. In most cases, evolving your disease is a delicate balancing act. You'll generally want to maximise your creation's infectiousness first, before suddenly cranking up the lethality once you've passed the point of no return. This change has to come at just the right moment, though. Too early and you risk wiping out all your hosts, preventing further transmission. Too late, and the humans will likely develop a cure before you have time to reach your goal of total genocide.

Another thing to think about is that there are various different manners of spreading each disease. Countries that border one another are obviously vulnerable to transmission of the disease, but other countries are islands that can only be reached via plane or ship. And if a country gets too jumpy about the potential severity of your plague, then they'll close off their ports, stopping you from infecting them.

Incidentally: fuck you, Greenland, with your one port that you close the instant anyone so much as sneezes in Australia.

But anyway, there's a startling depth to Plague Inc, and to this day I don't understand why I've never felt any desire to look up different tips or strategies to see how I can do things better. Generally, I win about half the time, and lose the other half. And I've no idea what I do differently each time which results in a win or a loss. I'm sure reasons do exist, but I have no interest in finding them. I think it might just be that I play Plague Inc. Evolved not as a strategy game, but as an experience. I adore the sinister, dreadful atmosphere of the game, from the darkly organic soundtrack to the ominous spread of red across the planet. It's quite calming, in what is probably a very twisted way.

Of course, the moment I stop and thinking about what I'm doing, it's pretty bleak and horrible, and the effect is of course compounded by the current real-life pandemic. Fortunately, the game is almost always enjoyable and engaging enough to distract me from its subject matter. And let's not forget that at its heart it's also a pretty powerful educational tool that sheds new light on the topic of disease and infection with its unique perspective. There's a reason why Plague Inc saw such an enormous surge in popularity early last year.

Comments

Popular Posts

Model Monday's: Diana Moldovan

“Teaching a pandemic in real time, part 2 . Princeton professors share how they incorporate the study - Princeton University” plus 1 more

Preventing, controlling spread of animal diseases focus of forum at Penn State - Pennsylvania State University