Anti-Vaxxers are coming to Plague Inc.
Plague Inc., one of our favorite strategy games, is getting some very topical new content after an online petition went, err...viral. Anti-vaxxers will be the newest addition to the game, which sees you attempting to bring down the world population with a deadly epidemic.
Plague Inc. actually already had a 'science denial' scenario that made it easier to spread your infections, but nonetheless, fans clamored for the anti-vax movement as a specific feature, starting an online petition to convince the developer, Ndemic Creations, who then shared the petition on Twitter, saying that if the petition got 10,000 signatures, the anti-vaxxers would get their own scenario.
Ok, fine! :P If this petition gets to 10k, will add a specific new anti-vaxxer scenario to Plague Inc. https://t.co/DJjmRFpOMa
— Plague Inc. / Rebel Inc. (@NdemicCreations) February 24, 2019
Well, the people have spoken, with a total of 20,000 at the time of writing, so it's happening. Ndemic creations and Neurie the pathogen mascot are working on it.
Alright, alright! You spoke, we listened. Neurie's very happy to hear that we're going to start figuring out anti-vaxxers soon. He's dying to try and get inside their heads. https://t.co/fYq09awgJc pic.twitter.com/Sof0aJE0yw
— Plague Inc. / Rebel Inc. (@NdemicCreations) February 26, 2019
Plague Inc. released back in 2012, but the bilious strategy game remains popular to this today, continuing to sell well both on the App Store and Google Play as well as on PC and home consoles. There's even a board game version too. The latest game, Rebel Inc. which focuses on leading an insurrection rather than an infection, is also worth a try and impressed us enough to be featured in our recent apps of the week selection.
Ndemic creations has always been open about the educational element of its game, too, and has previously collaborated with the CDC to talk about how Plague Inc. models the spread of infectious disease and how games can be used to engage with the public. In 2015, Plague Inc. players raised over $76,000 to fight ebola, the opposite of what they would do in-game.
With the addition of the anti-vax movement to the popular game, Ndemic is once more showing that, however much glee you may take from spreading your pandemic in-game, it continues to engage with the very real-life issues of disease prevention in the face of damage caused by science denial. While you might not be happy about people not vaccinating in your neighborhood, we're sure that anti-vaxxers will be a great help to you in your next Plague Inc. game.
Have you played Plague Inc.? What do you think about the addition of anti-vaxxers?
I've seen this in several news venues. It makes me chuckle every time I scan the headline.