The current coronavirus pandemic shows wiping out humans from the face of Earth is just as challenging as a playthrough in Plague, Inc.
Plague, Inc imitates life
Your goal as a player is choosing which mutations will carry out in your agent. From the classic bacteria and viruses to zombification and even vampirism, the game shows some very accurate responses according to what we have historically seen in the real world.
By choosing the hardest difficulty, eradicating mankind is extremely challenging. You'll have to take your time to study each country's responses so you can choose what is the best way to remain unstoppable.
Plague, Inc as a learning tool
But you know what is the biggest difference from lower difficulties to the hardest one? The number of people who wash their hands daily. And how frequently they do it. This fact alone, scaled up, makes the game that much harder to complete.
The best part right now is how educational Plague, Inc can be! Even though it sticks to the strategic gameplay, we learn about various disease agents and what we can do to prevent it, or how a new disease has to be taken seriously just in case it is has the potential to make us become extinct.
A single agent can't have it all. While we spend our limited infection points, we have to choose how it's going to be transmitted, what problems / symptoms it will cause to the human body and what is or isn't enough to break into a certain country.
The virus won't gain new mutations all over the world at the same time in real life, because it doesn't have a collective consciousness. So you could say our disease is stronger ingame than it would really be. Also, “leveling up” a disease isn't super real, but the depiction of mutations is precise.
Too educational for China
In fact, the game is so damn informative, it just might be the reason why it got banned in China. That's right. After sitting in the play store as one of the few titles that were actually approved, it got banned after becoming popular again thanks to the coronavirus. Go figure!
But hey, you don't have to stick to realistic conditions. If you want a more fantastic treat, mods can be loaded from the Steam Workshop. From demons to aliens and various fantastic conditions, you will remain entertained.
Get Plague, Inc on Steam. Also available on mobile.
Ooh, I heard about this game! Want to try it sometime... It's funny because I didn't hear about it before COVID-19...
I played it right when it released. It is really good.
we are f'ed
When weren't we!
This post has been upvoted by @opgaming. We like what you're posting, and we want to reward our members who produce quality content. Keep up the good work!
If this sounds like the sort of group you want to be a part of, click the image below! We're too OP to be put down!
10/10 would ban and thoroughly investigate activities of the game’s creators, among other things.
They're not chinese and all of their games are great. :) Their title Rebel, Inc is good too.
It has nothing to do with if they are Chinese or not. The issue is the premise of the game mentioned, it simulates unwanted actions, thoughts, and behaviors; it implies deeper issues held in the minds of regular citizens of the world, as well as scientists and professionals who may find amusement in the game.
Gamers can tell apart fiction from real life so that is not a concern.
Yes, I agree, I have played video games most of my life. This one, just particularly sets off an alarm. I’ve wondered for a while, why are the majority of the games we all play and have available needing to be intensely violent or aggressive. I enjoy those games and generally don’t find any problem with them. I haven’t played this game and can’t speak from experience, but a good look at the description is enough to turn me away on this one; no offense meant to the writing of the description, that’s just how I feel.
Sure, but that's just your personal taste. Nothing wrong with that. It wouldn't affect anyone's mind and it is weird to say it would.
I have to say, Plague, Inc is mostly like a board game, so if you got weirded out by it, that's kind of funny.
Is it an existing game?
If you want, I can link you to some studies saying how videogames do not affect a person's violent tendencies as well as some that show how playing videogames increases intelligence.
I cannot, however, link you to any studies saying how videogames affect a person's violent tendencies or any studies saying they dumb us down. Because none say so.
Actually I've only ever come across one study that agrees with your opinion. But then again, that study says white kids get more violent by playing videogames while hispanic kids don't. So among dozens of scientific studies, that is the only one that agrees with what you're saying.
That doesn’t exactly agree with what I am saying. I am pointing out that the narrative of the game has plain bad timing considering world events, as do many games that are created due to the constructs and amusements of the game creators, of whom I am unaware of research studies focusing on.
Maybe there is a game somewhere that is the exact opposite and focuses on curing the viral spread of disease on the planet and working to upgrade the world through better technologies, trade, communication, etc., and create vastly extended life spans for the human beings on the planet while collaborating together to develop all countries and leading to development of planets in the solar-system; my point is that the focus is always on destroying and killing in a world of barely-able-to-defend-themselves, walking-skeleton, meatbags, aka, us humans. Yeah, there are super-powered games and all that too, but the focus is still on destroying the shit out of something, every time.
Oh, okay. Plague, Inc is four years old already and it's based on its even older predecessor.
There are many, many games with an opposite premise. There are city builders, hospital tycoons, civilization sandboxes, etc. They're very popular too.
This article easily sums up everything about "do games make people violent?" You should read it.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/05/health/video-games-violence-explainer/index.html