The team from the Time Repair Corporation was overjoyed to be a part of #hackthecrisisfin on the 20-22/03/2020. It was an excellent event and an opportunity to come together for our communities and our future. The team wanted to get a project rolling that focuses in on community cohesion and education, so it made sense to look at the best ways to accomplish our goals to start things out. 

-Problem

Low community interaction and commonly occurring misinformation about corona virus. Poor understanding of safety precautions and poor understanding of standard hygiene techniques. 

-Impact in the real world

Gamified content and digital viral flow can be used to shine a light on bigger problems and to gather data that can be used to help slow or stop the transmission of actual disease.  Spreading education at the same time makes for an immediate impact. 

-Future plans

We plan to develop this app as a side project and integrate it as part of an educational unit hosted online by the Time Repair Corporation. By linking it directly to sustainability and basic curriculum we can demonstrate the essential value of the material. 

In the long run the TRC wants to develop a few app-based side projects based on the concept of dismantling digital addiction and anti-gamification, this project which we named Bug-Breaker would fit in with them beautifully.

The players will start as plague doctors like this guy. 

And as they start solving simple puzzles they will have room to use hand shaped power ups to make things easy. Each level they beat will lead them into a trivia mode that asks them to find the fact among fiction related to disease. Every correct answer lets them proceed to the next stage. Once they get to a certain point they will be asked their age and if adults will be taken to a simple survey, if they are kids they will be asked to bring the phone to a parent to unlock the next level by completing the survey. We will collect anonymous epidemiological data, and will learn that the player has been simulating virus transmission, and the number of other players and NPCs infected by them. 

Then the real game begins, we’ll be saving details for later but suffice it to say that each new stage will provide an intriguing meta breakdown of expectations.

The data collected would be valuable to the World Health Organization and countless research institutes around the world and could provide life saving insights into planning for similar crises to the current corona pandemic. Beyond that every parent and player learning about the true nature of Bug-Breaker could then advance their own dialogues over health and safety from a position of hope. What is more impressive than learning that your child already understands concepts like social distancing, herd immunity, and the differences between viruses, bacteria, and parasites? 

Here is a link to our project teaser video:

I can’t thank our team enough for the time and energy they put in on a busy weekend to contribute to the event! Linza Itkonen, Simon Gouaillardeu, Milla Siniranta, and Paul Nix.