Transcending a Black-Box Theory of Gaming and Medicine

Abstract

: This chapter explores the epidemiological framework of disease constructed in the 2010 Wii-console release Trauma Team (Atlus Games). By fabricating the antago nistic »Rosalia virus « as an ailment of insidious phases, volatile symptoms reminiscent of present-day outbreaks that perplexed contemporary practitioners, of molecular complexity and spread through such conspicuous and rudimentary ecological means as to make surreptitious, the game designers have provided a vivid allegory advocat ing for a modern paradigm of disease theory/epidemiology; one that transcends a web of causation. The ultimate result is a game that embodies and engages not only complex medical theory, but showcases the downfalls of provincialism regarding the gameplaying apparatus as a whole.