on a re-mission

Just a chronicling of my thoughts about the Re-Mission game:

First off, I do not have cancer. Second, I am not a video game addict. That being said, I may not be able to truly appreciate the "lessons" inherent in the game, and I may not be the most qualified judge of its ability to compete with today's traditional game systems. But from what I saw, it seems to be (a) an effective learning tool; (b) a fun, and often frustrating, challenge.

The biggest thing that struck me was the speed at which the cancer cells multiply. Just like in any game where you fight against an enemy that re-generates given enough time, the cancer cells beyond the easy level in Re-Mission regenerate really, really fast. That's both challenging and frustrating. But I truly developed a sense of appreciation for the power of the disease and, more important, the need to be ruthless in the efforts to fight it off. Assuming the target audience can make that connection, it's a powerful thing.

The "guide" voice behind the game is a character in and of himself, in that he's a partner to Roxi, giving her encouragement and making sure she remembers to get her energy boosts and chemotherapy when they run low. He's also an educational figure -- telling Roxi to avoid shooting white blood cells and other organs that look unidentifiable to the common eye but are definitely critical to sustaining human life.

You can choose where you live, the name/gender of the patient in which you'll fight the cancer, and go throuugh a tutorial at the beginning. I definitely agree with Pat Christen, the HopeLab CEO, that it's cool for the protagonist to be a woman, because there is a "bad ass" element to it that I don't think would be there if the character were a boy.

Playing this game makes me believe more strongly that, at some level, the MBA curriculum should include playing Civilization, Age of Empires, or some other long-term ridiculous, dorky but educational strategy game. I never played these games when I was younger, but now I see that they are the best preparation for being a CEO (other than the managing people part) that any young person can have. This doesn't directly apply to sick kids, but anyway.