Pandemic: Impact Guide For Players

The Pandemic games are a series of browser-based strategy games created by Dark Realm Studios. There are four games in the series: Pandemic, Pandemic II, Pandemic: Extinction of Man, and Pandemic: American Swine. The original Pandemic was inspired by real-life pandemics such as SARS and H5N1 (avian flu); players are given control of an infectious disease and directed to wipe out humanity as quickly as possible. Pandemic II and Pandemic: Extinction of Man build further on Pandemic's model, providing more control over the creation and maintenance of the disease while adding new difficulties and countries better equipped to eradicate any potential threats. The fourth game, Pandemic: American Swine, puts the player in charge of the United States government's response to an epidemic of swine flu.

How to use this guide: Players – We’ve identified several interesting or important themes in the game. As you play through, reflect on your play. How have you experienced these themes? Are there other important ones present in the game? What kind of impact does your play allow in the larger world? Answer the questions we’ve provided – but feel free to add more at www.gamesandimpact.org.

Warning: Questions contain some spoilers about the games.

Key for game-specific questions: Pandemic [I] Pandemic II [II] Pandemic: Extinction of Man [EoM] Pandemic: American Swine [AS]

Theme: Public Health

A public health crisis is the core event of the Pandemic series: a disease has emerged, and is spreading through the populated areas of the world. The disease jumps across transit routes and through public utilities, while governments attempt to control the disease's spread before it infects and kills citizens of their countries.

Game

 What actions can governments take to slow the spread of the disease?  Which actions from countries ([AS] from you) seemed to slow the spread of the disease best?  How does the presence of vaccinations affect the disease's spread?  Is it possible to succeed in American Swine using the same strategies countries use in the other Pandemic games?  Which areas were the hardest to infect? Why do you think those areas were so difficult?

Player

 [II] Many players claim that Madagascar is the hardest country to infect. Do you agree? Why do you think Madagascar might be harder than other countries?  [I, II] Do you think that countries' governments picked the best strategies for containing your disease?  [EoM] Why did you choose to spread your disease in the way you did?  [AS] Why did you choose the disease containment options you used?

World

 Do you think the measures governments use to contain the disease in the game would be effective in real life?  Did this game affect your opinion of current public health measures for containing pandemics?  If you were a teacher using the Pandemic series to teach about public health measures, how would you present it to your class? What would you want your students to get out of playing it?

Player Challenge: Public Health – In Pandemic: American Swine, play a game using the destructive methods of disease containment such as bombing. How does this game compare with a game that uses non-destructive methods like vaccinating and masks? Do your finances run out earlier in one game? Does the disease spread faster or over more states in one game? How do infection and death rates in the two games compare?

Theme: Biology of Diseases

In all of the Pandemic games except American Swine, players earn points that they can use to modify their diseases' biological properties such as symptoms, modes of transmission, and resistances. Transmission, infection, and death rates are related to the biological properties of the disease.

Game

 What events cause the game to give you evolution points?  What is the balance between the disease's lethality and its visibility? Do you think it would be possible to make a virus that is both highly lethal and has low visibility?  [II] How does the type of disease (virus, bacteria, or parasite) affect its spread?  [EoM] Do you feel that it is very difficult to work against countries' developing cures? Why or why not?

Player

 [II] Why did you choose the type of disease you did? Was your choice affected by previous knowledge of the Pandemic games or real-life epidemics?  Did you try to mimic real-life diseases, or did you make a completely fictitious disease?  What symptoms did you choose for your disease? Why did you choose those symptoms?  [I, II] When evolving your disease's resistances, which resistances did you choose, and why?

World

 Do you think that your disease's resistances and symptoms would cause it to spread as well in real life?  Do you think the circumstances that cause the game to give you evolution points would cause a disease to change faster in real life?

Player Challenge: Biology of Diseases – Make a disease with few symptoms at the early stages of the game. How do the infection and death rates compare with a disease that gains many symptoms early in the game? Does one spread faster? Does one get stopped earlier? Take note of which measures the countries use to counter each disease--are they similar or different?

Theme: Government and Civics

Government plays a major role in the Pandemic games, controlling travel, public services, and research in an attempt to control the spread of the disease. In Pandemic, Pandemic II, and Pandemic: Extinction of Man, countries' governments actively work against the player to prevent the spread of the virus. In Pandemic: American Swine, the player takes the role of the United States government.

Game

 In which ways could governments react to the spread of your disease in the first three Pandemic games? [AS] Can you react in the same ways to the spread of swine flu?  What factors other than diseases affect countries, and how do those factors affect the spread of your disease?  [AS] This game gives you options to bomb cities to contain the disease. Why do you think the game designers included this option?

Player

 [AS] How did you run your government?  Did you make decisions based on moral choices during the game? Were there any game options that you decided not to use because you felt they were morally objectionable?  [AS] How did you manage finances?  Did you change your strategy based on the games' news bulletins? [AS] How did you manage the game's media system?

World

 [AS] Do you think the game's depiction of finances is realistic?  How do you think people in real life would react to the actions governments take against the disease? Would people's reactions help or hinder the spread of the disease?  Do you think that governments' reactions were reasonable, given your disease's symptoms and spread?

Player Challenge: Government and Civics – Play a game of Pandemic: American Swine, trying to keep the Panic level halfway up the indicator bar for the entire game. Is it very difficult to do? What actions cause the Panic level to rise or fall? Are you able to succeed at the game while keeping a constant Panic level?