18. January 2022
Gaming against asthma

Gaming inside a digital immune system: The strategy game Inflammania helps people understand the workings of asthma and other inflammatory diseases.

What do antibodies do with the “landmines” of the immune system, i.e. the mast cells? And how is that related to asthma? The strategy game Inflammania makes the complex connections of the immune system easier to understand in a fun way.

Players have to strategically place immune cells in several levels and use medications – such as “glucocorticoid cannons” – to protect the body from an asthma attack.

 

Inflammania has been available since 2017, and Inflammania 2 was released at the end of 2021. The new version shows how the body can protect itself against pathogens of infectious diseases, including the coronavirus.

 

Behind the game is a research group sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) of the Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nuremberg. The University Hospital for Rheumatology and Immunology has teamed up with the Department of Gamification and a game developer for the project. The team is researching how to design game elements that promote sustainable learning.

 

Online game and app

Browser version: www.inflammania.de

 

Google/Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.TheraBytes.Inflammania2.Release&gl=DE

 

Apple/iOS: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/inflammania-2/id1568509055

 

 

Sources

Shortage B. Spielerisch Infektionen bekämpfen und etwas über das Immunsystem lernen (Gaming to fight infections and learn about the immune system). Press release of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 11 November 2021. Last retrieved on 29 December 2021. (In German)