"Nothing But Nets" Helps U.N. Prevent Malaria in Africa

"Nothing But Nets" Helps U.N. Prevent Malaria in Africa

April 20, 2008
When we speak of positive uses of game tech, it doesn't get much better than Nothing But Nets, an online game offered by the United Nations in order to highlight the need for mosquito netting in Africa.

After all, World Malaria Day is April 25th.

In Nothing But Nets the player steers a motorcycle and delivers mosquito bed netting to needy villagers. As games go, it's not state of the art, but it does drive home the need to combat mosquito-borne illnesses with proper netting.

There are also opportunities for the player to sign up as a donor or a fundraiser, but these are not required to play.

Via: Kotaku

Comments

Sounds like a potentially fun game. I wonder if the riding aspect is like the African Trail. An old PC game that a bike riding aspect to it.
That's nice.
[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhen we speak of positive uses of game tech, it doesn’t get much better than Nothing But Nets, an online game offered by the United Nations in order to highlight the need for mosquito netting in Africa. After all, World Malaria Day is April 25th. In Nothing But Nets the player steers a motorcycle and delivers mosquito bed netting to needy villagers. As games go, it’s not state of the art, but it does drive home the need to combat mosquito-borne illnesses with proper netting. There are also opportunities for the player to sign up as a donor or a fundraiser, but these are not required to play. Via: Kotaku [...]
I beat it and sent a net. :)
Like the free rice game, this is an awesome idea.
Heh. And they say video games decrease pro-social behavior...
@Kerotan: Indeed it is :) .
Whats up with that one link? The one that just summarizes the article.
Good to see this getting notice, my town recently did ran a fundraiser at one of our lacrosse games. (Got filmed on MSG.) To my knowledge we raised about $7,000!
@NeW SpEcTrUM

Congradulations.
I wanna know who comes up with some of these "world days" and also chooses their dates. Not 2 weeks ago it was "National Compliment Day" here in Australia; and now I find out that "World Malaria Day" is also on the same day as "ANZAC Day", where we commemorate those ANZACS lost during wartime.

WILL SOMEONE STOP THE MADNESS!?
[...] Turns out, I do. As reported by Gamepolitics and Kotaku, the UN is offering an online game called ‘Nothing But Nets’ to highlight the importance of mosquito netting in Africa. [...]
Oh good lord I spelled congatulations wrong...
@GRIZZAM 512

We all make stupid mistakes like that. I put a completely unnecessary "did" in there.
@ GRIZZAM 512 and NeW SpEcTrUM

We really need quote and edit buttons.
@DarknessDeku

you speaks the truth!
A video game won't do it, DDT will
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature1/text3.html

Link

A good read for anyone who takes the issue seriously (I'm looking at you UN)
Speaking of Malaria in Africa, why is Far Cry 2 not getting the same political flak as Resident 5? Same setting, similar looking bad guys (they're black, and the developers aren't using the zombie excuse), so why does that get off the hook while Resident Evil 5 gets all the negative attention? Sorry if I'm being off topic.
Like I always said: If we're going to reach out and help this world, it will be through games.
@T5

You know, I may agree with that. A little DDT is what Africa needs. I watched a documentary on malaria, and it explained that DDT is what got the Americas out of their epidemic. Africa didn't have access to this "new breaking" pesticide, and by the time DDT was considered dangerous, Africa had no chance to use it.

However, DDT is not as effective in tropical climates, and it poses a dilemma against the current state of famine in many countries in Africa.
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GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
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ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
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ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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