"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
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Comments

Submitted by StealthKnight (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 17:03.
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.

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 16:56.
That's nice.

Submitted by “Nothing But Nets” Helps U.N. Prevent Malaria in Africa (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 16:58.
[...] 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 [...]

Submitted by Cheater87 (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 17:27.
I beat it and sent a net. :)

Submitted by Kerotan (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 17:42.
Like the free rice game, this is an awesome idea.

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 18:25.
Heh. And they say video games decrease pro-social behavior...

Submitted by Jonathan, aka Soul (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 19:48.
@Kerotan: Indeed it is :) .

Submitted by the conspiracy (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 20:52.
Whats up with that one link? The one that just summarizes the article.

Submitted by NeW SpEcTrUM (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 20:54.
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!

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 20:56.
@NeW SpEcTrUM

Congradulations.

Submitted by Grizz (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 21:51.
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!?

Submitted by U.N. Contributes to African Efforts on GBN: Gaming Blog Netw (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 21:58.
[...] 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. [...]

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 23:58.
Oh good lord I spelled congatulations wrong...

Submitted by NeW SpEcTrUM (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 00:07.
@GRIZZAM 512

We all make stupid mistakes like that. I put a completely unnecessary "did" in there.

Submitted by DarknessDeku (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 01:40.
@ GRIZZAM 512 and NeW SpEcTrUM

We really need quote and edit buttons.

Submitted by Kerotan (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 02:43.
@DarknessDeku

you speaks the truth!

Submitted by T5 (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 07:17.
A video game won't do it, DDT will

Submitted by T5 (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 07:20.
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)

Submitted by Sean (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 09:11.
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.

Submitted by Vake Xeacons (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 09:39.
Like I always said: If we're going to reach out and help this world, it will be through games.

Submitted by JustChris (not verified) on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 09:08.
@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.

Submitted by 2e9f0ccc96b3 (not verified) on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 08:08.
2e9f0ccc96b3...

2e9f0ccc96b33b1fc81b...
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