Designing the Virtual SPIKEY-20 Epidemic: Engaging Youth in Seeking Information and Using Personal Protection

In this paper, we share the design of a virtual epidemic with recognizable similarities to the real-life COVID-19 pandemic in order to engage children and youth in seeking information about the outbreak and practicing usage of personal protection equipment. In our research we sought to create a safe space in the virtual world, Whyville, for youth to “play” with serious topics of infection, asymptomatic disease transmission, prevention measures, and research and reporting of public health information. We examined the logfiles of 1,022 youth aged 10-18 years (mean = 13.7 years) who participated in an outbreak of a virtual virus, SPIKEY-20, in October and November 2020. Analyzing log files, we found that player engagement in productive infectious disease practices increased, including information seeking as well as purchases and usage of personal protective equipment during the virtual epidemic. In the discussion, we address the potential for virtual epidemics to provide a safe, playful space to practice and learn how to productively confront infectious disease and build promising connections between virtual and real-life epidemics.