Caduceus Quest, a theory-based digital role-playing game that provides health education and encourages health and biomedical science career interest in Black and Latinx young people.
Topic Outline
Caduceus Quest is an adventure, role-playing game that lets its players explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers as RPG-style character classes, moving between the roles of doctor, epidemiologist, statistician, civil engineer, and more.
How To Play
Caduceus Quest follows Simone, our protagonist, beginning a summer job at her hometown hospital. She’s returned to Ashland after a year away at college, but something’s up—patients have stiff necks and are beginning to lose their short-term memories, and the game quickly spins out into a disaster investigation. Simone moves across town, using her hometown knowledge to advise and direct STEM professionals as they try to control the mysterious epidemic. Simone picks up skills as she meets and works with the adults around her, explores her town, treats its residents, and investigates the structural causes of the disease.
Along with hard skills, the game values experiential knowledge—though she’s still an adolescent, Simone knows the town more intimately than any of the STEM professionals around her, and is key in solving the medical mystery that unfolds during gameplay.