Medicine and Health in Gaming

By: Shane S.

Medicine on television and in movies are most often something of importance. When in war movies and apocalyptic movies someone is hurt, it is a huge moment that is met in anxiety and desperation. In video games... it is a different story.

In order to keep the audience enticed in a game, it most often has to be fast paced and exciting. There shouldn't be a lot of downtime as that would frustrate the audience and turn them off from investing further into a game. More often than not, the most popular games are the ones in which people fight, and when people fight, they get hurt. Games vary in the way they cope with that fact and how someone is able to heal while still keeping the game fast paced.

In the popular first-person shooter video game franchise "Call of Duty," after getting shot/ damaged, your health heals automatically after a few seconds. As unrealistic as this is, it allows the game to continue without having to go out of your way to heal. The same happens with the game "Halo." After a few seconds, your health regenerates and you're able to continue. In some iterations, you have to find a health pack on the wall that puts your health back up to 100%.

There are other games, though, that takes some time to fully heal and it requires food and medical supplies. One of these games is The Last of Us. This is a narrative story that requires you to craft med kits and food to heal yourself in the game. This is much more accurate to what you would have to do in real life.

In games, there are various ways in which you're able to provide help for yourself when you are injured. Sometimes they are super simple, other times it is more complex. The latter is the dramatic way these events play out in film and television. Medicine and the medical field is interpreted in different ways and the way people secure help is interesting. It's cool to see how some games sacrifice the health aspect to keep it exciting, while others embrace it and make it a dramatic part of the story.

URLs:
http://geekrevolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Reach_HealthPack.jpg
http://www.first-spear.com/images/D/FS_nonStandard_mg_2103.jpg