Inside the Haiti Earthquake

Inside the Haiti Earthquake is designed to challenge assumptions about relief work in disaster conditions and situations. Everyone will be given the opportunity to commit to various strategies and experience the consequences by playing the role of an aid worker, journalist or survivor.

Start from the beginning, I was able to see and feel what really happened that day when there was an earthquake in Haiti by looking and listening to the footage start from the beginning. The use of real footage impacted greatly. The interactive nature rather than passively listening and watching the news made me feel like I experienced it before. 

I liked the customization of seeing different experiences based on character selection. It allowed for risk taking and even though it was a game I found myself hesitating over choices and not wanting to be even virtually responsible for causing more suffering. The agency through each of these was clear. I appreciated the design in terms of situated meanings as I was presented with situations in the role and asked to make decisions in that role. 

I made the wrong decisions at times and was pleasantly given the reason why it was wrong and redirected to the better answer. I never felt like giving up because I was at a dead end. This was a good example of systems thinking because actions and consequences were explained. 

Since everyone will be given the opportunity to commit to various strategies and experience the consequences by playing the role of an aid worker, journalist or survivor, I would like to ask students to write a conversation according to this game. Write a conversation between a survivor and a journalist after the earthquake occurred. The conversation should be around 150 words. Students will able to know more about disaster condition by creating a conversation.