Quarantined: The Fletcher Library Game Project

More than a tutorial, Quarantined: Axl Wise and the Information Outbreak is a fully interactive single-player game environment that simulates the complex processes of selecting, using, evaluating and synthesizing multiple sources of information within a library setting. A variety of information sources such as databases, the online catalog, the web, librarians, professors and peers are employed to solve the mystery in this game. The game is an educational adventure game with puzzle and action elements. Players try to save the world from a deadly outbreak while developing information literacy skills as they explore the college campus game world, avoid contagious students and professors to remain virus free and avoid VOA (Virus Outbreak Agency) officers. The puzzles they encounter require them to make decisions about what information resources to choose and how to combine them to discover the cause of and cure for the virus. Players interact with characters to ask and answer questions that will provide them with clues needed to discover the cause for this fatal contagion. This presentation will cover the process the Fletcher Library Game Project went through to create this computer game, and the key decisions and lessons learned leading to the successful completion of the project. Members of the Fletcher Library Game Project will also discuss the success of the game in teaching library skills to Lower Division students. The live demonstration will give audience members a sneak peak at this innovative learning tool in action