In these difficult times, with so many important issues waiting to be addressed, it is good to know that the people behind the Nobel Prize are taking care of the things that matter.
By which I mean ? when you go to their website, you can play a game about a diabetic dog.
No, seriously.
?90 years ago researchers led by Frederick Banting announced the discovery of the hormone insulin,? the promo says. ?In this game you can take care of a diabetic dog and learn how to treat diabetes!?
I couldn?t resist an opportunity like that. So I clicked.
The opening screen of the ?Diabetic Dog Game? has graphics and music that lead me to suspect that the Commodore 64 computer is still alive and well and being used by developers in Sweden.
Diabetic Dog Game
But I went ahead and decided to play, because who can say no to a weeping, diabetic dog ? especially one whose head appears to have been stretched in a terrible accident, possibly while his owner was attempting to assemble Ikea?s new SVORKSBLOT doghouse for insulin-dependent dogs?
I was asked to name my dog. My first choice, ?Sugar,? was already taken. (I guess that was not a very original thought. Sorry.) The Nobel people suggested ?Lady 9876.? Which sounded ? I don?t know, more like a cat name to me. So I went with ?Diabetic Rover.? Which was approved, which led me to the next exciting phase of the game: ?With your dog Diabetic Rover comes a manual for dog owners. It describes how to take care of your diabetic dog.?
OK, so it?s not World of Warcraft yet, but then, World of Warcraft doesn?t allow you to simulate giving insulin shots to a dog.
And I would need those insulin shots. Because after I took Rover on a run around the screen, chasing some kind of bird (echoes of another Swedish icon, the Swedish Chef?), my pooch?s blood sugar started to go CRAZY, and I had to ? yes, grab the hypo. Here?s what happens if you are too slow at this.
Later, I watched him drink from a hose, urinate on a bush ? really ? and, while I tried to capture an image of him action, apparently die. I know this because a screen came up saying that someone had rushed him to emergency care, and that I had not only lost the privilege of caring for the dog, he had been forever erased from the database. I had to play the game again just to make sure I read it correctly.
This lack of coddling in a game, presumably aimed at children, might seem a bit harsh to many people. Luckily, I was raised Lutheran and had many friends of Scandinavian background ? so I was not exactly surprised. (I suspect that all Northern Europeans who coddled their children were removed from the gene pool long ago when they were eaten by ice wolves.)
Now, let me just say: I think diabetes is serious. I have many friends and family members who deal with it. It takes courage and tenacity, and I am grateful that the Nobel Prize rewards the work of people such as Frederick Grant Banting and John James Rickard Macleod, who won the award in 1923 for the discovery of insulin, which has saved countless lives.
But when I want to teach my kids that ? I?m thinking maybe I will hand them a book instead.
Source: http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/the-diabetic-dog-game-or-your-nobel-committee-at-work.html/
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