Research information

Draft – pending IRB approval. This page describes the planned study. Until the study is approved, the game does not send any data.

What the study is about

The study looks at whether playing the lite edition is followed by better answers on antibiotic stewardship questions: the 12-question pre-test before the game is compared with the 12-question post-test after the boss.

Taking part is optional. On the start screen there is an unticked box. If you leave it unticked, you can play the whole game as usual and nothing is shared.

What is collected (only if you tick the box)

  • study_id: a random code made on your device; it is not linked to who you are.
  • country: the country or region you choose (two-letter code).
  • status: the status you choose (one of three options).
  • form_order: which test form you got first (the pre- and post-tests use two different forms).
  • The consent version and the date you agreed.
  • Your answers and their timing: for each test question, the option you chose, whether it was correct, and how many seconds it took.
  • Game events: levels started and finished, treatment decisions in battles (drugs, cultures, other actions), case results, whether you reached the certificate, which encyclopedia tab you opened, and leaderboard views; each event also carries the game and content version, language, mode, time, and device type (desktop, mobile or tablet).

What is not collected

  • Your name, email address or school.
  • The nickname on your certificate (it stays on your device).
  • Your browser's User-Agent or your IP address (the server uses the IP only in memory to limit request rates and never stores it).
  • Your save file.

The country leaderboard shows only totals per country, and a country appears only after at least 5 players there have finished.

How to withdraw

Open Settings on the title screen and choose Withdraw from the study and delete my data. Data already uploaded is deleted, and nothing more is sent from then on. You can keep playing.

Questions

The study team and contact details will be added here once the study is approved. Author: WLK M.D.