Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon
Encyclopedia
Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System
video game that teaches players about the hazards of smoking tobacco
cigarette
s. The initial development of the game received support from the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
.
surgeon Rex Ronan travel inside of Jake's body and remove tar
, nicotine
, precancerous cells, and other health hazards that are preventing Jake from speaking to the world about the hazards of tobacco. If the player (Rex Ronan) dies from the evil microbots
that were sent by the tobacco company
, so does the patient (Jake.)
version of the game. The average of the results indicated children who experienced enjoyment and who also showed an interest with regard to acquiring information about tobacco's effects on people. According to Richard L. Street and Timothy R. Manning, the target audience was children and teenagers in the age range of 10 to 16 years. In addition, when it comes to persons who take up smoking, those in the age range of 10 to 16 years are at the highest risk, according to Street and Manning.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
video game that teaches players about the hazards of smoking tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s. The initial development of the game received support from the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which supports research designed to improve the outcomes and quality of health care, reduce its costs, address patient safety and medical errors, and broaden access to effective...
.
Story and Gameplay
Jake Westboro is a man with it all: wife, a kid and a house in the suburbs. He also has a job with the Blackburn Tobacco Company. As a result of smoking since he was 15, Jake is dying from the cigarettes that he once sold; the player must help the near-microscopicMicroscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...
surgeon Rex Ronan travel inside of Jake's body and remove tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
, nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
, precancerous cells, and other health hazards that are preventing Jake from speaking to the world about the hazards of tobacco. If the player (Rex Ronan) dies from the evil microbots
Nanorobotics
Nanorobotics is the emerging technology field of creating machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer . More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, with devices ranging in size from...
that were sent by the tobacco company
Tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
, so does the patient (Jake.)
Evaluations
Richard M. Satava mentioned two evaluations in which a number of children (none of whom were more than 12 years old) played a prototypePrototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
version of the game. The average of the results indicated children who experienced enjoyment and who also showed an interest with regard to acquiring information about tobacco's effects on people. According to Richard L. Street and Timothy R. Manning, the target audience was children and teenagers in the age range of 10 to 16 years. In addition, when it comes to persons who take up smoking, those in the age range of 10 to 16 years are at the highest risk, according to Street and Manning.