“Virus Buster Offline – The marvels of Code Violet” was created by Gluccie Collaborations, a team of 13 members composed of medical and artistic specialists at the University of Tsukuba, and was presented by invitation in the CAMPUS EXHIBITION at the 2019 Ars Electronica Festival (Post City, Linz, Austria). Ars Electronica, held since 1986, is the most prestigious festival in the field of media art, drawing approximately 110,000 visitors in 2019. The work was conceived as part of an educational program aimed at preventing lifestyle-related diseases and diabetes.
The work is set in Japan in the near future. Through an avatar, people can freely enter the world of the Internet, but that world has been infected by a vicious computer virus known as Code Violet, which threatens its many inhabitants. To accomplish their respective aims, players must eliminate the virus as quickly as possible.
At its core, the work integrates a physical board game with an activity-tracker-type digital device. Over a set period, participants wear an activity tracker and accumulate their physical-activity levels as numerical values. This exercise data determines the handicap at the start of the game and thereby influences its outcome. The longer a participant takes part, the more points accrue, and the in-game characters develop accordingly. Through interaction among participants, the work fosters a more active and self-directed exercise habit. The custom-made compact devices and the rule design—employing acceleration sensors and an RFID system—demonstrate sound technical craftsmanship. electronica The central aim is to encourage behavioral change accompanied by increased physical activity, by means of a structure that can be both enjoyed and learned through gamification. The work represents a successful collaboration spanning the fields of medicine, welfare, and art, harmonizing an educational dimension grounded in medical knowledge with refined artistic visual design. Gluccie Collaborations, the group behind the work, conducts preventive-awareness activities aimed at children in elementary schools and similar settings, targeting lifestyle-related diseases and diabetes. Going beyond the bounds of traditional artistic expression, the work offers a contemporary and practical proposal—a teaching material for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases that makes full use of digital technology.