BY SINEAD MULHERN
Jonathon Root and James Jarvis are testing out a new (and extreme) form of gaming that they think can be put towards a good cause.
In a nutshell, they have hooked up an intravenous blood collector machine to a video game. Every time a player gets shot in the game, that player’s blood will be drawn. They want to tour around Canada to major gaming events to get video game enthusiasts to try it out. The blood would be donated to blood banks across the country they say. So far this machine has been tested in their apartment where they have assembled it with the help of their friends. They hope to raise $250,000 through a Kickstarter campaign.
The game would be called Blood Sport. The designers aren’t in the medical field – they’re two advertising agency digital creative experts. So far, they’ve got $3,390. They want to have the project ready for March 17th at the launch of Battlefield Hardline.
“Now, with Blood Sport, we’re taking the consequences of the gaming world and having them affect you in real life. So every time you get hit in the game, blood will be intravenously drawn from your arm,” they say on the Kickstarter campaign site.
How would it work?
“Simply put, we’re not reinventing the wheel. All we’re doing is hacking a pre-existing blood collection machine to take your gaming experience to the next level,” reads the campaign’s page.
Basically, the game controller would be connected to the blood collector through a piece of hardware. The same electrical signal that normally makes a controller rumble when a player gets shot is the same signal that would prompt the machine to draw blood. The hardware tracks not only the signal, but also the amount of blood taken (thank God). Players have to input their age, weight and any medical conditions beforehand.
But Canadian blood banks are not taken lightly. There are strict guidelines placed both on who can donate blood as well as who can operate blood collection facilities.
The Kickstarter page says the duo hopes to partner with gaming and medical communities. If the project were to go through, they would legally need to have involvement with medical communities. In Canada, blood used for transfusions is collected solely by the Canadian Blood Services or by Héma-Québec.
The Kickstarter campaign mentions neither.
With regards to blood collecting establishments in Canada, there’s a whole whack of licensing and regulations that have to be met. Facilities must be licensed by Health Canada. In order to do so, an application must be submitted that shows that the donor’s screening and testing adheres to the strict legal requirements in place. Health Canada has to inspect the establishment and make sure it’s up to snuff, meeting all rules put in place by the Food and Drugs Act. Once deemed fit, the location will be checked up on annually.
Inspectors of blood collection services also have the right to inspect facilities at any time without a warrant. This includes places that the inspector reasonably believes are being used as blood collection facilities.
We hope they’ve taken into account this eligibility test to check if Canadian Blood Services will accept donors’ blood. According to Health Canada, the country’s blood supply is recognized as one of the safest in the world “thanks to the strict standards set out in Health Canada’s Food and Drugs Act and Regulations for the collection of blood and plasma.”
To be eligible to donate, a person cannot have had a tattoo or piercing in the past six months, they must be over 17 and weigh at least 110 pounds, amongst other things. Donors must also submit a questionnaire, get physically examined for health and disease factors and then they will be re-interviewed. They must submit negative disease tests in order to give.
It seems the pair has a lot of hoops to jump through. In the meantime, we’re also hoping that they know how to deal with any technical difficulties with this gaming machine.
Right now they say they have a makeshift unit and need the funding to update and get new machines. Extra money will be used on things like travel.
And safety precautions.
