Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Exploring the Future of Games and Health
IFTF was invited by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to help organize a workshop at the White House conference center on health and games. Yesterday, my colleague Mike Liebhold and I were among a group of roughly two dozen researchers, game designers and key government officials exploring how games can be used to improve health and health care.
The discussion was wide ranging--and not surprisingly, participants identified a variety of potential areas where advances in games and technology have the potential to substantially improve health and healthcare.
For example, in response to an early question about where games have the highest potential to improve health, participants identified a variety of domains, including population and community health, teen health, mental health and well-being, and encouraging people to exercise more and reduce sedentary behavior. Others focused more broadly on the nature of games themselves, and pointed out that well-designed games have the potential to not only serve as a useful education tool, but that advanced simulations will enable everyone from patients navigating health decisions to doctors honing surgery skills to practice and refine their decisions in virtual space in order to improve health outcomes.
We also explored how advances in technology will further advance efforts to use games to improve health, with many of the opportunities stemming from the declining costs of a variety of technologies. For example, devices like the Kinect are enabling designers to develop virtual reality health games that can be deployed cheaply in-the-home, in contrast to just a few years ago, where the costs of developing virtual reality systems meant that more advanced simulations could only take place in labs and hospitals. Similarly, as more people carry GPS enabled phones, game designers can begin to develop and refine approaches to health games targeted to individuals based on their locations. In other instances, social practices are creating new opportunities for game designers: For example, social media and networks are enabling game designers to build social support into games designed to promote healthy behavior change.
In the coming weeks, IFTF will be working with the ONC to develop a summary paper of the discussion.