It often starts at the customer level...
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 06-04-14
So often people ask me where do people come up with some of the ideas that games are good for your health... Well as the comments below show -- it ofen comes from customers of companies like Red Octane. This comment which was sent in to them and recently shared with us (name withheld of course) really illustrates a key general point about games for health and serious game applications... that often it's the unintended application of game technology by customers and other "fourth party" developers like modders that is fueling big parts of this movement.
Case in point this great comment sent to Red Octane by a fan of their Guitar Hero product (which rocks literally and figuratively btw)...
Customer Comments From Point-of-Sale Survey
I love Guitar Hero and actively recruit friends to play. In addition to loving the game, it's actually improved my health. I have carpal tunnel and I'm also missing bone in my wrists. Any moderately high stress on my hands, or repetitive motion, would trigger pain, numbness, and hand cramps. Playing Guitar Hero, I began with a 5 minute stamina in-game before my hands were hurting, stiff, and useless. Within a week I got to a 30 minute stamina, and that's when my hand just starts to feel funky. I've had less pain in general since playing the game. Thanks for helping make everyday tasks (like writing a page of notes for class) less painful than before =)
Red Octane asked me if anyone was doing some research here - none that I know of but certainly there might be some carpal tunnel syndrome experts out there who might want to weigh in.