90% Games for Health 2009 Announced!
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 09-03-11From a content standpoint this promises to be the biggest Games for Health Conference to date! Today we announce the first 31 selected and invited sessions for the 2009 Games for Health Conference to be held in Boston, MA on June 11 & 12. Soon another two dozen sessions will be announced including our pre-conference sessions on June 10 covering virtual worlds and health and the 2nd Annual Games Accessibility Day!
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These sessions are all in draft form and will be updated as the event nears. All sessions were confirmed as of April 3, 2009 but session speakers are still finalizing some aspects of our summaries. As those are done we will republish them and add official speaker names. Final schedule with timing will be provided on May 15.
Please note!: If you are a confirmed speaker, or you submitted a proposal, or you were provided an invitation to speak and you don't see your session here it is simple being included in our second batch update for next week.
Click through for the complete list and session summaries...
A Conversation with Richard S. Levine : Developer of Microsurgeon
Speaker(s): Richard S. Levine, Ben Sawyer
In 1983 One of the first games about health ever debuted for the Intellivision video console. Microsurgeon featured incredible graphics for its day and detailed gameplay where you guided a nanobot through a human patient helping them battle a variety of ailments from cholesterol build-up in arteries, to bacterial infections, kidney stones, tapeworms, and tar deposits from smoking.
The designer, and programmer of that game was Richard S. Levine who had previously worked at Mattel (creators of the Intellivision) and recently had joined Imagic, one of the first ever third-party developers and publishers of games for the Intellivision and Atari VCS system after having worked for a stint at a medical device company while getting a degree in computer science at UC Irvine.
Drawing upon his interest in medicine, surrounding himself with anatomy books and other medical texts Richard began creation of what today is still hailed as a great game, let alone a precursor to the power of games to teach us about health and healthcare.
In what is sure to be an interesting conversation Levine will walk attendees through the game and the history of its creation, and the many interesting stories that arose from the publishing of Microsurgeon. It's an opportunity to see a true pioneering game and reflect on the current opportunities for games for health that exist in today's rich graphics and gaming environment.
Criticisms of Exergaming
Speaker(s): Brock Dubbels, Elizabeth Lyons
As the leadoff session for the Exergaming Track at Games for Health Criticisms of Exergaming is a look at research, theory, and pure opinion that is critical of the possible validity, upside, comparative and overall effectiveness of active games and exergaming.
Two researchers working with the general games for health community will provide a review of all the gathered pushback and their own critical research and make sense of it.
This session does not seek to rebut most of the criticisms but to understand them better and identify which of them provides useful angles to inform further research, better design, and better implementation of current and future efforts. Furthermore, by understanding the basis and origination of exergaming criticisms supporters of exergaming can better understand how to position and effectively advocate better for its proper roles as research and success inform where effective opportunities and implementations exist.
Child's Play : Growing Our Efforts to Support Games and Health
Speaker(s): Robert Khoo, Kristin Lindsay, Penny Arcade & Child's Play Charity
Founded in 2003, Child's Play Charity was started by the online comic Penny Arcade, one of the largest communities of gamers in the world. The organization is dedicated to improving the lives of hospitalized children with toys and games in their network of over 60 hospitals worldwide, and in 2007 and again in 2008 raised over one million dollars in toys and cash.
The majority of Child's Play's work has been raising equipment and funds for child life programs at hospitals but Child's Play has also provided support to research and other projects that address issues in health. In this session representatives from Child's Play will detail the work of the charity including its more specific efforts beyond supporting game and equipment requests from its member hospitals. Attendees to the session will then get the chance to provide ideas and feedback for how Child's Play can help support more work in the greater games for health field that can provide a positive impact on children’s health.
Using Guitar Hero III to create a novel training and evaluation device for upper-extremity amputees
Speaker(s): Jacob Vogelstein, John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
This session details a modification to the commercial video game Guitar Hero III using surface electromyography (EMG) to create a novel training and evaluation device for upper-extremity amputees. Rather than pressing the keys with one’s fingers as in the normal game, in our modified version a user merely flexes his or her index, middle, or ring finger muscles, and the resulting myoelectric activity is recorded using six or more EMG electrodes placed around the forearm. The acquired data is processed in real-time using pattern recognition algorithms to derive intended motion, and the results are used to control the game. Performance metrics reported by the game’s built-in scoring system are used to evaluate classifier performance. To confirm the functionality of the system, three non-amputee users evaluated the EMG-controlled game (called “Air-Guitar Hero”) and reported that it was effective, fun, and engaging. The goal of this work is to create systems to help evaluate performance of motor decoding algorithms for dexterous control of upper-extremity neuroprostheses. In the future as people use more advance prothesis videogames may also serve as part of the training and therapy process for adjusting to their presence.
Important Considerations for Clinicians and Game Designers regarding games for Motor Rehabilitation
Speaker(s): Sheryl Flynn, ICT-USC
Traditional Physical Therapy is often boring, tedious and painful. In an attempt to circumvent these rather negative aspects of rehabilitation, clinicians are beginning to use off-the-shelf video game technology as an adjunct to traditional physical therapy. The Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation EyeToy are the most frequently used, however other games such as UDance and Novint Falcon are gaining interest. When being used in the clinic, laughter and competition is often heard throughout the room. Clinicians must continue to carefully select the most appropriate games for each client based upon the client's ability, the goal of the session and the appropriateness of the game interface, game objective and sound motor control theory. By rigorous attention to the details of the games, clinicians must decide when the use of video games is appropriate and when it is not. Since technology is becoming more clinician-friendly, game use in the rehabilitation setting is going to significantly increase in the near future. Perhaps a discussion between game developers/designers and clinicians regarding game design for rehabilitation purposes is in our near future. As clinicians are drawn into the design process, they should bring evidence based practice and their knowledge of motor learning, motor control and neuroscience to the design table. The purpose of this discussion is primarily to 1) discuss current motor control theory and activity dependent neuroplasticity principles as they apply to game use in rehabilitation, 2) critically evaluate common off-the-shelf games for rehabilitation, 3) provide clinicians tools with which to determine utility of games for rehabilitation, and 4) provide designers with insight into what clinicians need in order to get the biggest bang for their video game buck!
Cognitive Therapy Games for People with MS
Speaker(s): Bob Hone, Red Hill Studios
Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable neurological disease that an estimated 400,000 people in the United States, with a new case diagnosed each hour. Recent studies have pointed out that in addition to physical impairments, the disease can also produce significant cognitive challenges. Creative Director Robert Hone of Red Hill Studios will report on their development of cognitive therapy game specifically designed to address crucial cognitive functions relevant to MS patients such as processing speed, working memory, attention, and executive function.
The game will feature a common consumer game genre - the side scroller - to present a challenging and engaging game experience. The project is sponsored by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals on behalf of the MS Technology Collaborative, a joint effort between Bayer, Microsoft, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
A Study of Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Caloric Burn of "Normal" Gameplay
Speaker(s): Arlette Perry, University of Miami
While active gaming and exergaming are the talk of the town how much do we know about "normalized" gameplay when players use basic gamepads, and don't leave the couch? This talk details a study undertaken at the University of Miami which examined heart rates, and blood pressure during gameplay of typical off-the-shelf videogames including Tekken 3. The supervisor of the study will present the study design and results, as well as showcase several other studies examining physical activity, aerobic fitness and health-related fitness variables.
Are There Cognitive Benefits from Movement Based Games?
Speaker(s): Paul Pivec
Published research showing that academic achievement can be predicted through the use of cognitive assessments include the tests of working memory, pattern matching, and cognitive skills known as “chunking”. This has led to the popularity of games and products such as Brain Training and Mind Fitness. Sadly, all these games appear to do is to teach the player how to pass the cognitive test. As we know, practice make perfect and by practicing a cognitive test, the participant will always get better and achieve higher scores. However, does this lead to improved academic achievement?
Movement based games such as Dance Dance revolution (DDR) have been used extensively for physical therapy to treat both obesity in children and for general exercise of young and old alike. However, there has been no research linking any of these movement games with an improvement in cognitive abilities. My research has shown that players of both DDR and Guitar Hero use Visual searching, pattern matching, and memory chunking as they progress through the levels. Interestingly, they perform these cognitive tasks this without being aware of what they are called. These games place a high cognitive load on working memory. A 4-minute DDR song requires over 1600 dance pad moves, each move is observed, recognized, converted, memorized, and then actioned; up to 7 times per second. Pattern recognition and the rapid conversion to a sequence, chunking these sequences, and storing temporarily would involve the visuo-spatial sketchpad component of working memory.
This presentation will present the findings of this research including eye-tracking tests of DDR players and subsequent analysis. Many institutions, such as the Scottish Centre for Learning, have introduced Brain Training games into their classroom in the belief that it will improve the cognitive skills of the students. If exercising cognitive skills increases academic achievement, then perhaps movement based games such as DDR should also be included into the mainstream curriculum.
Get Well Gamers : Deep Insights Working with Videogames, Hospitals, and Helping People Get Well
Speaker(s): Ryan Sharpe, Get Well Gamers
In this session, Ryan Sharpe the founder of Get Well Gamers will download to the audience countless stories, ideas, and insights about how games can help and actually do help people get well. Get Well Gamers is a grassroots effort to help hospitals acquire videogame hardware and software and deploy it in support of hospital patients. However, Get Well Gamers doesn't just dump a pile of games at the hospital's doorsteps. In reality it acts a defacto consultant on games, technical support, and critical solutions that help hospitals get the most out of games within the hectic nature of their environments and the tasks they have at hand. In 2007 Ryan provided just a small amount of the many experiences Get Well Gamers has had implementing its mission. In 2009 he returns with more time and much more advice for the games for health community.
Attendees to this session will learn first hand the challenges of having games operate in hospital and clinical settings. Get Well Gamers has a lot of rubber-meets-the-road experience and looks forward to sharing this with attendees with projects that at some point near or far will potentially be used in the tough environs of hospitals and clinics.
Social and Psychological Factors Associated with ExerGaming Play
Speakers(s): Alasdair Thin, Lisa Hansen, Judy Shasek, Ann Maloney, Monique Simmons
Whilst there is a body of evidence beginning to emerge on the energetic demands required to play a range of ExerGames, there has been little research into the social and psychological factors affecting ExerGaming. These aspects are important as they are likely to be important determinants of medium to long-term engagement with ExerGames and thus ultimately determine the success or otherwise of ExerGaming health interventions. Looking beyond the novelty factor, ExerGames have the potential to engaging and rewarding experiences that can be shared in social settings. Matching the level of challenge to a player’s own skills and abilities is recognized as being an important motivating factor as is socialization around a common activity or goal. This cluster of sessions will outline research into a range of social and psychological factors in a variety of settings and constructs associated with ExerGaming including the experience of “Flow state” or “being in the zone” as it is commonly referred to.
“In the Zone” - Flow Experience, Enjoyment and Mood after ExerGame Play
Social Experiences in Group-based ExerGaming
Perceptual Motor Skills Development and Psychological Benefits of FootGaming
Social and Psychological Correlates of Purchasing and Playing Behavior of both Sedentary and Active Video Games
Lessons from ExerGaming Research in Youth Settings
Combining Creative Development and Researcher Feedback for Active Gaming Prototypes
Speaker(s): Ken Patterson, Big John Games
Big John Games based in Edina Minnesota has been creating games for commercial entertainment platforms for 17 years. As attendees to last years Games for Health Conference they returned to their studio determined to create a number of active gaming prototypes. After presenting the prototypes to Games for Health staff it was arranged for each game to be presented to several leading researchers of active and exer-games for feedback.
During this session Ken Patterson of Big John games will detail each prototype and discuss how his creative team approached the commercial challenge of creating games that can motivate activity in their players. Going further, the session will also look at the reaction and recommendations from researchers to each first playable Big John Games produced. By capturing the critical nature of feedback from researchers during the development process the session hopes to show how developers and researchers can work together critically to produce better and more effective games then might be produced otherwise.
Akrasia : Metaphorical Depiction of Addiction
Speaker(s): Doris C. Rusch MIT/Gambit
Using game metaphors to explore issues related to addiction This presentation by Doris Rusch provides valuable insights won through the development of AKRASIA, a single player, 2D game that was made by seven students in the course of the annual eight-week summer programme at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. AKRASIA started with the wish for more profound game-play experiences. So far, most games are based on physical concepts - concepts whose elements can be directly observed and are readily understood, such as fighting, cooking, driving etc. For games to mature as a medium and expand their utility (from a serious games perspective), they need to start tackling less obvious ideas. What deeper insights can be gained from exploring the superficial? Of course, games need a physical surface otherwise there would be nothing for the player to do. But for games to be about more than running, jumping and manipulating objects, there needs to be something beneath that surface. The game's depth was achieved by basing it on an abstract concept - in this case ADDICTION - and by making it tangible via metaphors. This presentation gives an overview of how the development team applied the ideas about systematic metaphorical game design.
The Role of Music in Exergaming
Speaker(s): Romana Khan
A growing body of evidence indicates that music can be an ergogenic and psychophysical aid during exercise, highlighting the positive impact of structural and subjective features on activity performance and experience (Beckett, 1990; Hayakawa et al. 2000; Karageorghis & Terry, 1997). However, there is a need to investigate the impact of self-selected music on everyday exercise activity, with existing studies dominantly focusing on experimenter-selected music and relatively specialist training exercise activity (Copeland et al. 1991; Gfeller, 1988; Beckett, 1990; Wininger, 2003). Exergames provide a new context for everyday exercise in which personalisation of the music listening environment is important to the design and intended experience. Music in exergames is employed as a motivating factor to arouse the player physically and emotionally, motivating, engaging and rewarding action. Therefore, it is important to understand the nature of music use during exergame play, the role and function of music, and the impact of listening on activity performance and experience.
Mindless Eating Challenge
Speaker(s): JP Pollak, Cornell University
This session covers the development of Mindless Eating Challenge, a mobile phone-based health game developed in the Cornell University Human-Computer Interaction Lab, based on Dr. Brian Wansink's Mindless Eating Challenge.
In the game, players are tasked with caring for a virtual pet or plant, similar to the popular Tamgotchi. Pet care requires the user to follow a variety of health and eating recommendations and verify their actions with photos taken with their phone’s camera. For example, the recommendation “Eat a hot breakfast” would require the player to submit a photo of him/ herself eating a bowl of oatmeal. Photos and compliance are then judged either by judges or peers. Based on compliance to these recommendations, the pet or plant changes its appearance and gains features or accessories--a tree might grow taller or grow more leaves or fruit in response. Alternatively, leaves might fall off if the player’s performance is poor. A social portion of the game allows the user to see various depictions of their performance in comparison to the performance of others in their group, as well as of their group in comparison to other groups.
The Cornell University Human-Computer Interaction Lab is an interdisciplinary research team investigating social, psychological, & design issues using an iterative, user-centered approach building multi-media environments that support involvement, experimentation, exploration, and collaboration. For the past 10 years, the HCI Lab has led these interdisciplinary efforts around designing and developing context-aware and mobile computing applications. These were developed in various contexts ranging from games for children visiting museums to guided university campus tours to homes, to social support systems for cancer patients and have been funded by Intel, Google, Microsoft, NIH, Nokia, NSF, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Modding and Hacking Game Hardware for Health: Ask and you might receive...
Speaker(s): Ben Heckendorn, benheck.com
At last year's Games for Health Conference we unveiled a prototype foot-pedal for Guitar Hero created by well-known game hardware modder Ben Heckendorn (www.benheck.com) that was aimed at helping people with trouble using both hands to play the game for fun or during physical therapy sessions. Heckendorn has also created several other accessibility controllers as well as portable PS3s and Xboxes among his body of work.
This year Heckendorn returns. In this session he will provide an overview of his modding work especially related to accessibility/health and show off some of his other creations and provide some overview of how people such as himself hack game systems, controllers, and other related hardware.
But wait...there's more! During the session all attendees will be given the chance to brainstorm ideas for new pieces of hardware prototypes that might allow for new health games or research opportunities. All the ideas will be collected and one or more may be chosen to be created in prototype form for your own use and research!
The goal is simple, provide the Games for Health Community with more information on the role of game hardware in the games for health field and generate new ideas that can create new thinking and opportunities for the year ahead.
IGDA Accessibility SIG’s Accessibility Arcade
Speaker(s): Michelle Hinn, UI-Urbana Champagne/IGDA Games Accessibility SIG, Mark Barlet, Ablegamers.com & Friends
Join Michelle Hinn, chairwomen of the International Game Developers Association's IGDA SIG to explore current examples and the general state of accessibility for videogames. Videogame accessibility is a major issue as commercial games become a mass-audience media form. Not only do millions of customers worldwide deal with some form of disability that degrades their ability to play games, there are many people with temporary or life-long accessibility conditions who could derive health benefits from games and input devices designed with accessibility in mind. During Accessibility Arcade, Hinn, and other guests from the games-accessibility community will demonstrate various software and devices aimed at improving who can play games and how they can be played. This session will also feature a summary of the activity from Games Accessibility Day held June 10, 2009 by the Games for Health Conference during its pre-event workshops.
A Method for Tearing Apart and Quantifying Elements of Game Design in Exergames
Speaker(s): Ernesto Rameriz, UC-San Diego
The Health Games research group at University of California, San Diego/San Diego State University has been researching how operant behavior theory is built into various exergaming products. This session details how the research group has been breaking apart games with varying levels of quality and understanding each important instance of their play and interface design as it relates to positive/negative reinforcements, quality of play, and motivation to exercise. This session focuses on that process in an effort to share ideas and generate feedback into methodologies for evaluating exergaming products. Examples from exergames will be presented in order to facilitate a better understanding of how game designers create contingencies that reinforce or weaken intended behaviors (game play and physical activity).
Broadly, our framework identifies, codes, and ranks physical activity behavior and behavioral principles in exergames to determine which games may be most beneficial for sustained game play. Physical activity behaviors are coded using dimensions such as form, frequency, intensity, latency and duration. Furthermore, we have developed a system in order to examine specific contingencies (behavior and its associated antecedents and consequences) that games present during game play on a moment-to-moment basis. The method provides qualitative and quantitative data on behavior change principles identified in games.
Game Development Technologies and Practices Applied to Dental Surgery Training & Practices
Speaker(s): Roman Cibirka, Medical College of Georgia
Dr. Roman Cibirka of the Medical College of Georgia has for over a year been building a game-based simulation for training dental implant surgery. As many new medical students are raised on "simulation" in the form of videogames they are embracing the general medium of games and simulations as valid methods for learning and exploration. It is hoped that using gaming will enhance cognitive learning and ultimately student learning outcomes. As the development has come together for the project Dr. Cibirka will demonstrate the application and cover how it was developed and the teaching methodologies it utilizes and current assessments of its effectiveness.
Bringing the communities of games and simulation for health closer together
Speaker(s): Jeffrey Taekman, Duke University
The goal of this session is to better describe how the worlds of medical modeling & simulation and games for health plus associated realms such as cyberpsyhcoloy and VR medicine can be brought together to learn from each other and improve their collective work.
HumanSim : A platform for virtual patients for games and simulations a Sponsored Session by Virtual Heroes
Speaker(s): Randy Brown, Virtual Heroes
HumanSim is a platform for medical training and education that is under development at Cary, NC based Virtual Heroes. During this sponsored session Virtual Heroes will provide a complete breakdown of their system and how it can be used to power games that are about human physiology and virtual patients. Attendees to this session will not only learn about HumanSim itself but the challenges of creating games that have simulative virtual patients. Furthermore, attendees to the session will have the opportunity to provide guidance and feedback to how Virtual Heroes might best make this technology available to other game developers and medical simulation specialists who wish to build their own applications utilizing the APIs and algorithms that power HumanSim.
Case Study : Active Adventures
Speaker(s):: Seth Sivack
The WINDS OF ORBIS is the first action-adventure video game to combine dance pads with Wii remotes. The project is produced by a group of graduate students from the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center and has been underway since the spring of 2008. WINDS OF ORBIS team-member Seth Sivak will provide an overview of WINDS and the challenges of combining different input methods to create a unique active-gaming experience.
Case Study : Burn Center
Speaker(s):: Tom Carbone
This session covers the design, development, and rollout of Burn Center by 360ED an award winning training game covering a mass casualty burn-victim event. Burn Center not only provides the immersive experience of a full-scale, chaotic triage situation, but it also features an extensive resuscitation mode that follows patients over the course of 36 hours of treatment on an intensive care unit following a disaster event.
Case Study : ArmyFit
Speaker(s):: Julia Kim
ArmyFIT is a new exer-game designed to provide physically fit civilians and military personnel with a video game that will engage and challenge them in physical fitness tasks using low-cost off-the-shelf video game devices. The proof-of-concept system consisting of three exercises (plyometric squat jumps, cardio-agility run, and X-test) was built using Flash with the integration of a Wiimote and dancepad for input and interaction with the game. The demonstration will show three exercises developed for a proof-of-concept ArmyFIT system: plyometric squat jumps, cardio-agility run, and X-test.
A Design Review of Sexual Content, Sexually Mature Themes in Games, and Games About Sex
Speaker(s):: Brenda Brathwaite
Issues involving sex and health - especially sexually transmitted diseases, are some of the top issues dealt with in public health. Whether it's combating the spread of AIDs and other STDs, sexual dysfunction, reproductive health, or general sex education games are a tool that has been used and will likely be used more in the future. As such shouldn't we understand as much as possible how games have involved sex and sexual themes? Such reviews provide great opportunity for insight into both what people might already be learning from games but also ideas that while ostensibly utilized for entertainment could be useful for games about sexual health, issues, and related themes.
The session will not just cover well-known commercial games like Leisure Suit Larry or Playboy: The Mansion, but also many independently produced titles often provided freely on the Internet, and a growing number of virtual worlds and social networking games that are being developed as well.
Discussion & Best Practices for Implementation for Health Application of Exergames
Speaker(s):: Lisa Hansen, Barbara Chamberlin
As many in the games for health field know all-to-well its not enough to simply build-it. If games are going to achieve their biggest level of impact they need support from a variety of interests. Sure, people will use exergames unaided but not everyone. If being used in a physical therapy environment they most certainly can't be used unsupervised. Many seniors take to active gaming right away but require help learning systems, interfaces, and menus they've never encountered before. Even the most fervent exergamers can get bored and see their usage decline - a behavior change that can be averted with a freindly reminder, or supporting social network that provides peer support. Playing games in groups adds not only socialization but new opportunities to maintain engagement. Taken together there is a wide array of implementation processes and research proponents of active gaming, exergaming, and rehabitainment should be more familiar with.
In this 90 minute long session several speakers and those in attendance will discuss their work improving the "last-mile" between games and those they're intended to help. The group will also solicit feedback and ideas to be merged with on-going work examining issues in active-gaming being undertaken by the Games for Health Project.
Using Wii Games to Help Parkinson's Patients
Speaker(s):: Ben Herz
Ben Herz is an occupational therapist at the Medical College of Georgia. In 2008 he began using WiiFit and other games with Parkinson's Patients and finding useful results but also the inevitable problems adapting off-the-shelf software to the specific needs of occupational therapy. During this session Herz will detail his discovery of the Wii, his implementation of it in his program detailing the games he uses and why. Furthermore Herz will detail flaws in off-the-shelf games and exergames that if corrected would improve the ability of therapists interested in using games to help patients.
Capturing Wiimote & Acceleromter Data for Active Gaming Evaluation
Speaker(s):: Paul Blair
To properly study exergames and active gaming there often arises the means to capture and analyze data from WiiMotes and other wireless accelerometers. By capturing such data you can look for useful correlations between what researchers observed and what the player actually did as recorded by accelerometer systems. In this system researcher Paul Blair details his PC based system for reading and recording WiiMote data and using it to help aid in evaluating active gaming systems and usage. While this talk will focus specifically on capturing from Wiimotes the overall structure and approach could potentially work with other wireless accelerometer systems and datasets.
Senior Wii : A Study of Seniors and Wii Exercise
Speaker(s):: Dori Rosenberg
This talk covers a study of 22 older adults (mean age 77) who were entered into a 6-week Wii game regimen to promote activity and exercise. Initial pilot testing revealed a need to develop a protocol to ensure that Wii play was safe for older adults. This included devoting the first session to comprehensively training the participant on how to use the Wii, demonstrating suggested stretches before and after play to avoid strain, allowing participants to play seated or standing depending on their physical function, and having Wii teachers available to supervise and assist participants as needed at the start of the study. Participants have reported enjoying their Wii time and learning the various games, demonstrating acceptability of this intervention. Some participants tried new sports never played before in real life, while others enjoyed the use of Wii Sports to improve their real world play. Participants most commonly selected Wii golf, tennis, and bowling. Overall results were positive and reinforced the need for more study. During the talk a member of the research team will detail the study and how it was implemented and provide more details of the results. This will include very specific issues about rolling out such exergames/active games with older populations.
Case Study : Breath: A game to motivate the compliance of postoperative breathing exercises
Speaker(s):: Belinda Lange
Breathing complications following surgery have been shown to increase hospital stay and associated healthcare costs. Postoperative breathing exercises can reduce pulmonary complications caused by anesthesia and pain by encouraging deep breathing and improving lung function. An incentive spirometer is an apparatus for measuring the volume of air inspired and expired by the lungs that can be used to provide visual feedback for patients during breathing exercises.
There is a need for a breathing exercise program that patients will be motivated to complete at regular intervals throughout the day while recovering from surgery. Furthermore, there is a need for a device that will provide quantitative measures of patient progress and compliance. The development of a game-based incentive spirometry system aims to help to motivate patients to perform breathing exercise programs and provide quantitative measurement of progress and compliance. The input device uses airflow measured from a spirometer and LabPro system (Vernier Software and Technology) to interact with the computer based video game environment. The prototype interaction device developed for this project was programmed to use the airflow measured from a spirometer via a LabPro system as an input device to interact with a game developed using Torque X 2D game engine, built on Microsoft's XNA Game Studio in C# programming language.
The game requires the user to control a plane using their breath. The plane must be safely maneuvered through a series of hills. When the user breathes in, the plane will fly higher, avoiding the hill-tops. When the user breathes out, the plane will fly lower, enabling the user to collect items (such as fuel cells) and fly through targets. The use of targets and collecting items for points is intended to motivate the patient to control their breathing within certain set limits. Ultimately, the therapist will have control over the settings of the game in order to individualize treatment goals.
The talk will cover the development of the project, a demonstration of the currently playable game and showcase initial playtesting results with healthy participants.
Case Study : Camera Games for Precise Exercises
Speaker(s):: Johnathan Sykes
Therapeutic exercises, such as those for the purpose of rehabilitation or physiotherapy, often appear monotonous to children making it difficult to maintain a programme of recovery. In 2007 the eMotionLab was sponsored to develop a product that would encourage children to engage with their need for physical exercise. Our solution involved the development of a sub-$100 game-console that delivers a series of games. Each game has been specifically designed to promote particular controlled body movements.
Interaction with the system is via a video-camera, which is housed above the visual display unit. On-screen, users interact with a composite image of themselves and the graphical user interface.
Here we discuss the problem space, as defined by stakeholder requirements. We then describe our solution, showing how we decided to tackle each design problem along the way. Finally we discuss the lessons learned during the development process. In particular we focus on technical and social challenges faced during the life of the project, highlighting the cultural battle to deliver a product that is both enjoyable to use, but also effective as a serious application.
A Study of Wii Fit Effectiveness
Speaker(s):: Scott Olsen
This talk details a study that examined whether having the Wii Fit interactive video device in the home for three months has an impact on the physical fitness and physical activity habits of family members. In this study "family" is taken to mean at least one adult parent/care giver living at home with between 1-3 children, at least one of whom is in the third-fifth grade. Eight families from the Oxford/Lafayette County area who do not currently have the Wii Fit device in the home were recruited through newspaper advertisements. Families were loaned the Wii Fit device for home use for three months. A member of the research team provided the families an in-home tutorial on Wii Fit use. Prior to the intervention and at the conclusion of the intervention physical fitness was assessed in the Exercise Physiology Laboratory on the University of Mississippi campus with a treadmill test, push-up test, sit-and-reach test, and balance test. Body composition is assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Physical activity is assessed in all family members prior to the intervention and at the conclusion of the intervention with 5 consecutive days of wearing an accelerometer clipped to a waist belt. No specific recommendation on amount of use of the Wii Fit was made to the families. Rather, the intent is to learn how much the devices will be utilized by family members based on their own interest levels as if they had purchased the system for themselves with little outside intervention from health professionals.
A survey of Health Product and Messaging Advergames
Speaker(s):: TBA
Health and wellness is an enormous and competitive market even for products as advanced as stents, cholesterol medicine, and other important therapies. This is why consumers are deluged with print, radio, and video advertising on a wealth of health products and services as they battle for marketshare, consumer awareness, and medical establishment uptake. As these forms of advertising provide diminishing returns and advertisers seek new ways to educate consumers to take action with their offerings games are now becoming part of the advertising and marketing approaches organizations are using.
As public health interests also look for new ways to reach youth and other demographics they too are looking at ways games can be a means to reach people with their message.
What is the current shape of this practice? In this session Gaming4Health an organization tracking activity in the games for health field will provide as full accounting of health advergaming as possible. Attendees to this session...[nmh]
Games for Health Potpurri : 10 Under-reported Items in the Games for Health Field
Speaker(s):: Ben Sawyer
Despite casting a wide net there are many under-explored issues and spaces in the games for health field. In an effort to put the spotlight on such areas this session will take attendees through a variety of topics, stories, and viewpoints that deserve more attention. Ben Sawyer the co-founder of the Games for Health Project has spent the past six months collecting stories, responding to email leads, and more to create a session that will leave you not only more informed about the intersections between games and health but hopefully inspired to see how much territory has yet to be fully explored or discussed.
Case Study : The Skeleton Chase, A Healthy ARG
Speaker(s):: Jeanne Deborah Johnston
This session covers the development, rollout, and results of an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) titled Skeleton Chase that was developed to serve as an intervention for college students who studies show routinely dial down their exercise activity upon arrival at college which in turn sows the seeds for bad health habits and outcomes later in life.
ARGs are still a new frontier in gaming, combining computer gaming with real-world interaction. They can be complex to design and execute. In this session, we will discuss what unique design considerations were necessary to build The Skeleton Chase, including: acquiring and using physical locations; managing text messages, emails; building fictional websites and using existing real websites; ‘herding’ student players, combating cheating, and many more.
We will also present and discuss our findings. Specifically, we will report on the efficacy of The Skeleton Chase ARG along two dimensions: (1) its relative effectiveness in influencing student players’ physical activity, and (2) their reactions to the game play experience, highlighting game design strengths and weaknesses.
While our initial results are very encouraging, we learned several lessons. These lessons may inform others interested in this emerging and evolving game genre, particularly in the health context.
Case Study : Rolling out Footpowr
Speaker(s):: Judy Shaseck
Last year at Games for Health 2008 Judy Shaseck detailed her vision for "footgaming" which is broadly enabling many off-the-shelf games to be played. The session will showcase the FootPOWR computer peripheral which allows people of all ages and diverse abilities and interests to access hundreds of existing games (online, downloaded or already installed), dozens of virtual worlds, and an wide array of educational software while being physically active and balancing. Participants will be able to demo the product and experience FootGaming for themselves as well. Utilizing improved interface software and pads Footgaming becomes much more user-friendly and possible. Returning to the conference in 2009 Judy will present a year in-the-life of getting this new games for health business off the ground and what she's learned in trying to bring active gaming and exergaming beyond the rythym gaming genre.
The Coming Age of Sensor Based Health Games
Speaker(s):: Debra Lieberman, Michael Zyda, Kevin Stanley
Increasingly, games are using a new generation of sensors that can detect movement, haptics, proximity, global position, light, audio, visuals, brain waves, emotional states, and physiological states, to name a few. These sensors often transmit their data to games without requiring players to transmit the data themselves, such as through an accelerometer attached to the player’s belt throughout the day, or a GPS system that inputs the player’s physical location into the game state.
Advances in sensor technologies and affordability are giving health game designers new gameplay options. This session will cite research findings and case-study examples to provide an overview of the many types of sensor systems that exist today or are just around the corner, and their potential integration into the research and design of games for health.
Games for Psychology Sessions
Speaker(s):: Michael Stora
Michael Stora is a France based psychologist who has been using videogames and virtual worlds in his psychology sessions with children and young adults for the past several years. Mr. Stora will present on his work and his methodology for selecting games and using them to help young people overcome problems dealing with family issues, life, and physical ailments.
Making Sense Of Brain Games: A Scientific Analysis Of Game Design In The Brain Fitness
Speaker(s):: Carrie Heeter, Brian Winn, Apar Maniar
Games to exercise the brain have emerged as a specialized serious games market segment, in the form of individual games and companies specializing a coordinated suite of good-for-you cognitive workouts. Neuroscience research addresses the question of whether playing games can improve cognitive functioning. Michigan State University's brain game design research looks at whether today's brain games are good games. Using scientific methods, MSU faculty and students have analyzed a random sample of individual and brain fitness company brain games. The research characterizing brain game design along the lines of graphics and sound, premise, rules, conflict, challenge, character, feedback, navigation, and story as well as which forms of fun and specific cognitive functions are targeted. Any casual observer who has tried some of these games has probably noticed that brain games tend to offer much less engaging game play than a typical successful online casual game. They appear not to be fun enough to attract players unless the player is overtly concerned about brain fitness.
A clear exception to this rule is Nintendo's Brain Age (from a company who, not coincidentally, creates other highly successful commercial games). In fairness, serious games are not expected to be as fun or as well designed as high budget blockbuster commercial games. But it is reasonable to ask what level of production quality and player experience is typical in brain games today. The Michigan State University GEL Lab (Games for Entertainment and Learning) undertook a systematic, scientific analysis of the state of the art of brain game design, looking at games offered individually and those that are part of coordinated brain fitness suites. These are some of the questions the study addressed: What design features are common across most games? Which cognitive functions are targeted? Do the games incorporate structural and dramatic elements? Is there a premise and storyline? Characters? Levels? How fun are the games, and why are they fun? What kind of player navigation, feedback and scoring is used? Is the game replayable? Most individuals concerned about cognitive decline are older. Do brain game color schemes make use of high contrast and large type to accommodate mature eyes? The researchers offer an in depth portrait of the state of the art of modern brain game design and discuss next steps for this emerging market.
Sitting Playfully: Does the use of a centre of gravity computer game controller influence the sitting and functional ability of children with neuromotor dysfunction?
Speaker(s):: Will Wade
The presentation aims to present the early findings from a randomised cross-over study designed to determine whether using a sitting platform (in place of a joystick) to control computer games has an influence on the development of sitting ability, functional reach and posture for young people with neuromotor dysfunction. Neuromotor dysfunction, an umbrella term for a range of disorders where Cerebral palsy is seen to be the prevalent diagnosis (Reid 2002), often presents children with difficulties in postural control and activities of daily living.
An important part of development and management of posture is to encourage improved sitting ability. Improved sitting ability can in turn lead to improved comfort, functional ability and independence and also a reduction on the risk of contractures, deformity and pressure ulcers (Moreau et al 1979, Bagg et al 1993, Gudjonsdottir & Stemmons Mercer 1997, Pountney et al 2000).
A number of studies have shown the usefulness in improving postural ability training, whether through exercise (e.g. horseback riding) and forms of neurodevelopmental training. Several authors have also recognised the need to identify meaningful activities for children and incorporated these activities within play (Sakemiller and Nelson 1998).
What will be covered is a study where Twenty-three children were identified according to the criteria (notably; neuromotor dysfunction, level three or above on the Chailey Levels of sitting ability and aged five to fifteen years at the start of the study) from across the South of England. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups receiving intervention / no intervention or no intervention / intervention over two consecutive three month periods.
The intervention involved providing a sitting platform and computer interface for use at home or school with various computer games. The computer game is controlled by the participant moving their centre of gravity in the sagittal and coronal planes. The game controller was a modified PC joystick designed to work by four variable pressure switches housed in a cushion and was first designed at the University of Reading and modified by Chailey Heritage Clinical Services (NHS, Sussex) to work with the child client group in this study.
A Behavior Change Game for People with Type I Diabetes
Speaker(s):: Hadi Kharrazi
Patient empowerment is considered to be one of the key factors in improving and maintaining a patient’s health status. Patient empowerment in patients with chronic illnesses involves educating the patient after the initial diagnosis and then keeping the patient motivated to comply with the treatment in the follow up period which may last lifelong. Behavioral models have played a major role in implementing new approaches to empower patients with chronic conditions. In this session we will demonstrate a game framework designed on an existing behavioral model to help people with Type I diabetes.
The framework learns from the patient’s situation based on the patient’s compliance to treatment and the patient’s personal profile; and then the game adapts itself to the new situation and creates new strategies to educate the patient in order to reinforce positive behavior on the part of the patient. With the game parents reported the compliance rates of their children and the children (patients) were awarded in the game based on their compliance to treatment. Health points collected by compliance were used in the game to buy new items or play additional embedded games (mini-games).
The session will cover the behavior change model designed for the game, the design and development of the game itself and the findings which did show a significant improvement in attitude toward healthy behaviors and a significant increase in compliance rates.
Mortal Kombat Meets Play Therapy
Speaker(s):: T. Atilla Ceranogl
This 30-minute presentation gives parents and game developers a new perspective on children and video games--through the experiences of a child psychiatrist who uses electronic games with troubled children in play therapy.
Parents and game developers will learn:
* How children use certain types of games to express and cope with feelings. One can also see a child's coping style reflected in the play. A child who has difficulty in taking initiative in real life replicated the same approach in a video game where the player character roamed around the levels almost aimlessly, avoiding any action that may further the plot.
* How games help children learn about cooperation and conflict. With cooperative and competitive play options, children work together towards a common goal or play against each other and learn to accommodate a win or tolerate a defeat.
* How to choose games to help children or teens with specific problems, or promote particular interests. A wide range of emotional states and experiences can be accessed through certain video games. For example, the Viva Pinata series gives the experience of caring for, and settling disputes among, a variety of interesting creatures. Shooter games may bring out aggressive urges in a safe environment. The newer "Pro" mode backed with enhanced AI in some sports games (FIFA 2009, Madden series, etc.) gives an emotionally safe place to practice team building skills and the ability to delegate responsibilities.
* How parents and children can strengthen their bond using video games. It's a rare opportunity for the child to teach an adult. With its easy controls, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe could be a good start. Games with cooperative play modes let the child help the adult unfold the plot, and share the outcome.
By the end of the presentation, attendees will be able to 1) identify clues to a child's emotional state during video game play, both on screen and in person, and 2) choose electronic games to fit both their and their children's needs, so they can play together.
What Kids Get Out of Video Games : The Presence of Games in Health Child Development
Speaker(s):: Cheryl Olsen
This presentation blends lessons from Dr. Olson’s research on middle-school youth, and recent studies on healthy child development—offering game developers and parents a new way of looking at children and electronic games.
Topics include:
· The complex reasons kids play video games; The four types of game players
· What the popularity of Grand Theft Auto tells us about healthy teen development
· How kids use games to make sense of the world; the surprising things they learn from violent games
· When game play is a problem: markers to watch for
· Talking to your kid about video games
· Implications of this research for game developers
This presentation will give you insights into the role electronic games play in children’s lives, and ways to encourage positives and minimize negatives.
Game Related Illnesses & Injuries : The accused, documented, and related
Speaker(s):: Alan Au
Ever since the first major arcade games rolled out there have been videogame related injuries and illnesses. From photo-volitilic siezers to people hurting themselves with active gaming you can't spare videogames from being at the cause of a variety of interesting injury and illness outcomes. However, just because we know such things exist doesn't mean we have a good grasp on them - or even a good stab at a complete documented list.
The goal of this session is simple - to present a catalog of both evidence based documentation of game-related injuries and illnesses and those reported on but not necessarily documented perfectly. Furthermore, this session also will look at rhetorical claims of injuries and "injury epidemics" that have also been part of the record of this subject if not always the reality.
Attendees to this session will leave with a better understanding of game related injuries and illnesses and how they might manifest themselves not only in the normal course of events but potentially as side-effects to exposure to games in health or health research settings.
The effect of video games on visual attention
Speaker(s):: Daphne Bavelier
Although the adult brain is far from being fixed, the types of experience that promote learning and brain plasticity in adulthood are still poorly understood. Surprisingly, the very act of playing action video games appear to lead to widespread enhancements in visual skills in young adults. Action video game playing is associated with improvements ranging from early vision to attention and decision making. Performance enhancements are seen not only in the visual but also in the auditory modality, and result in an overall speeding of performance across a range of tasks. I will argue that such a wide transfer of learning across perception, cognition and modalities may be best captured by a common mechanism rather than by a myriads of domain-specific enhancements. In particular, action game players appear to become better Bayesian learners, fine-tuning their performance to the statistics of their environment.
Health in Games
Speaker(s):: Ben Sawyer
In this evergreen presentation that has received a major update with help from other community members Ben Sawyer of Games for Health will present on the latest aspects of how health, biology, and related topics are being depicted in mainstream computer, mobile, online, and virtual world games. The goal of the talk is to identify the information people are interacting with in games not specifically for their health but which contain interesting to robust health aspects none-the-less. Attendees who have never seen this talk before will find the entire topic interesting as it chases back to games over 20 years old while those who have seen the presentation before will find new games and information not previously covered by this talk.
Health Data & Gamer Demographics
Speaker(s):: TBA
In the past year several datasets, surveys, and reports have come out that begins to shed a bit more light on who gamers are and what their health status and attitudes are. This session gathers research, reports, and insights from all the leading sources of this work in one place and tries to identify what consensus emerges and where we should place more effort to understand more about gamers, their habits in general and those related to health.
Case Study : Happy Neuron
Speaker(s): Laura Fay
Gaming for Cognitive Remediation & Rehabilitation
Laura Fay CEO of brain game company HAPPYneuron will present a case study and history of their health game company. Not only will the history of HAPPYneuron be covered but the design of the software as well. Specific to that design Ms. Fay will cover how HAPPYneuron uses a large database of play to provide interesting feedback and peer comparisons to players who engage with their software.
Games for Health and Education : A Policy Report and Discussion
Speaker(s):: Michael Levine + Panelists TBA
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop with support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foujndation and in collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars recently spent many months developing a report that outlines policy issues involved in the future deployment of videogame technologies to advance children's learning and healthy development. During this panel discussion the report's author Michael Lowenstein will convene a diverse panel of health, government, and game experts to discuss the initial report and where policy development can make a difference in the future development of games for education and health. The report will be released in May in Washington DC and provides an analysis of the latest literature on video games' impact on learning and health. It features provocative insights from two dozen experts in policy, academia, health, and industry on the challenges that plague current research and development efforts; and offers a national plan for how to overcome these challenges.
The moderated panel will ask three central questions: Under which circumstances are games best deployed for learning and health promotion; what must practitioners do to integrate games for positive outcomes among young children; and how might we develop breakthrough innovation with the benefit of more coherent government and industry support.