The one-day Games for Health meeting that I attended in NYC a couple weeks ago is still rattling around in my head. I can't stop thinking about it. This game design initiative excites me like nothing else. Maybe it's because eating right and exercising have become such an important part of my own life... I put the smack down on high cholesterol with my Wii Fit, yoga and a radical diet change (that has become my new "normal" diet, two years on). I agree that games can be used to motivate and teach people of all ages to get healthy. And stay healthy. Because it worked for me! It's just fascinating to hear about games + biology, and how it is being found that neurons grow from learning something *new*! The Hopelab Research director has noticed that "something is happening in the limbic system" of the brain during gameplay. They see it on brain scans. Children experience improved bone densities from playing Dance Dance Revolution, too. I spoke with medical professional in NYC that want to create games that utilize those lit up brain areas of gamers to change habits. Very cool stuff.
In fact, Microsoft recently filed a patent on the creation of an avatar based on *your* physiology! Won't that be something? A relationship with your doctor where real data about your body is modeled onto a personalized three-dimensional computer model. Of you! And talk about in-game motivation. If you want to look like a super hero on-line... you'd better exercise and eat right in the real world. Man, imagine a World of War Craft MMO where you need to go on "exercise quests" in the real world to improve your avatar's power. Drop and give me twenty push-ups. Ding! You just leveled up.
Very excited for the Games for Health conference here in Boston on May 25-27, 2010. People are doing the most *amazing* things with games + health. You should go, too! I can't wait.
http://www.gamesforhealth.org/
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