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UCF Studying Health Benefits of Video Games
Hyppy writes "The University of Central Florida College of Medicine announced Friday that it received a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore how interactive digital games could be designed to improve player's health behaviors and outcomes. One study to be conducted seeks to learn if role-playing games can help keep sober alcoholics from relapsing."
Bob Wood Johnson? Seriously?
Long signatures suck.
For a game to be habit changing- the person playing it would NEED to know that it's trying to do that, and be willing to change. They must be willing to try to pick up the new habits the game is trying to teach.
As far as direct health benifits- I wouldn't be surprised if they find games like GTA releive stress. I feel it's a great way to let out some steam after a bad day at work....
Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
I'd be more concerned if you could really consider Jack Thompson a lawyer anymore, what with the disbarment hearing recently.
its a disbarment? nuts. i was looking forward to his dismemberment.
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
RPGs are the easiest games to play while intoxicated, as they require little to no coordination. Maybe instead you should give the alcoholics an FPS and force them to play it until they get a top score on the server. After several hours of puking from alcohol and the FPS queasies, they'll never want to touch either again.
So... Wii fit?
Disclaimer: I am not god.
We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
Isn't this mostly just swapping one form of addiction with another? Like the many people at AA who have started smoking/smoke more after trying to quit drinking.
Also, if you spend any amount of time on public chat channels in the average MMO, you will be well aware that one can easily combine addictions.
Lose: misplace or fail || Loose: not bound together
I'm not studying the stuff (PoliSci here) but I've seen that the school has some really cool video game programs. The Psychology department uses flight simulators to help deal with human factors problems, and there is another project on campus with an interactive shooting range for doing something or other.
Well of course the only good example I can think of is the physical workout you get playing DDR [the dance pad game, for those who've not seen it].
And more recently, we've had Wii Fit, which is quite different altogether.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
As a UCF alum ('92), I... don't know what to say. Part of me rolls my eyes (the "eyes" part of me, probably), but part thinks that if someone wants to give them money, good on them.
Before you design for reuse, make sure to design it for use.
Come on, please say I'm not the only one. Anyone else read that headline and immediately wonder why a mixed martial arts (MMA) behemoth wanted to research the health of video games? Why in the world would the UFC want to study video games and health? To give fighters a fast track to a jiu jistsu black belt through gaming? Anyone? Ok, maybe I've just been tainted by the huge influx of MMA into the forefront of my mind.
Are you bovilexic? Moo!
WTF are you talking about? Your post betrays a gross misunderstanding of addiction and the behaviors associated with it.
In this case, you wouldn't be "teaching new habits" you'd be removing the links to the old one, which is done without the need for any real cognition. You simply put them in a situation where they would normally abuse, but can't.
There are no "new habits" to be "picked up" only old ones to be extinguished.