Games for Health Conference Opens Tomorrow

May 7, 2008 -

More than 300 people will attend the Games For Health Conference. The event opens tomorrow in Baltimore.

From the GFH press release:

The conference will explore the intersection of next-generation game technologies and health issues... attendees will participate in over 60 sessions provided by an international array of 75 speakers, cutting across a wide range of activities in health and health care.

Topics include exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change, biofeedback, epidemiology, training, cognitive exercise, nutrition and health education.

Presenters include Dr. Richard Satava; Starlight Foundation; HopeLab; Realtime Associates; Virtual Heroes; XRtainment Zone; Archimage; Dr. Mark Baldwin of MindHabits; Electric Owl Studios; Noah Falstein of The Inspiracy; and Games for Health
co-founder Ben Sawyer.

The Games for Health Project was founded in 2004 and supports community, knowledge and business development efforts to employ game tech in order to improve health and health care. The conference press release describes the Games for Health Project as:

...produced by the Serious Games Initiative, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars effort that applies cutting-edge games and game technologies to a range of public and private policy, leadership and management issues...

As a kickoff to the GFH Conference, a special news briefing for bloggers will be held at 1PM Eastern on Thursday:

The latest "gaming for health" trends -- including "exergaming," health elements in popular commercial games (e.g., a "disease" being unleashed inadvertently on the population in "World of Warcraft") and sophisticated, new videogames used to train emergency medical personnel -- will be outlined during a live, two-way phone-based blogger/online news event...

The blogger news event will feature Ben Sawyer, Games for Health Project co-founder and Chinwe Onyekere, program officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio.

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Comments

Submitted by TheBird (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 07:18.

ten bucks says that wii fit will be there

Submitted by Games for Health Conference Opens Tomorrow (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 07:25.

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMore than 300 people will attend the Games For Health Conference. The event opens tomorrow in Baltimore. From the GFH press release: The conference will explore the intersection of next-generation game technologies and health issues… attendees will participate in over 60 sessions provided by an international array of 75 speakers, cutting across a wide range of activities in health and health care. Topics include exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change, biofeedback, epidemiology, training, cognitive exercise, nutrition and health education. [...]

Submitted by jesse (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 07:46.

I would like to know how the brain works in stressful gaming moments.

Submitted by koku (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 08:05.

biofeedback, eh? i wonder how far it has come...

Submitted by BB (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 11:15.

I remember seeing an exercise game, about 9 years ago. It was essentially an exercise bike attached to a monitor with 2 old-school joy-sticks. It was a tank game, and the way you moved was by pedalling.

After I got the hang of it (took 2 games of constant dying to get the hang of it), I was able to survive for about 15 minutes . . . didn't even notice my legs had turned to jello in the process.

They should make an effort to bring those types of games into the fold: maybe have a full-body work-out machine, like a mech-suit. Kind of like the one in the original Alien movie, but perhaps the actual game part of it would be like a "Gundam" type premise.

Its so easy to come up with ideas for "exergaming", surprised it never really took off. I look forward to seeing more of those kinds of things: it has the potential to really help society.

Submitted by kurisu7885 (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 11:31.

@BB

Agreed. Logic would indicate that to get kids to excercize, make it fun instead of a chore.

Submitted by Ben Sawyer (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 15:12.

First post owes me 10 Bucks. Sadly they are really focused on next weeks launch. It's here only in spirit...

Submitted by StealthKnight (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 15:46.

i have never herd of this before and it sounds interesting. Games like Wii fit and games that have an active use of the Wiimote are good games to promote health. Also dancing game are good for people's heal;th too.

Submitted by Haruko (not verified) on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 03:24.

jesse, there are findings from a Finish (IIRC) study (which you can find on the GP archives) that showed that gamers felt 'relieved' after dying while playing an FPS. So I assume, that while the body may display some of the stress symptoms during 'stressful' situations in gaming, once the stress is taken away I presume it releases endorphins or some other similar neurochemical.

Submitted by getwellgamers (not verified) on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 12:55.

I spoke at last year's GFH and thought it was a great experience. You'd be amazed at the kinds of far-reaching applications gaming has in the healthcare industry.

Wish I coulda been there this year, Ben, but I'm three weeks out from Graduation and just don't have the time... :(

Shout box

Matthew Wilson: https://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/weaponised-charity a interesting audio log.10/19/2014 - 12:04pm

prh99: Also there is no story in rational and respectful discussion (where you can find it).10/19/2014 - 10:44am

prh99: Well they are probably doing it on Twitter and probably the GG hashtag so any voice reason gets drowned out by idiocy. Also it's far easier to broad brush a group.10/19/2014 - 10:41am

Wonderkarp: dont fool yourself, Technogeek. Remember Mass Effect 3? How about the ferver against Phil Fish?10/19/2014 - 10:18am

MechaTama31: None of which is the fault or responsibility of the people who are not trolling, harassing, threatening, doxxing, etc. So why is their opinion hostage to the people who are?10/19/2014 - 10:06am

Technogeek: If the developer were male there wouldn't have been a "conversation" in the first place.10/19/2014 - 2:27am

Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm

Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm

Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm

Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm

Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm

Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm

Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm

Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm

ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm

MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm

Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm

MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am

Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am

quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

All shouts

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