Games for Life

The technological information age is pushing back the boundaries and perceptions of most aspects of our lives, and in one area is utilising the immersive power of computer games o increase the quality of life and enhance the benefits of healthcare.

Hope Lab developed Re-Mission to help improve the quality of life for teenage and young adult cancer patients. The game seeks to empower young patients, both by the act of “zapping” cancer cells and by gaining more knowledge over the medical process. And Hope Lab has the clinical data to prove the game worked.

In randomized, controlled experiments with cancer patients aged 13-29, those who played Re-Mission were more likely to adhere to their medical regimen, as evidenced by higher blood levels of chemotherapy; they also showed higher rates of antibiotic utilization. Over time, the players also showed a higher quality of life, a greater knowledge of their disease and an increased ability to manage side effects.

As a society, we attach a stigma to being sick, a virtue to health, as if a person can control their genetic make-up or air-borne viruses or the more than 80 ways the human body can sabotage itself with auto-immune disorders. Illness is isolating. It’s scary. And statistically, people who start a medical regimen, whether for high blood pressure, depression or osteoporosis aren’t likely to take their pills regularly just one year later. If playing a game can increase medical compliance, that’s a big Wow!

Full story: Blasting the Enemy, One Cell at a Time

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