If you work in healthcare, you will probably have come across the term “serious gaming” over the past few years. I can well imagine that you do not immediately have a concrete idea of what serious gaming exactly entails. Let alone what applications it has within your field. Maybe you even think: “Gaming, that’s something for children, right? How relevant is this to our practice?’ In this article, I will take you into the world of serious gaming within the healthcare sector. What exactly does it encompass? How can it be of value? What practical examples exist? The reason serious gaming is being used more and more in healthcare is that healthcare and games complement each other very well. Even better: games make healthcare better and cheaper. I would like to explain why on this page.
Narrated by: Maarten Stevens
Games cleverly play on how people are put together. A practical example: I want to take my daughter to school and she has yet to empty her glass of milk. But that’s already taking 15 minutes and we are in danger of being late… I say to her, “I don’t think you can finish that glass in three sips. Then what happens? You guessed it: in two sips she finishes her milk. Why didn’t she succeed in 15 minutes and then suddenly she did in 10 seconds? That’s because I challenged her by saying: you can’t do that. It is very human to want to show that you can.
In games, you come across many such mechanics, from very simple to tremendously ingenious. If you finish the game and you finish second, some of the people will be balking. They think, ‘I want to get first, I’ll do it again!” It works the same way with rewards in games. Almost automatically, you will engage in behaviors that bring rewards within the game. For example, there are lots of game mechanics that we know motivate people.
If we consciously use these mechanics for serious goals in healthcare – such as increasing treatment adherence – magic happens: you help people learn, recover or change faster, more effectively and more enjoyably. And that during an activity that also makes people feel happy and positive, because people produce the substance dopamine while gaming. This substance makes you feel happy and satisfied. This is why many people like games so much.
What exactly is the difference between a serious game and an entertainment game? In an entertainment game, the main goal is to have fun, while a serious game’s main goal is to have the player learn something or exhibit desired behavior. Therefore, things like shooting will not easily occur in a serious game – unless, for example, you have a game in which military personnel can practice shooting skills. Then again, it would be a serious game. Fun and learning are not mutually exclusive: a serious game is absolutely fun and entertaining. That is precisely why these types of games are so effective!
My first serious game I played around 1985 was a topography game in which you had to fly a helicopter to different places on the map. This is how I learned where Warsaw is located. An active and fun way of learning that I have applied many times in my working life, including within my work as a therapist in the mental health system. Precisely because of this, I quickly saw the potential of serious gaming in healthcare, both in terms of prevention and treatment. I thought to myself, ‘Why do we actually stop learning through play after elementary school?’ I wanted to change that, especially for the healthcare sector. By now, 8D Games – the company I founded in 2013 – has been around for ten years and we have quite a portfolio of serious games for healthcare. In the following paragraphs I would like to give you a glimpse of that, so you can better assess in which areas a serious game can add something to your work practice.
Below are three practical examples from 8D. Each of them clearly shows the added value of games in healthcare: for patients, for relatives and for professionals. All with their own purpose and customized.
Serious gaming in healthcare certainly offers benefits not only for patients. Professionals can also use it to practice new skills. For example, we are working with the innovation department of the Leeuwarden Medical Center on a virtual reality game focused on the resuscitation of newborn babies. This training provides doctors and nurses with an accessible way to (continue to) practice newborn CPR procedures. Resuscitating a newborn baby is a situation no one likes to face, but one that healthcare professionals must be well prepared for. Together with the MCL, we are exploring how virtual reality can help teach and especially maintain this essential skill.
Such a serious game offers significant benefits to healthcare professionals:
The goal of VR training is not to replace traditional training, but rather to encourage professionals to maintain this skill regularly. In virtual reality, they can realistically go through the steps and protocols of newborn resuscitation at self-selected times, without relying on group sessions.
The potential of the innovation was quickly noticed and recognized: with the first prototype, initiator and pediatrician Marije Peters won the Innovation Challenge of OOR-NO. In 2024, we are working on the further development of this special serious game for healthcare professionals.
Assisted Communication (OC) involves the use of alternative means of communication for people who cannot speak or have difficulty speaking. For people with communication disabilities, it is crucial that their environment is familiar with OC. Therefore, together with Deelkracht, we have developed a mobile game that offers parents, practitioners a first success experience with OC. With this, we aim to give a voice to people with multiple communicative disabilities (CMB) as well.
In the fall of 2023, the game was launched on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. In the first week, the game was already downloaded nearly 500 times. And that is directly the strength of such an intervention. It is low-threshold, because you can use it at home on your own device. Parents/treaters and people with CMB discover in a playful and interactive way what works for them. From that first introduction, the game offers tools to take the step towards more specialized OC tools.
In short: a serious game is a very suitable means to bring care and tools closer to the people, especially when dealing with a complex care offer. Installing and trying out a game is many times more appealing than reading through a stack of leaflets or crossing the country for a consultation with a specialist. Those things are – eventually – still necessary and desirable. But a serious game such as the Supported Communication Game can do an awful lot to remove the initial barriers.
In co-creation with parents with hearing-impaired children, 8D and Pento Audiological Center have developed a 2019 serious game for learning sign language created. More specifically: Dutch supported with Gestures (NmG). This is spoken Dutch with accompanying gestures from Dutch Sign Language.
In the colorful underwater world of Handlantis, you take on the role of caretaker of a fish with hearing impairment. As a mermaid, you help your buddy (with CI implant) clean up the room. In doing so, you perform situation-related gestures in front of a webcam. Each gesture is selected by experts and fits well with the everyday life of hearing-impaired or deaf children. The game offers parents (and babysitters, grandparents or neighbors) the opportunity to practice gestures at their own pace. After all, they already have so much to deal with – and learning sign language can sometimes just seem too difficult or too much. The gestures are packaged in a visually appealing and fun story. Also, the material covered is regularly refreshed together with the player.
Although the sign game does not replace a full sign course, this game also makes an excellent first introduction to sign language. One that brings the step to a full course Dutch supported with Signs closer. Exactly at a time when many parents, caregivers and children could use a positive boost. That too is serious gaming for care!
There are, of course, many other examples of serious gaming in healthcare can be found on our portfolio page. There are countless situations in which techniques from games can help healthcare. Think of a simulation of a CT scan that reduces anxiety in patients or rehabilitation after surgery through a game. Think of a VR training with which operations can be practiced or an e-learning tool that facilitates learning procedures. What is beyond question for me: serious gaming and healthcare – the two will be working together a lot in the coming years!
Maarten likes to think along!
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