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New research shows games can be used to reduce physical pain in patients (If designed correctly).
This post originally ran on game design site The Game Prodigy. Visit for more articles on game design.
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Games as a medium have many wonderful uses outside of just entertainment. At The Game Prodigy we like to cover the designs of games that are not only fun, but explore new kinds of core experiences that games can create. Two researchers at University of Washington Harborview Burn Centre in Seattle have experimented with using gameplay as a way of reducing physical pain by up to 50%.
Many forms of medical treatment, such as treatment for burn victims, involve intense pain. This is of course very difficult for the patients, the families, and the nurses and doctors to endure. Methods of reducing pain by forms other than drugs are very valuable indeed.
Professors Hunter Hoffman and David Patterson tried experimenting with games in order to reduce pain for their patients during painful but necessary treatment and rehabilitation. After several experiments, the game they created was called Snow World. In game design terms, it’s a rail-shooter where the player moves through a icy cavern and fires snowballs at snowmen and penguins. There are no levels or scores or goals, just an icy world to explore and interact with as they ride through.
The snow setting was selected to counteract the patient’s burn affliction.
Game Designers who are interested in games for medical purposes can learn a lot from the experiments and how to design games that effectively reduce pain. Some key takeaways for designing games that reduce physical pain:
The VR Platform is key: Virtual reality goggles and noise-cancelling headphones reduced pain significantly more than normal TV setups (90% more). The immersion helped to pull patients’ attention out of their physical circumstances.
A Calming Experience: Simple games that require interactivity are best, games that encourage immersion in a world. Snow World moves the player through automatically so they never get bored. All they need to decide is what to shoot next.
Of course interesting questions arise out of this that could be tested. What types of games are most effective in immersion? Games that have more extrinsic motivation like points, time limits, or level? Creative games like SimCity? What about games like flOw or Spore, which encourage the player to just explore?
The original BBC post can be found here and a more detailed report from the American Pain Society can be found here.
This post originally ran on game design site The Game Prodigy. Visit for more articles on game design.
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