Re-mission Revisited

Investor’s Business Daily had a nice article on Re-mission today, with more details than what I was able to confer last time I blogged about the game. Re-mission is a serious video game designed to educate young cancer patients about their condition and treatments.

The new article indicates the idea for the game sprang from the mind of Pamela Omidyar, wife of the man who founded eBay, Pierre Omidyar.

She came up with the idea while working as an immunology lab researcher and playing video games for fun after work.

 

She pitched the concept to oncologists and psychologists. Would it be possible, she asked, to develop a game that had scientific merit, would accurately convey how cancer affected the body, and help players develop a sense of empowerment over the disease.

 

Convinced the answer was yes, she founded the nonprofit Hope-Lab, which soon developed Re-Mission.

Other new info of interest: as of May, over 70,000 copies of the game have been distributed to folks in 73 countries. Recall that Re-mission is available through the mail on CD or DVD, and in English, Spanish, or French.

Video games can enhance learning without calling it that, says Alan Louie, research director of Health Industry Insights, a division of market research company International Data Corp. He credits that in part to the improved graphics, sound and movement of today’s game technology.

 

“Innovations in the gaming industry are making their products much more realistic, which should make it easier to develop more effective vehicles to get the point across,” Louie said.

 

Others who look at the big picture of video games agree that health care is a natural fit for the technology.

 

“The future of games and game technology in health care is sky-high,” according to Ben Sawyer, who founded Digital Mill, a Portland, Maine, consulting firm.

Look for more info on Re-mission at its official website, http://www.re-mission.net/ including details on how to order the free game.