ustwo studios is a Business Reporter client.
Gaming is taking over the world. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a staggering 82 percent of global consumers played video games and watched video game content. The number of people who play. increased to 3.2 billion in 2021. The video game market It is expected to exceed $500 billion. by 2030.
Video games have long been a dominant entertainment and leisure activity. But not only are they reaching more and more people, we are also seeing an expansion of the objectives of the games. In “serious” games, the main goal is to master tasks, complete levels, and compete with others, as you would in a sport or board game.
But unlike basketball or Monopoly, the main goal is not entertainment. Today, games are increasingly designed specifically to have a lasting positive impact on the player. Games can help us accomplish things in the real world, like learn a language, improve our health, or make better financial decisions.
The pandemic lockdown has been particularly hard on children. Average student achievement has decreased significantly, especially in mathematics. Keeping students' attention outside the classroom is difficult. Math prodigy Engages students by providing standards-based math instruction through a fantasy role-playing game. Kids create custom characters, complete quests, battle friends, and solve math puzzles along the way. The goal is to earn pets, equipment and rewards. But the desired result is that students become more knowledgeable in mathematics.
Health and fitness is another area in which games are becoming more common. Peloton, a leading at-home fitness platform, gained popularity during the pandemic. Millions of members hopped on their bikes and treadmills to participate in online fitness classes. Recently, Peloton expanded beyond the class format, with a music and exercise game called lane jump. In Lanebreak, the bike functions as a controller and input for the game. Members adjust the speed of their legs to keep pace and “change lanes” to avoid obstacles. The combination of music, gameplay, and competition with other fitness enthusiasts motivates subscribers to reach new athletic heights while having fun doing it.
An even better example of the potential of serious games is EndeavorRx, a game designed for children ages 8 to 12 with ADHD. Players act as space cadets traveling on missions to save alien creatures from extinction. While this may seem like a conventional video game, it is based on more than a decade of neurological research and is specifically designed to stimulate the brain's attention function. Unlike a typical video game, EndeavorRx adjusts its speed and difficulty to the player, allowing children with autism and ADHD to succeed and have fun. The goal of the game is to save alien creatures, but its purpose is to stimulate attention, improve working memory, and help children learn to resolve conflicts. This is backed by clinical research demonstrating the cognitive benefits of gaming, including for older adults.
In 2020, EndeavorRx became the first game approved as a “drug” by the US health regulator, the FDA. This means that doctors can prescribe EndeavorRx as they would a pill.
How can we create more “games for good” like the examples mentioned above? To answer this question, we must understand what makes games so powerful. Playing is being human. Children acquire knowledge through play. Games teach children and adults to plan, have empathy and manage difficult emotions (when losing, for example). Games address core parts of human psychology: our desire to achieve goals, claim status, and connect with others. Games take advantage of our vanity and competitiveness but also unleash our creativity and social nature.
Games fail if they are boring. Good game design should start by asking, “where's the fun?” A “serious” video game must find a plot and mechanics that attract, like any normal video game. This is the domain of the game designer, who refines game ideas through extensive prototyping and rigorous play testing with users. This creative experience can be reinforced and enriched with research-based insights, as in the case of the EndeavorRx game.
Games are powerful. As video games become increasingly popular, it is important that we harness their potential to create positive change. As more and more examples demonstrate, from education to healthcare, games can be a force for good.
