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Today, the Games for Health project announced that the fourth Games for Health conference will take place in Baltimore, MD from May 8-9, 2008. Originally designed to discuss ideas of using games and game technology to promote better health, healthcare, and rehab by the Serious Games Initiative in 2002, it’s just one of many examples of gaming attempting to do more for society.
One year ago today, the Robert Johnson Woods Foundation issued a $8.25 million grant to the project which will be used to further research in the games health field. "On the heels of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s grant announcement, we are proud to launch what we expect to be our biggest and best gathering to date," said Games for Health Project Communications Director and conference organizer Beth Bryant. "The theme this year is ‘Leveling Up,’ which we feel signifies the great leaps forward the games for health community has made since our last major event in September 2006."
On May 7 — one day before the conference — there will be scheduled events to discuss and analyze health in games in conjunction with virtual worlds. (WoW and Second Life addiction, anyone?)
For a partial list of what’s to be discussed at the conference itself, look below.
* Exergaming & Rehabitainment
* Health Behavior Change
* Disease Management & Education
* Public Health Messaging & Patient Communication
* Cognitive Health
* Training and Management Sims & Occupational Recruitment
* Accessibility for Games & Disability-Focused Games
* Epidemiology
* Pain Distraction & Stress Relief
* CyberPsychology
* Entertainment Games About Health or Substantial Health-Related Play
* Health Effects of Games
* First Responders & Mass Casualty Training
* Medical Informatics & Health Data Collection
* Virtual Patients
* Interface & Visualization Applications
* Personal Health & Electronic Medical Record Systems
