Game for cancer patients gets mobile app

Cigna is promoting the video game Re-Mission 2, the latest version of a simulation that puts young cancer patients at the center of their own treatment plans. 

The insurer, which also distributed the original Re-Mission game on CD and DVD to young people with cancer in 2007, said that the latest iteration, partly available as a free mobile app, has been designed by HopeLab based on research showing how game play drives behavior. As of August 21, the app had been downloaded 2,000 times and 10,000 game levels have been completed. Genentech, through its foundation, confirmed that it is providing a grant to support development of the next version of the game, which will be distributed to pediatric cancer institutes. 

Both games were created by HopeLab, a non-profit started by Pam Omidyar, wife of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. In the late 80s, Omidyar would would relax after work as a cancer researcher by playing video games. It didn't take long before she thought about combining work and play: creating a video game that actually helps kids fight cancer. Years later, her vision was realized when in 2006, the first iteration of the game Re-Mission was completed with help from game developer Real Time Association. 

It puts players inside the body to fight against cancer with real-world treatments like chemotherapy, antibiotics and the body's own defenses. “The first game was a third-person shooter type of game with 20 levels; it was the kind of game you might buy or rent at Blockbuster,” recalled Richard Tate, VP of marketing & communications for HopeLab. 

Researchers, reporting in a study which ran in PLOS ONE did fMRI scans on subjects playing the original Re-Mission and found that “participatory engagement in game play (interactivity)” was activating the reward-related neural circuits in patients. Moreover, an hour of game play was just as effective as completing the game. (Más)

Ver también:
Video Game to Help Kids Fight Cancer