21st Century games revolution | Serious games

About imaginary

Established almost 13 years ago, Imaginary has established itself as a pioneer in serious games and enabling technologies companies. We are working in three major areas which include eHealth, Smart Cities, and Training & Education.

Main points discussed

In the recent years, society has been aging fast. With each passing day, there are lesser people who are economically productive which lead to increase in the cost of the health care. Numerous diseases plaguing the society has led to a sharp rise in health care costs.

One of the best examples of different conditions adding to the expenses of health care is obesity. According to NHS, a quarter of adults and a fifth of children are now considered obese. NHS has been spending far more on weight loss surgeries than actually tackling the problem.

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Why are serious games important?

Being overweight can lead to a lot of behavioral changes in a person, and they won’t be visible immediately. But these changes can prove to be highly risky for a person’s health in the long term if necessary action is not taken.

So, we need to lay down some standards to work upon so as to create a safe and healthy environment for the people to live. It creates a win-win community where society is preventing a lot of problems, and people have higher life expectancy and better quality of health and life in general.

What are the next steps, if any?

We need to raise awareness from an early age about risks and consequences of certain behaviors. People should be motivated and trained intensively so that they understand the importance of identifying behavior patterns and take necessary actions if required.

Once people have a basic understanding of their behavior patterns, we need to equip them with tools and data to manage their health themselves.

NHS and private firms should be motivated to help staff lost weight.

Gamification is the application of game mechanics and design elements within non-game sectors to understand and drive users, for skill development, user engagement through competition, collaboration and social interaction.

PEGASO project, a Zombie attack game seeks to drive behavioral towards healthier lifestyle change through awareness, motivation, and engagement.

The rehability project offers rehabilitation exercises and cognitive games for seniors so as to keep them active and reduce the health care costs.

Conclusion

With the steep rise in unhealthy population and increase in health care costs, it is high time that we lay down some protocols so as to provide a better quality of life to the people. Gamification will go a long way in solving the problems which are a real challenge in today’s society.

Technologies	Medical Problems	Research Areas
Serious games, enabling technologies, gamification, cognitive games.	Obesity, Behavioral change.	Games in behavioral neuroscience, rehabilitation exercises.