Serious Videogames to Educate Kids about Diabetes

While surfing the Social Impact Games website, I came across a number of interesting learning games on Health and Wellness. Since I work for a company that deals with Diabetes drugs and people who have Diabetes, I was drawn to a particular game – Escape the Diab. This game is due to be released in 2008, but had a Serious Trailer with amazing animation. View at: http://www.archimageonline.com/diab.cfm

The game’s concept was simple - to educate kids about eating right and exercise. The goal of the game is to get children to have healthy lifestyles within the game which is essential to winning. This game looks like it will be very attractive to children and adults because of the amazing features, graphic artistry and narration. It shows that a simple game can be fun and interesting with the right elements and an attractive look and feel to catch the learner’s attention. One interesting component about the game's creation was the number of different institutions and companies that collaborated to create this game. While the funding was provided by a grant from the National Institute of Health, the game was developed by the Baylor College of Medicine and produced by a company called Archimage that does video animation. Obviously much thought, research and analyses was put into the game creation and trailer for the purpose of promoting healthier eating in children. I like the idea that a government institution is investing in a game to promote education around a national health problem, diabetes in children, using innovative and technology-based approaches to reach their target audience. This technique seems to be better than most solutions I have seen because it offers a "fun factor" for kids while learning about their health.

I can’t wait to see the complete version of the game, but if you have a chance, it’s definitely worth watching the trailer. In addition to Escape from Diab, Archimage had a screening room including a videogame Nanosworm, whose objective was also healthy eating and Tutti Fruty which promoted children to each fruits and vegetables. Check out the screening room for Archimage: http://www.archimageonline.com/