[games_access] Research questions about games helping veterans

Thomas Westin thomas at pininteractive.com
Tue Nov 20 01:16:02 EST 2007 

a twist on this would be to use games for Iraq civilian refugees too  
- Sweden receives 50% of all Iraq refugees in Europe so Sweden could  
be a good starting point for such development. Sweden gets about 5  
million USD from the EU for this.

This way Iraq civilians and soldier vets can meet and learn to know  
each other in a game.

Also, learning English through chatting in a game could be one way to  
reach at least the young refugees, and help them integrate in the  
European society.

/Thomas

18 nov 2007 kl. 19.22 skrev <hinn at uiuc.edu> <hinn at uiuc.edu>:

> I am also very, very anti-war, Barrie. I think, though, that one  
> thing that differentiates this war from Vietnam is that -- largely  
> -- injured, returning soldiers aren't being treated with the  
> coldness from the anti-war lot that they were then. I think people  
> recognize that the tactics for recruiting and so forth are far  
> different for this war and, unfortunately, we've had some absolute  
> horror stories of veterans returning from Iraq not being cared for  
> due to less funding going to the after-care of soldiers and more  
> going to the recruitment and training of pre-war soldiers.  
> Sadly...the irony is that games were used for recruitment in a huge  
> way for Iraq and yet not everyone is as "enlightened" to realize  
> that games can be even more powerful to help people who have been  
> injured learn how to live in new ways. At the end of the day, my  
> concern is with those who have been hurt -- on all sides.
>
> And -- on the record -- my opinion is my opinion and is not the  
> opinion of the SIG and all SIG members. I feel the need to state  
> that because of my position as SIG chair.
>
> Michelle
>
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 11:11:24 -0000
>> From: "Barrie Ellis" <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>
>> Subject: Re: [games_access] Research questions about games helping  
>> veterans
>> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"  
>> <games_access at igda.org>
>>
>> I am very anti-war - and really don't like a lot of the hyper- 
>> realistic FPS
>> a lot of these soldiers seem to like playing reading reports.  
>> These are
>> pretty nasty games in my eyes. Give me Uo Poko any day of the  
>> week. This
>> said, I'd happily see Department of Defence money taken for building
>> accessible controllers for giving people some fun who can't  
>> otherwise. Do
>> you think this is likely to happen? What might be the best approach?
>>
>> I have had a few people approach me stating that they are  
>> supporting soliers
>> that have lost limbs, mostly looking towards one handed  
>> controllers as a
>> solution to gaming. If we could get the DragonPlus RPG DuoCon2 one- 
>> handed
>> controller back into production, this would aid a lot of one armed  
>> gamers.
>> Unfortunately, we'd need to have to guarantee a lot of sales
>> (http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/SAM-PS2RDC2.html - National  
>> Console
>> Support suggest 20,000 sales) to see this likely to happen.
>>
>> Although Ben Heck seems to be having some success in getting a one- 
>> handed
>> controller manufactured:
>> http://gameaccessibility.blogspot.com/2007/10/access-controller- 
>> finds-manufacturer.html -
>> It does not look to be the ideal solution for all.
>>
>> Barrie
>> www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Ben Sawyer" <bsawyer at dmill.com>
>> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"  
>> <games_access at igda.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:48 AM
>> Subject: Re: [games_access] Research questions about games helping  
>> veterans
>>
>>
>>> There is some emerging evidence that virtual environments help   
>>> veterans
>>> with PTSD as long as it's part of a very scaffold and  supported  
>>> therapy.
>>>
>>> The more specific question might be are some of these cases (the  
>>> non- PTSD
>>> induced ones) a result of veterans who suffer pain and suffering   
>>> due to
>>> disabilities, reduced social atmosphere, etc.
>>>
>>> PTSD is a very debilitating problem but it's well worked on by  
>>> others
>>> like Skip Rizzo, Russ Shilling, and others in the cyberpsychology  
>>> realm.
>>>
>>> In terms of drugs and alcohol while there are ideas for games  
>>> that  help
>>> here they are more suited to teens, etc. then well worn   
>>> veterans.  There
>>> was some work by the Marines to use a game for anti- drug efforts  
>>> in the
>>> Marines - I need to find out more about that  project and if it  
>>> produced
>>> results.
>>>
>>> The issue of whether games work or not or especially vs. other  
>>> media/
>>> processes or within them is a big part of some of the major  
>>> funding  RWJF
>>> is providing to the games for health community through Health  Games
>>> Research.  However, it's hard to do comparative media studies   
>>> and it's
>>> likely we might not know for sometime these differences.   It's  
>>> also more
>>> likely that we parse using games vs. not based on the  goals we  
>>> have and
>>> how they map well to things games are accepted as  doing quite  
>>> well such
>>> as motivation and distance socialization.
>>>
>>> Where the SIG and its members might do well in looking at veteran
>>> issues/defense needs is in adaptation of controllers and creation of
>>> games for people who have suffered various ambulatory injuries  
>>> and  for
>>> people with rehabilitation needs from head injuries, etc.  These   
>>> would
>>> obviously have crossover use to civilians suffering from the   
>>> same issues
>>> be they by birth or accidents not involving warfare.    
>>> Unfortunately it is
>>> likely the DoD has more $$ more easily available  to tackle these  
>>> issues
>>> then do private civilian side sources.
>>>
>>> - Ben
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Nov 17, 2007, at 3:58 PM, Reid Kimball wrote:
>>>
>>>> Michelle's recent post about veterans seeking relief through games
>>>> reminded me I saw this the other day. Truly staggering and mind
>>>> boggling the numbers of veterans that aren't getting the help they
>>>> need.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/15/cbs-news-investigates-
>>>> shocking-rate-of-veteran-suicides/
>>>>
>>>> "In 2005 alone, 125 veterans committed suicide each week and of the
>>>> more than 88,000 vets returning from Iraq, more than 28% of them  
>>>> have
>>>> experienced mental health problems."
>>>>
>>>> This is definitely an area we need to research, how much can games
>>>> really help depressed veterans? Will it help them? Will it be  
>>>> abused
>>>> like drugs and alcohol? Is it THE solution or is it best to include
>>>> gaming as part of a larger therapy?
>>>>
>>>> -Reid
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>>
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> .......................................
> these are mediocre times and people are
> losing hope. it's hard for many people
> to believe that there are extraordinary
> things inside themselves, as well as
> others. i hope you can keep an open
> mind.
>  -- "unbreakable"
> .......................................
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