PlayMancer: Games for Health with Accessibility in Mind

Elias Kalapanidas, Costas Davarakis, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Susana Otilia Kocsis, Todor Ganchev, Hannes Kaufmann, Tony Lam and Dimitri Konstantas
Additional contact information
Elias Kalapanidas: Systema Technologies, Athens, Greece
Costas Davarakis: Systema Technologies, Athens, Greece
Fernando Fernández-Aranda: University Hospital of Bellvitge-CIBEROBN, Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
Susana Jiménez-Murcia: University Hospital of Bellvitge-CIBEROBN, Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
Susana Otilia Kocsis: University of Patras, Greece
Todor Ganchev: University of Patras, Greece
Hannes Kaufmann: Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Tony Lam: NetUnion, Lausanne, Switzerland
Dimitri Konstantas: University of Geneva, Switzerland

Communications & Strategies, 2009, vol. 1, issue 73, 105-122

Abstract: The term Serious Games has been used to describe computer and video games used as educational technology or as a vehicle for presenting or promoting a point of view. Serious games can be of any genre and many of them can be considered a kind of edutainment. Serious games are intended to provide an engaging, self-reinforcing context in which to motivate and educate the players towards knowledgeable processes, including business operations, training, marketing and advertisement. Serious games can be compelling, educative, provocative, disruptive and inspirational. The potential of games for entertainment and learning has been demonstrated thoroughly from both research and market. Unfortunately, the investments committed to entertainment dwarf what is committed for more serious purposes. In this feature, we will argue that the motives, incentives and expectations of the computer game industry differ from one cultural and economic environment to another. As the game industry is dominated by US companies, computer game products are targeting user groups mostly informed by the marketing departments of those companies. This process creates marginalised user groups and game types that are not addressed effectively by the computer game market. Accessible games and games for health comprise this underdeveloped niche. Research project PlayMancer is a multi-partner effort to tackle both of those issues in a coherent way.

Keywords: Computer games; video games; accessibility; e-Inclusion; serious games; Games for Health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I19 L82 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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