Session Information
| Title | The Surprising Synergy of Medicine, Games, and VR |
| Presenter(s) |
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| Time | Wednesday, October 10, 3:30p-5:00p |
| Location | MSU Main Library, Green Room, Level 4 West |
| Format | Pre-Conference Event |
| Description | If you are looking for something to do Wednesday before Meaningful Play, MSU is hosting an AR/VR Symposium and Meaningful Play attendees are invited to the closing keynote, featuring Noah Falstein! NOTE: No additional registration is required to attend this event.
The event is within walking distance of the Marriott and MSU Union. It will likely take you 5-15 minutes to walk from the Marriott or MSU Union. At this event you can also get a jump on the conference by picking up your registration materials early. Arrive between 3:30-3:50 to grab your conference materials. Below is the description of the keynote: Game-related treatments have been cleared by the FDA for treatments of addiction, stroke recovery, and physical therapy. In early 2019, for the first time, a full-on video game may well be given de novo clearance by the FDA to be prescribed by doctors to treat children with ADHD, with current testing showing similar effectiveness to pharmaceuticals. This lecture will review other recent ventures using Virtual Reality to treat a variety of issues including phobias, PTSD, and acute and chronic pain. VR and games are also being used with great success to train caregivers and physicians. Also covered will be a wide range of business, technical, creative, and scientific challenges involved in creating and testing software of this type, and other opportunities for games as medicine that are opening in the near future. |
Noah Falstein has been a video game developer since 1980, and was one of the first 10 employees at LucasArts Entertainment, The 3DO Company, and Dreamworks Interactive. He recently served for four years as Google's Chief Game Designer, working closely with their AR and VR projects, before leaving the company to pursue health games opportunities.