
Evo, the First Prescription-Strength Video Game? - EwanG
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/project-evo-the-first-prescription-strength-video-game-
======
sago
I wrote a meditative slow game called Calmer (was iOS, sold terribly, no
longer available). I was contacted by a US psychiatrist who said he prescribed
it for anxiety patients.

It never occurred to me to try to raise tens of millions of dollars for
medical trials and then charge a huge amount to insurers!

It does strike me as dubious that the investors are backing _this_ game. When
surely any positive result would hold for any number of similar games. A
branding play, presumably 'we're the game that did the trials'. But it does
seem like that relies on ignorance of what games are available. It remains to
be seen if and when they actually show the gameplay!

~~~
edge17
@sago There's a fair amount of this going on rightnow, that is, using mobile
games to address anxiety. Partly because your phone is always there and having
treatment options outside the hospital have historically been limited.
Psychiatry is very different compared to other fields of medicine in that
things tend to be difficult to measure objectively.

~~~
sago
I'll respond to your email.

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medymed
When a video game is backed by clinical trials, you could charge a ton of
money for it. Like $100s per month that insurance plans will negotiate down to
fewer $100s, but still 100s, per month. At least for a few years.

The difference is that games, unlike drugs, are not mechanistically patentable
(correct me if wrong please). Someone could create a close-enough lookalike,
and sell it for $1. And if it really works, which I sort of don't believe,
then it would improve access to real therapy. A lookalike would not have some
of their proprietary evaluation system based on ever-questionable psychology
metrics, but I bet a few hours with the game would show the gist of it:
"You're paying attention! High score!" "You're old and also can't rearrange
the blocks like you used to," \-->poor executive function and memory, maybe
dementia, etc

And yet given the ubiquity of the standard cognitive battery tests like MMSE
and Minicog, I do question whether any therapist would ever recommend a
substitute. The difference is these tests are often printed out on paper and
royalties are not paid to the owners, whereas a tighly controlled Saas model
would really cut down on illegal distribution and encourage alternatives.

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Mz
Any thought on how a developer can adequately monetize a game so as to pay
their own bills without charging ridiculous sums to begin with? I mean, say
you know how to do something like this, you want to promote health, you loathe
the way our current medical system bleeds patients for money. How do you find
the sweet spot?

~~~
medymed
You could build a similar game, make no specific claims (or get a small focus-
group to test it out), get a psychologist or two interested with a free trial,
then transition to a respectable price later if it is adopted by the clinical
community without FDA aproval. Or a modification of that ptocess, still
without FDA approval. I don't think psychotherapy in general is FDA approved,
as far as I can see, so I'm not even sure what the point of FDA approval is
other than proving a principle of therapeutic effect to charge a high price
and get access to the psychiatry market in addition to the psychology market.

~~~
Mz
Oh, I was thinking of a different condition. My question is more general than
your answer seems to infer.

But thank you.

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Sumaso
I've tried to find more information on what this game actually does, and how
it treats ADHD / autism. I looked at a few articles and the Akili website, but
details are pretty spare.

Does anyone have some additional information of how this video game plans to
treat autism / ADHD?

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lectrick
If they want to fight ADHD, I have a feeling meditation would be a better
treatment. (Too bad you can't make money off it.) And this is coming from a
HUGE fan of games (17 days till Fallout 4, OMG).

[http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-
stud...](http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-
proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/)

~~~
DanBC
2010: not enough evidence, and any available evidence was low quality.
[http://www.cochrane.org/CD006507/BEHAV_meditation-
therapies-...](http://www.cochrane.org/CD006507/BEHAV_meditation-therapies-
for-attention-deficithyperactivity-disorder-adhd)

It seems like it could be useful, so it's a shame either Cochrane haven't
repeated their analysis or that other researchers aren't doing good quality
research on meditation.

And you can make money off it. You give it a brand and sell DVDs. That brand
then gets assessed, and promoted. Other people who come along and rip off the
brand are not being recommended.

Current English advice for ADHD is here:
[https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg72](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg72)

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nerfhammer
I would love it if this turns out to be effective, but we've already seen
something similar with Cogmed - bought by Pearson, can cost thousands of
dollars, overhyped claims and highly dubious benefits

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogmed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogmed)

"Cogmed working memory training is sold as a tool for improving cognitive
abilities, such as attention and reasoning. At present, this program is
marketed to schools as a means of improving underperforming students’
scholastic performance, and is also available at clinical practices as a
treatment for ADHD. We review research conducted with Cogmed software and
highlight several concerns regarding methodology and replicability of
findings. We conclude that the claims made by Cogmed are largely
unsubstantiated, and recommend that future research place greater emphasis on
developing theoretically motivated accounts of working memory training."

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368112...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368112000629)

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Amygaz
Is someone trying to market mobile gaming as a therapeutic?

It looks like it does the same thing than other click-fest-attention-grabbing
games on mobile OS. The claim that as you progress you need to "multitask"
more, seems familiar. They maybe adding their on twist on it. So, Minion Rush
with a metric based difficulty generator?

~~~
LoSboccacc
from the sound of it it is based off this[1] research about brain multitasking
(where tasks require both hand eye coordination and higher reasoning
functions)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlrOSbRzakE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlrOSbRzakE)

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woebtz
One of my favorite Mac (anti-)games was a zen-like, music space platformer
called Tranquility[1]. The relaxing "floating" gameplay was interesting
enough, but the generated ambient music was the best part. I'd leave that
running on the background like some rain loops I use nowadays. It was an
online game, despite being single-player, and I paid $10 out of my allowance
for a lifetime membership. I was pretty sad when it abruptly shut down some
years afterward.

I've always hoped someone would remake it for mobile or VR. The music/synth
engine alone would make a pretty neat app.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranquility_(video_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranquility_\(video_game\))

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DanBC
There was Sparx in New Zealand, but that appears to be not available.

[https://www.sparx.org.nz/](https://www.sparx.org.nz/)

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130511003457/http://sparx.org....](https://web.archive.org/web/20130511003457/http://sparx.org.nz/?Levelling-
Up)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparx_(video_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparx_\(video_game\))

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jcl
Reminds me a little of some mobile games that are supposed to improve your
vision by training your brain to be better at interpreting fuzzy input.

[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-an-app-help-you-ditch-
your-r...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-an-app-help-you-ditch-your-reading-
glasses/)

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werber
If a game is "prescribed" is it illegal to use without a perception?

~~~
viewer5
You can be prescribed to take over-the-counter drugs, like "take two ibuprofen
with each meal for 4 days; if symptoms persist, schedule another appointment".
"Prescribed" doesn't necessarily mean "prescription-ONLY".

~~~
nsgi
You can also be prescribed books.

