Developing videogames and play for hospitalised children

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In exploratory network meetings, we identified a lack of videogames that meet the specific needs of hospitalised children. Hospital play tends to be based on 'traditional' toys and games, with limited innovation in digital play, such as children using tablets/ smart phones brought in by family visitors to access video games. We have identified apps designed for children to communicate pain levels and other symptoms to doctors (e.g. Small Talk Intensive Care, SmallTalk Pain Scale, Answers: YesNo, Speak Aid, Easy Speak, AutoVerbal Talking Soundboard PRO). However, there is considerable scope for development in the videogames industry that could use expertise from humanities and the arts to co-create digital play opportunities that respond to the specific needs of hospitalised children, to stimulate their play experiences, imaginations and creativity when confined to medical and recovery spaces. There is potential for significant impact from scoping the challenges to research and innovation in the videogames sector. The network integrates three strands of membership to promote interdisciplinarity and combine academic and industry expertise:Strand 1: Academic researchers in the arts and humanities Specialists in children's play and graphic representation of medical conditions and emotions across cultures and visual media:Elizabeth Wood specialises in researching traditional and digital forms of play, with a focus on children's choices and agency in free play activities (Wood, 2013; 2008; Wood and Hall, 2011). Dylan Yamada-Rice specialises in researching children's understanding and use of images, their changing multi-modal communication practices, and the expression of emotions in the visual mode (Yamada-Rice 2013; 2012; 2011). Matthew Cheeseman (http://eine.tumblr.com/page/2) will build on knowledge from The Phoenix Art Project (funded by NESTA and Sheffield Crucible theatre), which uses graphic forms to facilitate literary tropes such as humour, metanarrative, ambiguity and metaphor in order to address psychological, taboo and medical problems in imaginative, affecting, complex and contradictory ways (Cheeseman et al, 2013). Richard Finn is a PhD student in the School of English, researching the conceptual structure and reader experience of mental health graphic narratives. Strand 2: Children's videogames designers: Industry experts in the design and production of videogames for children age 3-18: Nigel Little, Distinctive Games http://www.distinctivegames.com/; Emma O'Kelly De Conejera, and Steve Taylor, Stripy Designs http://www.stripeydesign.com/. Strand 3: Hospital play specialists: Christina Lloyd and Kevin Hartshorn, Sheffield Children's Hospital.Digital play is a significant area for creative development, and has strategic importance to the NHS Trusts that manage the five children's hospitals in England: Alder Hey, Liverpool; Children's Hospital, Sheffield; Great OrOrmond Street, London; Royal Manchester Children's Hospital; Birmingham Children's Hospital. For videogames designers this is a complex but new niche market, which requires considerable knowledge about children's play choices and preferences and about hospital play contexts and practices, including ethics. Hospital play specialists and videogames designers will benefit from methodological innovations developed by the academic members of the network, including emotional representation in graphic form, linked to spaces and places (Cheeseman & Finn); emotional representations in environmental images and their appeal to children (Yamada-Rice) and children's multimodal communication practices in traditional and digital play forms (Wood). In order to co-produce these kinds of videogame(s), knowledge exchange amongst the network members (and invited workshop participants) is crucial. Important strategic and creative areas need to be explored in order to inform future developments, and build on existing practice (e.g Create Explore Learn).