Developing videogames and play for hospitalised children

在探索性网络会议中，我们发现缺乏满足住院儿童特殊需求的电子游戏。医院的游戏往往以“传统”玩具和游戏为基础，数字游戏方面的创新有限，比如家庭访客带着孩子使用平板电脑/智能手机玩视频游戏。我们已经确定了专为儿童设计的应用程序，用于向医生传达疼痛程度和其他症状（例如SmallTalk Intensive Care， SmallTalk疼痛量表，答案：yes: no， Speak Aid, Easy Speak, AutoVerbal Talking Soundboard PRO）。然而，电子游戏行业仍有相当大的发展空间，可以利用人文和艺术方面的专业知识来共同创造数字游戏机会，以响应住院儿童的特定需求，激发他们在医疗和康复空间中的游戏体验、想象力和创造力。对电子游戏领域的研究和创新挑战进行界定可能会产生重大影响。该网络整合了三个分支的成员，以促进跨学科，并结合学术和行业专业知识：第一分支：艺术和人文学科的学术研究人员，研究儿童游戏和跨文化和视觉媒体的医疗条件和情感的图形表示的专家；Elizabeth Wood专门研究传统和数字形式的游戏，重点研究儿童在自由游戏活动中的选择和代理(Wood, 2013; 2008；Wood and Hall, 2011)。Dylan Yamada-Rice专门研究儿童对图像的理解和使用，他们不断变化的多模态交流实践，以及视觉模式下的情感表达（Yamada-Rice 2013; 2012; 2011）。Matthew Cheeseman （http://eine.tumblr.com/page/2）将以凤凰艺术项目（由NESTA和Sheffield Crucible剧院资助）的知识为基础，该项目使用图形形式促进幽默、元叙事、歧义和隐喻等文学修辞，以富有想象力、影响、复杂和矛盾的方式解决心理、禁忌和医学问题（Cheeseman et al, 2013）。理查德·芬恩（Richard Finn）是英语学院的一名博士生，研究心理健康图形叙事的概念结构和读者体验。Strand 2：儿童电子游戏设计师：面向3-18岁儿童的电子游戏设计和制作行业专家：Nigel Little， Distinctive Games http://www.distinctivegames.com/；Emma O'Kelly De Conejera和Steve Taylor， Stripy Designs http://www.stripeydesign.com/。医院游戏专家：谢菲尔德儿童医院的Christina Lloyd和Kevin Hartshorn。数字游戏是创造性发展的重要领域，对管理英格兰五家儿童医院的NHS信托基金具有战略重要性：利物浦的奥尔德希；谢菲尔德儿童医院；伦敦大奥蒙德街；皇家曼彻斯特儿童医院；伯明翰儿童医院。对于电子游戏设计师来说，这是一个复杂但新兴的利基市场，这需要他们对儿童的游戏选择和偏好以及医院游戏环境和实践（包括道德规范）有相当的了解。医院游戏专家和电子游戏设计师将受益于网络学术成员开发的方法论创新，包括与空间和地点相关联的图形形式的情感表现（Cheeseman & Finn）；环境图像中的情感表征及其对儿童的吸引力（Yamada-Rice）以及儿童在传统和数字游戏形式中的多模式交流实践（Wood）。为了共同制作这类电子游戏，网络成员（以及受邀的研讨会参与者）之间的知识交流至关重要。需要探索重要的战略和创意领域，以便为未来的发展提供信息，并以现有实践为基础（例如，创造、探索、学习）。

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).