Re-Mission: A game for the greater good

While most of us are busy pommeling our friends in Soul Calibur IV, there are people with cancer who are waging their own fight — within themselves and in front of a screen.

Re-Mission, a computer game developed by the non-profit group HopeLabs, is designed to encourage cancer patients to stay on their medicine. In the game, a micro-robot named Roxxi travels through the body to attack cancer cells and fight the side effects of treatment. Over the course of 20 missions, players learn about the consequences of skipping their medication.

According to a study published this month in the journal Pediatrics (and reported by Gamasutra and the San Francisco Chronicle), those who played Re-Mission were more likely to take their medications regularly. According to the Chronicle, CIGNA HealthCare has distributed 125,000 free copies of the game since it was released in spring 2006.

“We now know that games can induce positive changes in the way individuals manage their health,” Steve Cole, HopeLab’s vice president of research, said in the Gamasutra story. “The game not only motivates positive health behavior; it also gives players a greater sense of power and control over their disease — in fact, that seems to be its key ingredient.

Re-Mission is part of a growing niche market of games that serve a greater good, beyond folding, getting fit or being a better surgeons. The Serious Games Initiative is aimed at forming an alliance with the game industry to create projects to encourage better health and social change. Granted, you’re not going to discover any triple-A titles, but it’s good to know that games are being used as a medium beyond their entertainment value.