EU project to develop digital games for the elderly
Partners in ElderGames, an EU funded project, have begun developing an interactive digital games board for elderly people. The board and games could help improve mental agility and even slow the onset of dementia. Recent scientific studies have found that play activities not only enrich and improve the quality of life of the elderly, but can also prevent the negative changes linked to ageing such as memory failure and loss of cognitive ability and social interaction. 'Previous studies have also shown that learning is much more continuous when it is done through play,' explains ElderGames project coordinator Malena Fabregat of the Toy Research Institute (AIJU) in Spain. Ms Fabregat is someone who knows what she is talking about. For several years she has been studying the importance of leisure time and play for the elderly. She found that board games and similar activities were very instrumental in keeping older people alert and socially active. 'But we found that there were no board games out there for the elderly: most were originally designed for children,' said Ms Fabregat. Together with the Spanish of Ministry of Social Affairs, her organisation worked on developing guidelines to help toy and leisure companies design board games for the over-65s. The Eldergames consortium, which includes digital media experts and gerontologists from Austria, Finland, Italy, Norway and Spain, will now use these guidelines when designing their digital games board and games. They will continue to work with experts to identify the kinds of cognitive and memory skills that should be exercised. Although no prototype is available yet, Ms Fabregat says that the board will be more or less the size of an ordinary table. The interactive games will then be displayed on the table. The interface will be kept as simple as possible to ensure that older users, who tend to be technophobes, are not overwhelmed by the technology. Users will participate in the 'augmented reality' of the games by simply moving their hands about. 'We want to develop new ways to track the users' movements and interfaces that will nearly be invisible to them,' she said. If successful, the project could go some way to closing the gap that separates the elderly from the rest of Europe's digital society The games will also use very simple language, the aim being to enable users from across Europe to get involved. The network system will mean that players will not necessarily need to sit around the table together to play. Ms Fabregat sees that the games could be hugely beneficial to the growing number of pensioners who move from their home country to a warmer climate. 'In Spain, we have a lot of UK residents,' explained Ms Fabregat. These games could help them socialise with other people in their new home, while also staying in contact with their friends and relatives back home. Perhaps the biggest selling point of the ElderGames concept is the specialised care that the games board aims to provide. In addition to it playing games that stimulate the brain and get the elderly socially active, the board will also act as a preventative and diagnosis tool. Through it, information regarding users' performance could be relayed back to medical staff, allowing the early detection and response to the onset of cognitive diseases like dementia. Although privacy issues will have to be addressed, Ms Fabregat says that the most important goal will be to first find a reliable way to monitor health through the means of play: 'we can decide afterwards to whom this information is sent,' she added. Ms Fabregat believes that such a tool will become indispensable for Europe's rapidly ageing population. 'As the elderly population is growing in Europe, we will need new tools to provide collective care.'
Countries
Spain