What Healthcare Can Learn From Pokemon Go
and the rest of the gaming industry
In July 2016, Pokemon Go, an augmented reality mobile game, captured the world’s attention. Within a month of it’s release, the game was downloaded more than 100 million times and by September, it became the fastest game to make over $500 million in revenue.
How did Pokemon Go become so popular? How did it capture the attention of millions and engage them to walk around their neighbourhoods?
What can healthcare learn from the gaming industry?
1. Test Test Test
Situated in downtown Bellevue, Washington, is the headquarters of Bungie Studios, creators of Halo 3. Here, there is an expansive room separated by a one-way mirror. On one side, a typical living room with a large flat panel TV connected to an Xbox 360. On the other, Randy Pagulayan, a PhD in Experimental Psychology.
Peering through the one-way mirror Pagulayan watches lucky video game players play Halo 3, months before its official release date. He is interested in whether the game is fun, how long it takes to level up and why user’s don’t notice the pile of grenades on the ground.
It is his job to find flaws in the game and ultimately improve it’s offering. To do so, Pagulayan and his team analysed more than 3,000 hours of game play, played by some 600 everyday gamers.
The team tracks everything from the user’s favourite weapons to how and why users fall into a pool of lava. The data is then used to improve the gaming experience and ultimately user loyalty to Halo 3. It’s a clinical approach to game design.
Ironically in clinical practice, emphasis is not placed on user experience testing. Electronic health records (EHR) are a perfect example of a clunky and irritating user experience. A 2015 JAMA study evaluated the practice of usability testing at 50 of the most common EHR vendors.
63% of vendors engaged fewer than 15 participants in end user testing and a further 17% did not involve any physicians in their tests. The end product is a system that frustrates both doctors and nurses daily and ultimately reduce the quality of care we provide.
In the gaming world, that’s equivalent to a game with no downloads.
2. Build community
In 2003, Mark Griffiths, a professor at Nottingham Trent University published a study that showed a quarter of the 11,000 players of the game Everquest said their favourite part of the game was connecting with other players.
According to the American Psychological Association, over 70% of gamers play with a friend.
Socialising in gaming is not new. All successful game creators have leveraged our innate need for connection to build communities where gamers share experiences, exchange knowledge, and even compete.
The benefits of community also extend to the healthcare industry — there are patient groups for breast cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS) and chronic kidney disease where people share knowledge and support each other through tough times.
However, they are largely patient, or charity driven. What can providers do to intentionally build community?
Can we connect newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients with patients who have MS at the time of diagnosis? Could we host coffee mornings or physical meetups with long term carers? Would patients who found it difficult to comply with their treatment be able to form accountability groups with others who struggle too?
Belonging and thriving in a community with high levels of trust and safety allow people to feel supported and cared for. Community is an essential part of human life; even more so if you are ill and vulnerable.
3. Gamify
Picture this:
You are playing the game: Real Racing 3 as the Formula 1 race car driver for Mercedes. Driving your next lap at the Silverstone circuit in under 1min 40sec will mean that you win the race! By finishing on the podium, you level up, allowing you to purchase a new set of tires that allow you to go faster.
In your first attempt, you come in at 1min 55sec; not good enough. You try again. This time, you clock 1min 48sec. Better. You try and try again.
Finally on your seventh attempt, you clock 1min 39sec. You look up at your own clock and 1 hour has passed. You should get back to working on your medium article. But you think about your new tires and decide to race again.
Achievement is one of the most powerful psychological driving factors of human behaviour. When we have a goal and progress to the goal is measurable, we are more likely to engage in activities to achieve the goal.
Successful companies like Starbucks, Duolingo and Udemy have capitalised our desire to achieve and be rewarded. Each time a customer interacts with the Starbucks app or makes a purchase, he/she earns stars — representative points in the Starbucks ecosystem.
Starbucks goes even further, by providing the user with quests to complete to get bonus stars — Come in before 10am 3 days in a row and get 100 bonus stars.
Users track the number of stars on a progress bar which indicates how many more stars are required to level up or get a free drink. Indeed, this has engendered great loyalty — Starbucks attributes 40% of its total sales to the Rewards Program and has seen same store sales rise by 7%.
Could we gamify healthcare? What if we gave patients points for attending appointments or complying with medication? Perhaps we could award double points for joining a patient community group. Points could then be exchanged for free healthy meals or a room upgrade during the patient’s elective hip operation or perhaps, longer appointment times with your doctor.
Gamification increases customer engagement and satisfaction –two things healthcare is not known for.
Conclusion
The gaming and healthcare industry are more similar that you’d think. Both industries rely on engaging their consumers to perform target behaviours — whether that’s spending more time blasting bad guys in Call of Duty or simply complying with the medication prescribed.
The same insights used to encourage Xbox screen time can also be used to encourage healthy behaviours and engagement with healthcare services.
Test — Test everything that consumers interact with
Community — Build a community of like minded individuals to enhance accountability and engagement
Gamify — Make positive health behaviours fun and rewarding
