Can games promote public health? I would like to consider such technologies as an enabling tool towards improving quality of life. Using something fun and engaging towards instilling accountability and responsibility on one’s health presents a great potential for the pressure on public health expenditure to be reduced in a long run. Games and gamification could be the means or presciptions by which harmful behaviours and attitudes may be changed and prevented. Serious games and gamification present an opportunity for large-scale health and wellbeing data from various non-invasive sources to be measured, collected and reasoned to better understand individual’s knowledge, attitude and behaviour, assess his/her progress and provide personalised feedback towards a healthier lifestyle. Research and development of this kind is multidisciplinary. Research plays a key role in identifying the best practices in the use of game technologies and concepts in the healthcare sector, providing the evidence needed to consider their value as a solution. The prospect of a better supported and personalised health and wellbeing ecosystem can potentially affect the design and deployment of health strategy and policy in the future.
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