Improving the Hospital Experience Through Video Games: Child’s Play
Nothing compares to the community you feel when being a part of the video game industry.
There are numerous development studios, publishers, streamers, moderators, you name it! Everywhere you look there is a new video game store on every corner, an upcoming convention, or even a new friend that “only plays a little video games”, until they feel comfortable enough with you to share how much they really play. There are also a wide-range of incredible nonprofits in the industry that are solely focused on giving back and making the world a better place.
As part of our small way of giving back, we are starting a blog series highlighting companies and how they are helping gamers through mental health, streaming, hospital visits, and more! We interviewed an inspiring group of companies about who they are, what they do, their impact on the gaming industry, and how others can get involved. We hope you enjoy reading them and are inspired to go help your community, no matter how small the task.
This week, we start off our series with Child’s Play, where we had the honor of interviewing Garrett Goody, Pediatric Gaming Technology Manager, and Kirsten Carlile, Senior Director of Philanthropy and Partner Experiences. Child’s Play Charity works with local pediatric hospitals to use video games to improve the daily patient experience through “the power of play”. Kirsten and Garrett walked us through the details of Child’s Play, how they are impacting the world, and some resources you can use to get involved. Let’s get to it!
What is Child’s Play
Working in a nonprofit video game industry is no small task. There are lots of events to attend, people to connect with, and market research to be done. Before we get into that, let’s start with the basics about what Child’s Play is and how they impact the video game world.
“Child’s Play Charity is rooted in the healing power of play. Endowed by the gaming community, Child’s Play is devoted to improving the lives of children and teens in children’s hospitals.
Child’s Play Charity delivers therapeutic games and technology directly to pediatric hospitals to improve patients’ lives through the power of play finding new ways to help children Play Games, Feel Better.”
Video Game Research and Programs
Though the power of play is their motto, there is a lot of research and development that goes into what that truly means. Funding, research, and creating new programs are just some ways that they are able to get to the level of impact that they have now. So far, “Child’s Play has funded 47 Patient Gaming Technology Specialists in network hospitals”, and has “worked with Circana and UCSD to provide research to recommend therapeutic video games for children based on their symptoms. The therapeutic games guide is a searchable database online that helps clinicians choose appropriate games for their patients”. In this guide, you can actually select conditions such as pain, anxiety, boredom, etc. to improve your gaming experience. With Page to Pixel’s game based around mental health battles called Interwoven Emotions coming out in June, we have taken notes on what to include in our games to have a positive experience when playing.
A hospital-based program through Child’s Play is the No Fear MRI program, which “is an initiative to help provide very unique tech in [their] partner hospitals. It helps reduce sedation in patients needing an MRI.” The No Fear MRI program allows children to have simulation MRI’s to reduce anxiety going into the event, and they even have MRI-safe goggles that actually allow them to watch a movie or show during it. This helps reduce some of the worry and stress that comes with these necessary medical practices to make it easier on the child going through it.
Content Creators and Streaming Resources
With “more than $1.5M of the funds raised for Child’s Play com[ing] through streaming,” content creation and streaming are an important piece of the organization.
Similar to AbleGamers and Stream for a Cause, Child’s Play has a program where you can stream to raise money for their organization. Though streaming for charities is now more mainstream, they were actually the first charity to benefit from streaming through Desert Bus for Hope. Since giving back is in their nature, they also have “incredible resources online to help streamers have tools, tips and tricks at their fingertips”.
Community Partnerships and Getting Involved
One important takeaway that Child’s Play hopes people will learn when hearing about their organization, especially as it relates to the video game industry, is there are tons of ways to get involved and they are happy to work with whoever they need to increase their impact.
The ways to get involved with Child’s Play to help spread the power of play are endless. “You can stream and raise funds for Child’s Play, provide in kind donations of new games and toys, or put your game on Humble Bundle and select Child’s Play as the beneficiary.”
Kirsten feels that “helping share the message of Child’s Play, highlighting [their] impact, and asking others to consider streaming for [them] is a HUGE help! The more others highlight [their] work and introduce [them] to their communities, the more the CP family grows!” Page to Pixel Publishing is grateful to be a part of that community partnership.
If you missed Child’s Play at PAX East this year, don’t worry, there are plenty of other places to find them this year and next, such as “PAX West, PAX Unplugged, BrickCon, MAGFest, PAX East and PAX Aus. [They] aren’t always at Twitchcon, but [their] team is available to meet and connect with content creators and influencers anytime!”
Thank You
Special thank you to Kirsten Carlile and Garrett Goody for partnering with Page to Pixel Publishing on this interview to further spread awareness about this incredible mission. Have an idea for a company that could use a highlight? Reach out!
To learn more, please visit https://childsplaycharity.org/.
Page to Pixel Publishing 