The Powerful Future of Mobile Gaming

March 4, 2015 – Jessica Oaks is a frequent guest blogger here at 21st Century Tech blog. She is a freelance journalist with a passion for technology news. Her focus is on how technology can make our lives easier. You can find her musings at FreshlyTechy.com. You can also check her out on Twitter @TechyJessy. Today she writes about the mobile gaming revolution and its implications for the future.

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Over the last few decades, the push to mobile technology has reshaped traditional, niche activities, particularly gaming, making it more accessible to a much wider demographic. With so many people using the technology we are seeing the emergence of gaming for a cause. That is gaming that helps society in truly innovative ways. Ongoing developments like this are providing a better future, a path to creating a more efficient, smarter, healthier and sound world.

A crucial component of the technology today is the processing unit within devices. For instance, the Snapdragon graphics-processing chip found in the majority of top Android phones and tablets produces crystal clear visuals and video and processes complex commands to allow games to run extra smoothly.

It is this type of technological advance that is creating the ability to produce extremely immersive experiences that captivate and engage users.  Thus, highly stimulating “games,” now available to the general public can be used for purposes outside of entertainment as platforms to drive a slew of cause-oriented undertakings including cognitive development, health and fitness, education and philanthropy.

Healthcare is a field where mobile gaming technology can prove beneficial to recovering patients and improve general well being. Virtual reality games, which are big this year due to successful innovations, are starting to be played by burn victims as a form of pain control. Rehabilitation games on mobile devices may soon become staples in hospitals – think Wii Fit meets virtual reality headset meets physical therapy session all in one. 

 

The essentials of gaming – risk, goals, competition, reward, winning – all bode well as motivating factors to get players to act. That something could be a humanitarian cause. Mobile games of the future may address world concerns such as the environment (see image above), hunger or even cultural awareness by integrating the same fundamental game-motivating factors to encourage participation. For example, there could be a game that brings awareness to excessive water usage where players and the personal water systems they use are synced and usage statistics are projected with a social media component – those who use less aqua ultimately move up in levels to win, incentivizing others to decrease the amount they waste. Additionally mobile gaming can unite people around an overarching ideal, making them connect emotionally to invest in altruistic acts.  

The stage has been set. We are at the beginning of a mobile gaming revolution where we will witness the technology expanding into almost any industry and spreading to recruit participation from everyone with Internet and smartphone technology. From those who seek help in enhancing their health to environmentalists trying to save the planet, games may be the saviour of us all.

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