Videogames. Is there anything they can't do?

[Darth Wong]

From CNN

Video games calm kids before surgery
More effective than tranquilizers or parental presence

Friday, December 10, 2004 Posted: 10:02 AM EST (1502 GMT)

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- Letting children play video games on a Game Boy in the operating room before undergoing surgery can help relax them better than tranquilizers or holding Mommy's hand, researchers say.

Doctors found that allowing children a few minutes to play the games reduced their anxiety until the anesthesia took effect.

Dr. Anu Patel conducted the study after noticing a friend's 7-year-old son was so absorbed with his Game Boy at a restaurant that he ignored the adults and the food at his table.

"We find that the children are just so happy with the Game Boy that they actually do forget where they are," said Patel, an anesthesiologist at University Hospital in Newark who plans to present her findings Saturday at a medical conference.

Patel the findings could be helpful because many parents do not want tranquilizers given to their children.

Other hospitals have long used teddy bears and games to distract children before surgery, but those techniques are generally employed in patient rooms, playrooms and waiting areas, not in the operating room.

At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, kids are encouraged to play in waiting areas before surgery and to take a "comfort item" -- occasionally a Game Boy -- into the operating room.

A Boston company, Design Continuum Inc., has begun testing a combination anesthesia mask and headset that would allow patients to play video games or listen to music, but distribution is years away.

Patel studied 4- to 12-year-olds in three groups of 26 children each. All had parents with them in the operating room until they were anesthetized. One group also got a tranquilizer, and the third group played with a Game Boy.

On average, the Game Boy group showed no increase in anxiety before surgery. But on a standard, 100-point scale for measuring preoperative anxiety, the tranquilizer group jumped 7.5 points and the parents-only group 17.5 points.

Shani Willis, whose 10-year-old daughter Nykia had a cyst removed at the Newark hospital Tuesday, said the girl was nervous until she got a Game Boy. She then relaxed and played with it until she was anesthetized. "It was like she put everything out of her mind," Willis said.

The hospital is considering making Game Boy use standard before pediatric surgery.

Dr. Erin Stucky, head of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on hospital care, said Game Boys should be used more widely in hospitals if a larger study produces the same results.

"This is great because this offers a wonderful ability to have the child's attention immersed elsewhere," she said.

[Pcm979]

They must be different games to the ones I play, then.

*Smashes controller against wall*

[Captain tycho]

They must be different games to the ones I play, then.

*Smashes controller against wall*

Don't crank the difficulty up to Insane, you putz.
Anyways, I've found out that gaming can calm me down and relieve anxiety, especially when the game involves smashing buildings with a 400 foot reptile.
But it's surprising that they would actually calm a kid down more than their own parents, or a tranquilizer.

[Dillon]

Well, Nintendo will be happy to hear about this.

Games almost never calm me down, especially if I suck at them, which will usually result in a lot of swearing.

[2000AD]

And this shows why the Child's Play charity is a good ting.

[Corran Horn]

Seriously Folks. Who here isnt Calmed down by that great raor and Bang of one player taking on entire Armies and slaughtering them without dieing

Or

The great sound of you beating another person into the ground.

Now if there is anyone who has never been calmed down by that YOU CRAZY!!!

[Terr Fangbite]

Games are my stress reliever. Nothing better than to imagine all the people who have made my day a living hell, as the people I am gunning down in Unreal or Counter-strike

[Ace Pace]

Games are my stress reliever. Nothing better than to imagine all the people who have made my day a living hell, as the people I am gunning down in Unreal or Counter-strike

Amen brotha

Seriously, even the so called twitch shooters, who are supposed to tense you out, relax me.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

<snip>

Gee, I thought playing Gameboy would increase the kid's adrenaline instead of calmed them down. I wonder WHAT kind of game they offered. Tetris?

What would happen if they let the kids played Doom before operation, in God Mode, armed with chainsaw, while an accompanying nurse thoroughly explains: "this is what your innards would look like during operation...."

[Pcm979]

The kids would go around for years thinking their innards were square and poorly-detailed, that's what.

[Dillon]

<snip>

Gee, I thought playing Gameboy would increase the kid's adrenaline instead of calmed them down. I wonder WHAT kind of game they offered. Tetris?

What would happen if they let the kids played Doom before operation, in God Mode, armed with chainsaw, while an accompanying nurse thoroughly explains: "this is what your innards would look like during operation...."

Actually, you raise an interesting point there. They'd probably have to make some sort of list of approved games, since Tetris usally relaxes me, even if I keep losing. First person shooters on the other hand...

[Corran Horn]

<snip>

Gee, I thought playing Gameboy would increase the kid's adrenaline instead of calmed them down. I wonder WHAT kind of game they offered. Tetris?

What would happen if they let the kids played Doom before operation, in God Mode, armed with chainsaw, while an accompanying nurse thoroughly explains: "this is what your innards would look like during operation...."

Actually, you raise an interesting point there. They'd probably have to make some sort of list of approved games, since Tetris usally relaxes me, even if I keep losing. First person shooters on the other hand...

Tetris Frutrates me Even if Im winnig. ALthough some games couldn't give to relax people. Mario might be the best choice cause it aint hard.

[Praxis]

<snip>

Gee, I thought playing Gameboy would increase the kid's adrenaline instead of calmed them down. I wonder WHAT kind of game they offered. Tetris?

What would happen if they let the kids played Doom before operation, in God Mode, armed with chainsaw, while an accompanying nurse thoroughly explains: "this is what your innards would look like during operation...."

Actually, you raise an interesting point there. They'd probably have to make some sort of list of approved games, since Tetris usally relaxes me, even if I keep losing. First person shooters on the other hand...

Tetris frustrates me :p

Games like Zelda and Mario are probably best. 'specially Zelda. It makes you think.

[Dillon]

Tetris frustrates me :p

Games like Zelda and Mario are probably best. 'specially Zelda. It makes you think.

Zelda should definetely be on the list of approved games. I've spent hours trying to figure out single puzzles in that game, and I don't recall ever coming close to losing my temper with it.

[Trogdor]

So long as it's not Majora's Mask. That game unnerved me with its constant time limit. And the start of the game really got my blood flowing.

"You do not turn the Hero of Time in a deku scrub!"

[Master of Ossus]

So long as it's not Majora's Mask. That game unnerved me with its constant time limit. And the start of the game really got my blood flowing.

"You do not turn the Hero of Time in a deku scrub!"

A friend of mine was playing that while a whole bunch of us were waiting for the morning edition to print (ie. It was goddamn early and we were fucking tired). We were laughing HYSTERICALLY watching the guy play it, making comments about sexual innuendos in the game. First this innkeeper (a girl) wanted him to wait for her in his room after nightfall, and then she never showed up. That led to all sorts of jokes about how she had stood him up, and how not even the video-game babes would bite for him. Then there was this one cutscene that was absolutely price-less. This guy is lying in the middle of a field with a fairy, who flies down towards is nether regions as he starts laughing hysterically (the plant-life conceals the action that's going on). Everyone in the whole room started cracking up. It was one of the best game sequences ever.