June 2008 -- Healing Games from HopeLab: Re-Mission and RuckusNation

[Sue Klein Lebeck]

June 2008

Healing Games from HopeLab:
Re-Mission and RuckusNation
Richard Tate
with Chris Murchison and Fred Dillon

A kid's video game that has passed clinical trials as a treatment for cancer??
An idea challenge for treating childhood obesity, by and for kids??
Learn about these seriously fun innovations created by the researchers and developers at HopeLab.

The mission of HopeLab is to "combine rigourous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness."

Join us as Richard Tate, Chris Murchison, and Fred Dillon speak with us about
Re-Mission -- the ground-breaking video game which demonstrates how an innovative application of digital technology can have real impact on the health and well-being of young people with cancer around the world.
and
RuckusNation -- HopeLab's idea competition to get kids moving, which seeds new projects to address childhood obesity.

Don't miss the inspiration and conversation!

[Sue Klein Lebeck]

Notes and Gems....

June 2008

Healing Games from HopeLab:
Re-Mission and RuckusNation
Richard Tate, Chris Murchison, Fred Dillon

During HopeLabs’ feature presentation,
I noted these observations on successfully managing innovation.
Enjoy!


“First, it must be fun.”
- Lead with fun, and health will follow! This is one of the first principles/lessons learned
- If activity is not fun, it won’t be effective

Founder integrated multiple passions, to create HopeLab.
- Founder is a researcher in immunology – and a gamer.

Mission emerges from passion.
- Mission of HopeLab was reverse-engineered from the experience they had with the product they were founded to create: “Compassionate efforts based on scientific evidence”.
- Values:
- continued learning
- broad impact
- respect
- courageous experimentation
- customer engagement
- joyfulness


Learnings from “Re-Mission” therapeutic video-game initiative:

Gaming reminds us that we are always Defining the Enemy and Defining the Prize.
- Life is a game
- Success begets success – the meaning of success adapts over time
- The definition of “Success” can be any thing that is compelling to the players

Research --> innovation-->customer input --> great results
- Large-scale trial --
- Randomized controlled study
- control game was Indiana Jones (so comparison is to: another fun game)
- Specific targets were established: measured and evaluated on
- knowledge attained
- self-efficacy
- behavioral change (treatment adherence)
- Success in the case of the game Re-mission looks like this:
- 160,000 copies distributed free
- incredible adoption, across 80 countries
- positive medical research results

Collaboration is key.
- HopeLab partnered with Children’s Oncological Institute to ensure a deep understanding of the subject and the client
- HopeLab designed and organized the research; the data came back to HopeLab
- Game design itself was highly collaborative: game developers, doctors, cancer patients, psychologists
- Choose partners carefully – they need ability to execute, and ability to resource the project
- Need resource collaborators – funding support frees you to focus on innovation

Value Creation.
- Positive medical results in these areas:
- knowledge attained
- self-efficacy
- behavioral change (treatment adherence)
- Game was valued by its players: when given a choice between the target game (Re-Mission) and control game (Indiana Jones), most people played target game
- Findings will be published in “Pediatrics”


Power of One can enable collaboration of many.
- Founder has been primary source of revenue for first project
- Robert Wood Johnson foundation has been additional source of revenue, for second project

New Questions drive follow-on Innovation.
- Innovation leads to the next innovation; new curiosity questions drive the follow-on initiatives

Test assumptions, and be ready for discovery.
- Re-mission works, but how?
- assumed: knowledge à treatment adherence
- actually, also: emotional motivation à treatment adherence

The power of story drives motivation.
- story lines and character narratives effect empathy
- research partner tested five narrative versions of the game, measuring knowledge, attitude and emotion.

Identify what can be measured, and decide carefully who the target audience is.
- Functional MRI (FMRI) is a brain-mapping technology, which can measure
- motor skills
- attitude
- emotional adjustment
- Emphasis is on youth (esp. 11-14)
- influence-able
- potential for long-term effects

Interest: engaging technologies that motivate people.
- note: their focus is not to evaluate the [potentially negative] effects of [other] games


Learnings from “Ruckus Nation” Ideation challenge initiative:

General observations on successful Ideation processes.
- Fantastic engagement: reach a broad and relevant audience
- direct outreach to related groups
- strategic partner to help reach target audience
- paid ads on college campuses (cost-effective, a generative space, in this case close to target age group)
- some traditional PR
- Do not ask a general audience about feasibility (they may not know)
- Ideas integrate more fully on-line and on-the-ground
- After ideation, go back to customers and look at obstacles and drivers to inform development of the idea


Reward must be carefully considered, and significant/appropriate.
- Winning ideators won substantial prizes
- in return for participation in contest, ideators had to sign over the Intellectual Property to HopeLab
- alternative IP model offered:
ideator could sign “option agreement”, whereby HopeLab would have the option to engage in a non-exclusive license of the idea;
this way they could get exposure to their idea, but were not qualified to win a prize
- Grand Prize went to: personalized online dance video game (dance karaoke)

Don’t bring the “feasibility” factor in prematurely – it can kill ideas.
- Do not ask a general audience about feasibility (they may not know)
- Feasibility, introduced too soon, is an innovation-stopper
- Ultimately, the evaluative sweet-spot is where Impact, Desirability, and Feasibility come together.

Large vision can drive component-level innovation.
- Strong innovative ideas which emerge, in turn drive requirements for component-level innovation.
- Example needed component-level innovation: a kid-friendly and cool activity monitor, which earns rewards and is easy to wear


What is the Fun at HopeLab that keeps them going, as individual innovation players?

Richard:
- As Communications and Marketing director, it is a luxury to have a really great story to tell.
- Smart people generate serious joy
- Opportunity to do unexpected things
- People are recognized for their thinking, no matter where they are on the organizational chart

Chris:
- All of the above
- Also, as Learning and Innovation director, it’s fun to think about how to apply innovation principles to individuals on a personal/professional level, i.e. on the inside.

Fred:
- All of the above
- And, as Product Development director, it’s fun to have complex design challenges
- And, getting to do user testing with actual customers

In summary: Take Joy Seriously