Image courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans”, announced today that they will be awarding $2 million in grants to twelve research teams across the United States to support research proving the benefits of health and fitness based videogames. It’s obvious that the recent surge of interest in fitness gaming has more than a little to do with the popularity of Nintendo’s Wii and the monolithic marketing blitz surrounding Wii Fit. But gaming as a method to curb obesity in the US has been gaining momentum since early 2006, when West Virginia began working with Konami to outfit public school gym classes with Dance Dance Revolution machines.
While videogames are still an easy target for news media controversy, the tide is changing in a big way. Dr. Laurence Kutner and Dr. Cheryl Olson’s Grand Theft Childhood was one of the first even-handed pieces of popular literature on gaming’s effects on youth mental health when it came out in April and it received ample press attention. The RWJF’s grant drive is another signifier that the positive mental and physical health benefits of videogames are starting to gain a foot hold over the medium’s association with antisocial behavior. It may not be a brand new day quite yet, but we’re getting there.