[HN Gopher] Show HN: I made a video game to help reduce stress a...
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Show HN: I made a video game to help reduce stress and anxiety
Author : stan_kirdey
Score : 49 points
Date : 2023-01-26 07:20 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vortle.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vortle.com)
| Tijdreiziger wrote:
| Out of the gate, the privacy policy looks pretty bad for
| something that's supposed to _reduce_ anxiety. A few excerpts:
| Personally identifiable information may include, but is not
| limited to: (a) Email address (b) First name and last name (c)
| Phone number (d) Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
| (e) Cookies and Usage Data We may also collect
| information that your browser sends whenever you visit our
| Service or when you access Service by or through a mobile device
| (" Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as
| your computer's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address),
| browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you
| visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those
| pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
| We may use and store information about your location if you give
| us permission to do so ("Location Data"). While
| using our Service, we may also collect the following information:
| sex, age, date of birth, place of birth, passport details,
| citizenship, registration at place of residence and actual
| address, telephone number (work, mobile), details of documents on
| education, qualification, professional training, employment
| agreements, non-disclosure agreements, information on bonuses and
| compensation, information on marital status, family members,
| social security (or other taxpayer identification) number, office
| location and other data. If you are located outside
| United States and choose to provide information to us, please
| note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to
| United States and process it there.
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| it is generic, the game works offline, doesn't require
| registration so there is no place to enter any PII
| Tijdreiziger wrote:
| If so, I would suggest updating the privacy policy to reflect
| that.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| You wanna talk about videogames to reduce stress and anxiety,
| Ferry Halim's Orisinal Games were perfect for that. No need to
| install anything or give anyone your info, simple controls, cute
| concepts, pacing that started off slow. Too bad they relied on
| Flash and are gone now...
| wcoenen wrote:
| When sound is disabled, there's indeed no sound... until I hit
| the back button. When I hit the back button, I get a blast of
| sound for 1 second.
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| is it on iphone or android?
| dangerwill wrote:
| Health care, even low stakes stress reduction video games, and
| "powered by AI" should be as far apart as possible imo
| _fs wrote:
| "Powered by AI" is 2023's "Blockchain"
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| the "AI" part is mostly for accessibility. The block matching
| game adjusts its difficulty using RL, and the match-3 figures
| game has "autoplay" mode also powered by RL. Both modes exist
| to make the playing experience a bit easier:
| sovietmudkipz wrote:
| This is really cool!
| nadermx wrote:
| Your footer (c) shows 2021..
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| thx, need to add a function there!
| bluetidepro wrote:
| I would recommend adding a few videos with more information on
| your landing page. Even the Steam page just has screenshots.
| Obviously it's a free game so you're not concerned about sales in
| the monetary sense, but it would "sell" the game more to have
| some videos included.
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| good point, and I already have a few videos on youtube. thanks!
| ineptech wrote:
| I get the "This app is not available for any of your devices"
| that Play store very unhelpfully never explains. Any guesses why?
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| when publishing in play store it requires to setup minimum
| Android version. Could be android version mismatch, I believe
| the game was built last time for Android 11 and on
| ahub wrote:
| Hey, the steam webpage states:
|
| > Evidence-based and community certified.
|
| While I'm convinced this kind of stuff can help,I wonder what
| kind of evidence and certification you can build on that kind of
| game. I didn't find any documentation on the website.
|
| Care to share more ?
| infinitygames wrote:
| Our company has made a partnership with a university to
| research the positive effects our games have on mental health.
|
| We develop games that focus on reducing stress and anxiety.
|
| https://m.porto.ucp.pt/pt/central-noticias/projeto-investiga...
| (in Portuguese)
|
| https://infinitygames.io/
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| I see your concern. The two games that are part of Vortle were
| trialed by others and found to be beneficial and have
| clinically significant results. I've reimplemented them to use
| AI and did a bit of different design and game mechanics.
| Although I can not afford a clinical trial, I did gather
| feedback from a lot of players on "before/after" feeling and it
| did show benefit. Doing my best.
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| There are a few games in the U.S. that were able to get FDA
| approval to be used for treatment. So potentially a game can be
| certified as a medical device.
|
| As it is my hobby project I do my best to collect research
| evidence on video games and mental health. I did document some
| of what is out there here https://vortle.medium.com/does-
| science-back-mental-health-fo...
| personjerry wrote:
| But those aren't trials on _this_ game, so can you really
| make a statement like that?
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| good point, but I am not saying this game _treats_ any
| condition
| iancmceachern wrote:
| You need to revise your title, it needs to say "...may
| help to reduce..."
|
| Source- I design medical devices
| personjerry wrote:
| It seems to be what your phrasing is suggesting, so it's
| disingenuous at best
| klyrs wrote:
| > I made a video game to help reduce stress and anxiety
|
| Yes, you are.
| LawTalkingGuy wrote:
| No, that's not a condition, that's a symptom. I don't
| need a study to say that pancakes reduce hunger.
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| Would you need a study to say pancakes reduce anxiety?
| I'm not sure I follow your logic or the distinctions
| you're making.
| loa_in_ wrote:
| Anxiety is anxiety, a feeling. Anxiety disorders are what
| you mean perhaps?
|
| Then there's no mention of the latter.
| Raidion wrote:
| I really think that the ability for games to relax and de-stress
| is clear (at least from my anecdotal standpoint). This get bonus
| points for gamifying some meditative and deep breathing
| techniques.
|
| On the other hand, I always worry about the "escapism" of video
| games in the way they might provide a safer and more comforting
| activity than tackling the real problems that lead to the stress
| and anxiety.
|
| That being said, all this looks great! You should get a video of
| gameplay (or at least provide some sort of "what games are these"
| information so that people can explore them without having to
| download another app. I simply don't know enough about the game
| to download another app without more information!
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| > On the other hand, I always worry about the "escapism" of
| video games in the way they might provide a safer and more
| comforting activity than tackling the real problems that lead
| to the stress and anxiety.
|
| Let people escape, dude. I'm not gonna tell a guy who works
| several shitty jobs to barely make rent that he's not allowed
| to de-stress via his method of choice because he should just be
| "tackling the real problems". It's not your place to impose a
| value judgment about how people deal with stress.
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| I'm not sure that's what they were doing. I had the same
| concern, that using video games to address these concerns
| ultimately doesn't address issues like loneliness, lack of
| community, unresolved trauma, relationship and substance
| issues etc.
|
| There's nothing wrong with escaping or short term fixes
| though. Often these can be the things that are needed to help
| people into the position where they can even care enough
| about themselves and their feelings to do the other work.
|
| The danger just comes when these are used as the only tool.
| Ultimately the benefits wear off and the user is back at
| square one.
|
| It's no one's place to make value judgements on how others
| spend their time but issues like depression and anxiety are
| social issues at the end of the day and it's good to have
| open discussions about these things. Unaddressed mental
| health issues can often lead to people acting out and hurting
| others, and in that sense we're all responsible for voicing
| our concerns and trying to help one another get onto healthy
| paths forwards.
| stan_kirdey wrote:
| thank you! i know what you mean, at the same time there are not
| so many tools that work offline and interactive that can help
| to destress or deal with a panic or anxiety. I think a few
| games without a score keeping is a good option.
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(page generated 2023-01-26 23:02 UTC)