2011 Games for Health Conference Reveals Keynote, Initial Speaker Lineup

Organizers of the 2011 Games for Health Conference revealed that this year's opening keynote will be delivered by Positive Psychology founder Dr. Martin Seligman, who will speak regarding the psychological benefits offered by interactive games. Conference organizers note that Seligman's talk on"Positive Psychology > Positive Computing > Positive Videogames ... will provide the basis for a conference-long discussion and quest for how video game developers and researchers can create 'PERMA Power Ups' [Positive Emotion, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishments] forged by a collaboration between the documented interventions of positive psychology and interactive entertainment." Seligman's keynote is one of more than 60 sessions currently scheduled for the three-day event, to be held in Boston next month. Other scheduled panels include Debra Lieberman's "Psychology of Avatars: A Roundup of Research & Design Ideas," Catherine Frederico's "Nutrition Games: Where Things Stand Now," and Bill Guschwan's "Cognitive Tests for Parkinson's Disease on iPad." A full list of 2011 sessions is available at Games for Health's website. "Games for Health as a field is moving past establishing itself as a worthy idea, to being a robust area of mass-market activity," said conference organizer Ben Sawyer. "Our seventh conference, with an opening keynote by Dr. Seligman, is an attempt to further realize the opportunity video games and video game technologies might have for health and healthcare on a large-scale." The Seventh Annual Games for Health Conference will be held at Boston's Hyatt Harborside from May 17th through 19th. Registration and proposal submission details are available here.