Pokemon Go benefits human health, really?

Washington: A new study says that games like Pokemon Go may have quite a good impact on personal and public health.

In an editorial by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers “Pokemon Go, Go, Go, Gone?” it is said that The combination of augmented reality technology, geocaching, and other novel techniques to create innovative active video games (AVGs) has potential personal and public health implications.

Editor-in-Chief Tom Baranowski has identified many lessons that can be learned from the success of the popular AVG Pokemon Go, in which players can log hours of walking as they physically chase the animated Pokemon creatures based on video images displayed on their smart phones.

Baranowski further encouraged researchers to conduct well-designed studies to assess the health effects of AVGs.

Game developers could then use this information to create new games that would be both fun to play and promote beneficial physical activity.

“Pokemon Go stimulated substantial amounts of physical activity in many likely-otherwise sedentary game players without intending to! We might call this stealth exergame programming, and we have a lot to learn about how to achieve this!” he said.

The study has been published in Games for Health Journal. (ANI)