Issue 1, 2011

Design, engineering and utility of biotic games§

Abstract

Games are a significant and defining part of human culture, and their utility beyond pure entertainment has been demonstrated with so-called ‘serious games’. Biotechnology – despite its recent advancements – has had no impact on gaming yet. Here we propose the concept of ‘biotic games’, i.e., games that operate on biological processes. Utilizing a variety of biological processes we designed and tested a collection of games: ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Ciliaball’, ‘PAC-mecium’, ‘Microbash’, ‘Biotic Pinball’, ‘POND PONG’, ‘PolymerRace’, and ‘The Prisoner's Smellemma’. We found that biotic games exhibit unique features compared to existing game modalities, such as utilizing biological noise, providing a real-life experience rather than virtual reality, and integrating the chemical senses into play. Analogous to video games, biotic games could have significant conceptual and cost-reducing effects on biotechnology and eventually healthcare; enable volunteers to participate in crowd-sourcing to support medical research; and educate society at large to support personal medical decisions and the public discourse on bio-related issues.

Graphical abstract: Design, engineering and utility of biotic games

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Sep 2010
Accepted
23 Sep 2010
First published
18 Nov 2010
This article is Open Access

Lab Chip, 2011,11, 14-22

Design, engineering and utility of biotic games

I. H. Riedel-Kruse, A. M. Chung, B. Dura, A. L. Hamilton and B. C. Lee, Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 14 DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00399A

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