title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 299 W. Campus Drive, Fairchild, Room D243, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ingmar@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Ingmar H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Riedel-Kruse
authors.forename: Alice M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dura
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Byung C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001686:Biological Phenomena; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D008128:Logic; D048488:Paramecium caudatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D010988:Play and Playthings; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018910:Video Games; D015003:Yeasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development