Project Natal:How video games are helping me re-think our systems

I am a big fan of Xbox. I haven’t played it in a long time—in fact, we recently gave ours away. Of course, about a week after we got rid of it, my husband comes across this video featuring the next best thing for the system, for video games. It’s called Project Natal: The Innovation Journey. He was disgusted that we had gotten rid of ours because this new thing is pretty hip. Watch the video before you keep reading:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_UzcnTYqc4&feature=youtube_gdata

As I watched this, I thought about what we call individualized services for kids and families. Project Natal gives a wild example of how a system (one that may even be more complex than our departments—I know, long shot) can be created that will in fact fit the players and not require that the players fit it. You don’t have to stand on a special board or hold a special controller. You don’t have to be a certain weight or height. You just have to be there and the game system recognizes you, reflects you, allows you to play. It is a real-time connection between a human and a system that puts the player in charge of what happens next. Do you know how it does this? Did you hear? It collects trillions of pieces of data about the player every second—they get to know the player’s movements and measurements in real-time. The game becomes an expert on the player. Certainly expertise on technology and art and design and math was required to build such a system: but for the system to do its job, it had to figure out how to become an expert on the player.

“It’s 50% hardware, 50% software.” Part of what makes this system unique (and what will help it be successful, making lots of money for someone) is that it’s as much about the player as it is about the system. The software (the flexible, real-time, changeable, responsive stuff) carries the same weight as the hardware (the more rigid, structural stuff).

I believe that our success in improving outcomes for kids and families will depend a great deal on our ability to provide individualized, person-centered, culturally-competent care to folks in our communities. This video, this gaming system has just given me new ways to think about it and new questions to ask:

How do we re-form our systems to support professionals who become experts not only on diagnoses and treatment modalities, but on the people they serve?

How do we create hardware (budgets, policies, for example) that support the software (staffing patterns, training, the day-to-day work) and allow for real-time, meaningful interaction between the consumer and the system, actually reflecting our clients in our work?

How do we allow families to be in charge but still be responsible with our resources and ensure safety?

Project Natal is doing it—with a lot of smart people (with good hair, I might add), probably a dollar or two, and without a lot of fear. Stay tuned. If we end up with this gaming system, I may just have to have a Natal party and you’ll all be invited.