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Health game: the first gaming platform for the elderly will appear in Russia
Russia is developing the first domestic gaming platform aimed at older people. The Academy of a Clear Mind project, supported by the Institute for the Development of the Internet (IRI), will combine mini-games to train memory, attention and other abilities. The platform is being created with the participation of specialists in the field of gerontology and with the support of the Russian Ministry of Health. The first game mechanics are planned to be launched on the Odnoklassniki social network. In the future, the service will be able to track the dynamics of user activity, which will allow it to be used for long-term monitoring of cognitive status.
A game for active longevity
The Clear Mind Academy project is positioned not as an entertainment service, but as a digital tool for regular cognitive training. It will combine mini-games aimed at developing memory, attention, information processing speed, spatial thinking and logic.
— We are not creating a dry simulator, but a product that a person will want to return to every day. Game mechanics should be fun, and at the same time help to maintain cognitive activity. During the development, we studied the global experience of such projects, and as the platform develops, we plan to involve doctors, gerontologists and neuropsychologists to evaluate the effectiveness of game mechanics," Vitaly Kozlov, head of the Games for the Elderly project, told Izvestia.
The concept of the project was supported by the Russian Ministry of Health. As follows from the department's letter, which was reviewed by Izvestia, Olga Tkacheva, the chief freelance geriatrician at the Ministry of Health, noted the expediency of creating digital games to maintain cognitive functions and prevent age-related disorders. The document also states that the authors of the project need to coordinate the content of the tasks and the logic of their passage with relevant specialists in the field of neurocognitive health.
A series of mobile games for the elderly fits perfectly into the logic of the national project "Long and active life," according to the IRI.
— The team of authors already has successful experience in implementing projects with the support of Iran, and we hope that this time they will create truly exciting and useful games that you want to return to again and again. An important advantage of the initiative is the partnership with the Odnoklassniki platform, which will help reach the widest possible age audience," said Andrey Voronkov, Deputy General Director of the IRI.
He called the support of the Ministry of Health an additional factor that increases the potential of the project and its practical significance.
— Odnoklassniki confirms its interest in the implementation of the Games for the Elderly project. For the OK audience, this topic is socially significant and corresponds to the tasks of active longevity and prevention, focused on improving the quality of life," the platform's press service said.
A new audience for the gaming industry
Such projects are becoming especially relevant against the background of an aging population and an increase in life expectancy, said Maria Vedunova, director of the Institute of Biology and Biomedicine at Nizhny Novgorod Lobachevsky State University.
— Today, one of the most important tasks is to preserve a person's cognitive activity for as long as possible. Therefore, any initiatives that help older people regularly train their memory, attention, and thinking are welcome. Gaming platforms and digital simulators can become a convenient tool for maintaining brain health, but they cannot be considered as a cure for dementia. They can be used to prevent age—related changes and preserve cognitive potential during normal aging," she explained.
According to Oleg Dobroshtan, an independent expert in the gaming industry, such a project is able to attract an audience to video games that is still insufficiently covered by developers.
— Today, older people are already actively playing video games, but for many of them there is still no simple entry threshold. Projects based on familiar mechanics like crosswords, Sudoku, or object search can become such a bridge. At the same time, recent studies show that cognitive training can positively affect the memory, attention and emotional state of older people," the expert noted.
However, experts urge not to overestimate the possibilities of such digital solutions. According to Mikhail Bolkov, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of Aging at the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Candidate of Medical Sciences, modern research does confirm the benefits of computer cognitive training, but they should not be perceived as a universal means of preventing dementia.
— The most convincing results today are demonstrated by adaptive training, in which the difficulty gradually increases with the user's success. It is these approaches that show the greatest effectiveness in maintaining cognitive functions. But in general, any regular intellectual activity helps to preserve the neuroplasticity of the brain and the formation of a cognitive reserve, which helps to maintain cognitive health for longer," he stressed.
The developers expect a full-fledged launch of the platform in 2028. A phased release of individual game mechanics and test product elements is planned for 2027. This will allow not only to introduce the audience to the project in advance, but also to test the approach in practice: to determine which tasks are most understandable to users, which interface solutions are convenient, what difficulties they face and what mechanics motivate them to return to the service. Thus, the launch of the platform will take place gradually — from individual solutions and testing to a full-fledged digital product.
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