Introduction to the past, present and future of serious games (for health)

Background(Serious) Games have been used for several educational and health-related interventions in health promotion and prevention. The use of games for serious purposes is strategy that dates back to the beginning of humankind.ObjectivesThe following article will outline the evolutionary lines of Serious Games, starting with the first traces of games in human history up to the present. In-depth consideration of factors influencing the development of Serious Games in the past and present outline possible future developments and may lead to abetter understanding of today's developments.Materials and methodsThe present work is anarrative review and outlines the most important developments of games. The development of Serious Games for Health will be considered in more detail. The various influencing factors from the entertainment and military sectors are outlined as well as new technologies that change the use of games for serious purposes.ResultsThe development of Serious Games in the history of humankind is shown in atimeline. Games with aserious intention have been part of the culture since the beginning of humanity. Serious Games is not anew technology trigger, but has always been closely linked to learning. Various factors influencing the development of Serious Games have led to avery diverse, interprofessional and interdisciplinary field of research and application.ConclusionsSerious Games (for Health) and playful applications like gamification offer great potential for work in prevention, health promotion, medicine and health education. Due to the widespread use of the medium of play as an integral aspect of everyday life and culture, the achievement of hard-to-reach groups through this type of medium is very well possible. Aspects such as immersion, flow, storytelling and high interactivity and direct feedback make games an effective intervention strategy.