Review: Matthew Lemmond’s CSGC 2022 Speaker Presentation

_{This is a review of a presentation I saw a part of at the Computer Simulation and Gaming Conference, since I was there as a contestant. I want to preface this by saying that I do not have a lot of photos from my time at CSGC, as most of my time was spent explaining my game to people who visited my booth. Sorry if you were hoping for more.}

I love watching people give talks about what they are passionate about. Especially when it comes to video. So when I had my booth up at the CSGC, I knew I should try and get at least one talk into my schedule. I think I found a great one. It was extremely well researched.

I know the presenter personally. Matthew Lemmond was my art/design professor last semester: I did not expect him to host a talk about video games and cancer. However, my confusion was quickly put aside as I listened to his speech. It turns out that this was his thesis. He explained that games can be shown as a metaphor. It is a medium where people can experience things that they have little to no experience of: they can experience something they have always dreamed of. it can also be used to explain concepts that people are unable to put into words.

Art and Cancer

This ability to put the abstract into a feasible concept was tested with a group of women who had cancer. They were able to break down their fears and excitements of their journey into different metaphors and simple concepts. In a similar vein, there was also a group of doctors that figured out how to make a simulation of cancer that could accurately describe how some patients were feeling. Outside of cancer, a game called SnowWorld has been used to help burn victims.

I wasn’t able to be there for the full thing, so I might have missed a few points. But I will say that the charts he used were hard to read in the exhibitor hall where I watched his presentation. I assumed that they were easier to see in the presentation hall, but I was unable to get in there until the end. I also was a little upset that there were very few simulations that were named. I really want to do more research into this and while these studies were properly attributed, I would really like to see the products that came out of it which will take longer to figure out.

Room For Improvement

When it comes to looking for improvements, that really depends on where you’re looking. I might have missed something important while I was tearing down my booth. For the speaker, it would have been nice if the cancer simulation was named. For the convention, I would like it if the presenter’s hall was better labeled, so I don’t have to spend as much time looking for unlabeled doors.

All in all, this is an amazing point of conversation being told by someone who is really passionate about their research. Everything he said had something to back it up. It was an amazing talk about using games in a medical field that very few people ever consider when that conversation comes up. There were some slight issues when it came to font size, but that did not stop me from enjoying everything I heard.

Follow the Presenter’s work here.