14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo's famous Brain Age has given a group of developers the idea to cure people suffering from depression using a video game. Their game, yet to come, will be called DS Therapy and will consist of a number of questions, mind exercises and "pick-an-item" tasks that - so they say - will improve the player's mental state.
The game's base is a pretty solid one, no doubt about it; scientists at West Virgina University did prove that consistent usage of the Dance Dance Revolution game "improved the health, attitudes, and behaviors of participating children." Yes, but in Dance Dance Revolution, a player must move his or her feet to a set pattern, stepping in time to the general rhythm or beat of a song. DS Therapy on the other hand, will be nothing but answering a few lousy questions, which by the way, only the machine will hear, not a real psychiatrist and you'll be asked to pick items to make it possible for the program to give an evaluation.
Who in his right mind, or better yet not in his right mind, would want a machine to tell him that he's depressed or angry or whatever. If I were a depressed person and the little old DS game were to tell me I'm crazy I'd probably smash it to a wall or something.
There is always a good side to every dumb program they come up with and that's that you can always have a good laugh, when you lie to the machine or pick up an item that you wouldn't have normally picked up. Imagine the diagnosis after choosing the worst looking monster (contrary to the "happy face" they recommend) and answering with the clearest negativism possible to all of the questions. Either way, no crazy person will ever admit he's crazy, even if just to a machine.