Book by UC Merced professor explains how video games can help cancer research

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- A book released on Tuesday by a UC Merced professor talks about how video games could be used to help accelerate cancer research and help in the battle against the deadly disease.

"My wife got cancer back in 2013, and I felt pretty helpless about it," said Jeff Yoshimi, a professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy. "I was like, 'What can I do? How can I contribute?"

That's when an idea came to Yoshimi. He thought of a unique combo: What if the brain power and energy we use in playing video games can also be directed toward finding a solution for cancer?

"There are millions of people all day, all the time playing video games. It's like this huge reserve problem-solving power," said Yoshimi. "But they're playing games to do things like 'How do I hijack a car in Grand Theft Auto?' What if we could redirect, harness, just a little bit of the problem-solving energy and direct it towards solving problems like cancer?"

That became the origin story for Yoshimi's book, "Gaming Cancer."

"There's like a philosophical argument at the core of the book," said Yoshimi. "It's very simple. The more people who work on solving a problem, the more likely it is to be solved. If we build certain video games, we can get more people to solve these problems."

While Yoshimi's wife, Sandy, is healthy today, the cancer was not done with his family.

The disease also affected both his sister-in-law and father-in-law. His family members were diagnosed with the illness while he was writing the book.

"It really matters to be aware of what's going on in your body and what the chemotherapies are doing," said Yoshimi.

It took 12 years for the book to reach its final form. Yoshimi collaborated with different people on "Gaming Cancer," including those in the gaming industry.

"It went through 12 reviewers," said Yoshimi. "Academic books go through maybe two or three usually. But they were like, 'This is kind of crazy. We want to check and check again.'"

While it does sound like two unlikely allies teaming up, video games and science, Yoshimi explains this idea can level up the playing field.

"If you have an idea and you have some time to spend on making beautiful, rich, immersive interfaces, maybe for first-person shooters or real-time strategies now, think about how you can apply that to a scientific problem," said Yoshimi.

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