There’s an online game program that lets you experience what it’s like to have dementia

Japanese non-profit organization issue+design has announced an online game program designed to deepen participants’ knowledge and understanding of dementia.

The program is called Ninchishou Sekai no Arukikata Play! and it lets you experience what it’s like to live as a person with dementia. Online trials are scheduled to start in February, and the organizer is now accepting applications with an entry fee of 3,000 yen (around $25). While the game itself is browser-based, participants are required to use Zoom to communicate with the event organizer and give feedback.

The program is like a board game where you spin a wheel and move the number of spaces indicated by the wheel. An event is assigned to each space that lets you experience what people with dementia are going through on a daily basis. For example, acting based on past events or memories as if they are happening right now, like trying to go to work in the morning even though they’re already retired.

The game’s world is filled with mysterious locations such as a bus that makes you gradually lose your memory, a town that takes you back in time, and a village where everyone is faceless. You have to overcome a certain situation at each event space and come out of it with a deepened knowledge about the symptoms of dementia. There are over 190 events for you to experience, and you can communicate with other players who have landed in the same space via voice chat or text chat.

This program was made based on issue+design’s book called Ninchishou Sekai no Arukikata (認知症世界の歩き方), which was written based on interviews with around 100 people who are experiencing dementia. The book came out in September of 2021 and sold over 110,000 copies.

Ninchishou Sekai no Arukikata Play! is also being used as a part of training programs for people working in medical care, welfare, nursing care, and companies interested in making dementia-friendly products and services.

You can check out the program’s official website here (in Japanese only).