This post introduces a concept for the gamification of diabetic life, including taking regular blood glucose level (BGL) tests and producing blood droplets, which are the currency of this game.

Gamification of diabetic life.

The game concept.

I am a member of the steering-committee which is setting up a new HIVE Community for diabetics on the social blockchain. While setting up the new Discord server for this new Community, I had the inspiration to create a virtual economy for the server, based on producing blood droplets, which will become the local currency for our virtual economy.

Although here on HIVE we are all about blockchains, tokens, and cryptocurrency, what I am proposing here is much simpler, and is merely a prototype for now. In the future we could look at minting a new Hive-Engine Layer 2 token for this game, but that is a long way off in the future yet, I would imagine.

For now though, the idea is that this game will be built out using the free version of the UnbelievaBoat for Discord. This bot allows you to build a virtual economy in a Discord server without requiring a blockchain on the back-end.

Gameplay ideas.

Similar to other engagement bots for Discord, such as OwO or Dank Memer, the purpose of the game is to attract and retain visitors to the server, by giving them simple and repetitive goals to strive for; ever increasing reward levels; achievements to unlock; and a leaderboard to dominate.

You will be able to collect your blood droplets four times per day (once every 6 hours), and can also earn more in different ways, such as through social engagement in the server's discussion channels. There will also be competitions; events; giveaways; polls; quizzes; and surveys where you can earn more blood droplets. Most of the activities in the server will have some sort of diabetes-related theme, covering various aspects such as nutrition; exercise; biology; pharmacology and treatments; causes and symptoms of the disease; co-morbidities; and the mental health effects of diabetes.

The prizes will be in-game items such as a new pair of seamless, diabetic socks; a larger sharps disposal bin for collecting your used needles and test strips in; a box of glucose gel sachets for treating hypoglycemia; or better blood glucose level (BGL) monitoring equipment. One of the top rewards will be a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, which will automate the BGL testing process for you, meaning that you will get your four daily droplets automatically, without having to manually test for them.

Ideas for the future.

As I mentioned above, the first release of this game will be based on the free version of the UnbelievaBoat for Discord. There are many directions that this project could go from here. We could, for instance, mint a Hive-Engine Layer 2 token as the in-game currency. If it is successful enough, maybe we could replace UnbelievaBoat with our own, custom Discord bot? Another future step, if this really takes off, is that it could be turned into a mobile app for distribution via the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

I envision such success to be driven by, and/or resulting in, this game being picked up by health professionals as a diabetes education tool for newly diagnosed and pre-diabetic patients. That would be such a great outcome of this!

There will be an announcement coming soon about the new Hive Diabetes Peer Support Community, which is being launched soon. For now though, this is just a heads-up about one of the side-projects of the new Community. We would love to have you join us when the Community has been established. You are welcome to join whether you have diabetes yourself or not. Diabetes affects many peoples lives, not just directly as a result of having the disease yourself, but also if you have a friend, relative, or work colleague with the disease. We can all do with opportunities to learn about diabetes, as it is becoming more prevalent these days.