A lot of grown-ups worry that spending too much time playing video games isn’t good for a kid’s health.
But some doctors have noticed that kids who bring their handheld game players to the hospital seem less worried about being there. These patients also seem to experience less pain when they are concentrating on a superhero adventure or a car race.
At the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland, young patients are finding hospital visits easier to deal with, thanks to a test program called the Hospital-based Online Pediatric Environment (HOPE).
Patients in HOPE have a life-threatening condition where their kidneys(肾) no longer clean wastes from their blood. To get their blood cleaned, these kids must be hooked up to dialysis (pronounced dye-AL-uh-sis) machines at the hospital three times a week, for at least three hours each time.
HOPE allows kids to play online sports, racing, and adventure games with each other. Eventually they will be able to connect with kids in other hospitals who are undergoing the same procedure(程序).
“We want to use the power of the Internet to bring together kids who feel they are isolated by their illness, and let them know they are not alone,” said Arun Mathews, the doctor who heads the program. He loves video games himself and has got the idea to connect kids all over the country.
Many researchers elsewhere are testing video programs that might help young patients. For example, nine-year-old Ben Duskin of San Francisco, California, who was struggling with cancer helped to design a video game where players get rid of cancer cells.
That’s all great news, because doctors already know that reducing pain and worry helps patients cure faster.

许多成年人担心，花过多的时间用于玩视频游戏会对孩子的健康不利。
但有些医生却注意到，带着手持游戏机去医院的孩子却不那么令人担心。而且在他们专注于超级英雄历险或赛车的游戏时，这些小病人也似乎没有那么痛苦。
在马里兰州，位于巴尔的摩的约翰霍普金斯儿童中心，人们发现给来这里的小病人看病要容易得多，这都要感谢一项被称为"入院在线儿科环境(HOPE)"试验。
HOPE里，患者的生命正糟受着威胁，他们的肾无法清除血液中的垃圾，这些孩子必须每周三次到医院做透折，以清除血液中的垃圾，每次至少要花上三个小时。
HOPE允许孩子们相互玩网络的运动，赛车，以及冒险等方面的游戏。最后，他们将能够与其它医院正在进行同样治疗的孩子相互联接。
“我们想利用互联网的力量把因病痛而感到孤立的孩子们联系起来，并让他们知道，他们并非是孤独的。”领导这一项目的医生Arun Mathews这样说到。他自己就很喜欢视频游戏，并有着把全世界的孩子都联系在一起的想法。
其它地方的许多研究人员也在对能够帮助病患的视频游戏进行试验。如在加利福尼亚州的三藩市，九岁的Ben Duskin正在与癌症进行着斗争，也帮助着（研究人员们）设计一款视频游戏，以使玩家们摆脱癌细胞（的困扰）。
这些都是非常好的消息，因为医生们都知道，减轻痛苦和焦虑有助于患者更快的痊愈。