The running narrative has always been that video games are bad for us. That they are pointless time-sucks that rot our brain and glorify violence. And while there may be some truth to that there’s more to the story as video games can also be educational – valuable puzzle solving endeavors that teach people perseverance and improve their hand/eye coordination along the way. But soon video games will do even more than that. Instead of having us save damsels in distress they’ll save us. From our mental health issues.
As Fast Company puts it:
“But what if there were something that could help snap you out of the rut, be it a temporary funk or actual, clinical depression? And what if this something were designed to make doing good things for yourself as addictive as a video game? That’s the premise of The Guardians: Unite the Realms, a new app developed by the Affective Computing group at MIT Media Lab.
“When you load the game, a big button glows and bounces in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, reading ‘new adventure available.’ This is essentially a good-for-you button, because each adventure is focused around the phenomenon of ‘behavioral activation.’ Behavioral activation is a proven therapy that can be used casually or clinically for depression. It gets people to partake in positive experiences rather than spending time doing the things that reinforce their own damaging behaviors. And there are dozens of options to choose from.
Some suggested adventures are practical, such as knocking things off your to-do list that might otherwise cause anxiety: Manage finances. Vacuum. Do Laundry. Others help you grow: Watch an online class. Write a poem. Read a classic. And others help you stay active: Spend time in nature. Learn a new dance. Or, my personal favorite, Jazzercise for 20 minutes.
You are also completely free to make up your own adventure, and repeat it whenever you’d like.”
At that point you’re off to the races completing adventures, unlocking new characters, collecting rewards, etc. just as you would be doing with any other addictive cell phone game. Except this time you’re improving yourself along the way, fully engrossed in the narrative and positive feedback loop that you now find yourself in.
The Guardians: Unite the Realms isn’t the only new game addressing mental health issues. Israel Smith, a sixth grader from Brookhaven Innovation Academy Charter School in Norcross, Georgia also created a new game for a school project, one specifically designed to help kids deal with the stress of social distancing, home-schooling, and being separated from friends.
According to Fast Company:
Smith redesigned the old-school cellphone game Space Impact for a new battle: fighting COVID-19. A player controls an avatar on the left of the screen, which shoots at cartoonish, buggy-looking viruses that move across the screen from the right. Users determine which ones are the coronavirus and shoot them with a laser to earn points.
It seems obvious, but as the CDC states, pandemics can be nerve-wracking. The agency lists children and teens as groups that may respond more strongly to the stress of a crisis, and offers a few ways to help them cope, including maintaining routines, limiting exposure to news coverage, and sharing COVID-19 facts in a way they can relate to—which is where Smith’s game comes in.”
Other games are coming in as well. One called The New Normal Game is an interactive thought experiment of sorts that lets people imagine what a better post pandemic world might look like while activist artists or “artivists” bring their visions to life for others to vote on.
New Frame explains:
“Part activist intervention, part digital performance art, the game is an experiment in expanding the creative commons: a reference to the political ideal of collectively managing resources and a play on creative commons licencing that influences the sharing of online content. It is an attempt to imagine together, inspired by the “new normal” we have entered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rules are simple. Every week, a scenario based loosely on current crises is put to the seven players, who each suggest a solution. The Game Masters translate their ideas, submitted by text and voice notes, into a visual art piece and present it to the public. Members of the game’s Facebook group make up the Council that decides what direction the future takes by voting for the preferred solution.”
All in all, it’s clear that video games aren’t all bad. In fact, in times of crisis they can provide the escapism and motivation that we need to improve our mental health and overcome whatever issues we’re facing. If these latest developments are any indication we need more video games going forward, not less.
Is using video games to improve mental health the Greatest Idea Ever?
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