For those who have never played it, video games make a comfortable scapegoat. Such people will tell you that the game is a threat to society – views that are aired are triggered by certain press sectors exemplified by the Daily Mail which, in 2004 alone, ran the famous front page splash entitled: ‘Murder By PlayStation’ and ‘Tires Are An Evil Game’.
The reality is very different, the game can and is a force for good. The truth is that games are used in education. They improve mental health – treat cognitive impairments and improve their social skills with learning disabilities. They have physical benefits, too: as well as improving hand-eye coordination and reaction time, they are used in physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and can be prescribed to help with pain management.
Games can educate, and raise awareness of real problems. Action game 2018 Ninja Theory Hellblade: Sacrifice of All won many awards, partly because of the often gruesome and highly convincing portrayal of psychosis. The Cambridge developer involved a group of mental health experts in the process of developing the game, and a deep insight into the nature of mental illness was the end result. Plus, over the past decade, another trend has emerged: the gaming industry and the charity sector have united in a big way.
Build a better world
Perhaps the most impressive and moving example in the world is Special Effects, a charity that employs around 30 people in Oxfordshire. It is well known for developing and adapting hardware and software to enable people with physical disabilities to play video games.
“SpecialEffect is all about sharing what we learn as a multiprofessional team: there are people here who have backgrounds in design, occupational therapy, education and psychology,” explained founder and head Dr. Mick Donegan. “We provide lifelong assessments and one-to-one support to people of all ages, with a variety of physical disabilities. What we all talk about is sharing what we learn from intensive one-to-one work with individuals to give benefits for all people all over the world.
“That might sound simple and very ambitious, but it has always been a goal: to start from intensive one-to-one support, solve problems that can hardly be solved every day with people with the most complex needs, so we can then share what we learn with the developer. ”
SpecialEffect has input to Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller, has experience in making special game controllers that are deconstructed for people with various physical disabilities. Donegan explains its latest software item, Eye Mine, which is distributed free of charge, which is integrated with what is called the ‘eye gaze’ system to provide eye tracking control over Minecraft: “In my experience, there are many people who can move their eyes more easily than other body parts, if they have a very severe disability. There is no particular group that needs to play more than that.”
GamesAid Co-founder Andy Payne is looking for another key aspect of SpecialEffect’s work: his ability to empower people with disabilities: “In their normal lives, frankly, they are protected by us who are able-bodied. But online, when they have their adaptive controls.” They are avatars and no one has seen them in a wheelchair, and they feel like normal kids who no one judges. Online, all prejudice about disability is starting to melt, and for many of them, it is truly transformational. ”
GamesAid is the equivalent of the UK game industry for Comic Relief. “GamesAid is a lesson in democracy,” Payne explained. “Many of us think it would be a good idea for the gaming industry to take leadership and responsibility, and raise money. Instead of setting up our own foundation or charity, we realize there are many charities in the UK. So we founded GamesAid, which is a bit like with Comic Relief, to raise money and awareness. ”
GamesAid is the equivalent of the UK game industry for Comic Relief. “GamesAid is a lesson in democracy,” Payne explained. “Many of us think it would be a good idea for the gaming industry to take leadership and responsibility, and raise money. Instead of setting up our own foundation or charity, we realize there are many charities in the UK. So we founded GamesAid, which is a bit like with Comic Relief, to raise money and awareness. ”
GamesAid leads a series of fundraising events: “Whether it’s golf, swimming, sponsored running, walking, swimming, doing special packages to retail or digital, whether it’s taking donations directly from gamers – it’s all very creative, and because we started in 2008, we have paid £ 3,670,623.13. ”
Payne explained that GamesAid had a series of voluntary supervisors from the industry involved and provided input along with a constituency of members who, every year, chose where each charity would receive an equal share of the money collected. Games are suitable for charity fundraising, providing a platform for gamers and YouTubers to do marathon games and the like. Payne said: “I think gamers give a value of t: they really care. There are a lot of charity things going on. Apart from the general perception that gamers are entitled and evil, they don’t.”
The charity sector also uses it. One example is provided by Child WarThe charity cares about children affected by war and conflict. Survival strategy game 11-Bit Studios 2014 This war is mine, inspired by the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War and which focused on the effects of war on civilians, was so powerful and provoked thought that it inspired War Child to work with the game industry. Last year 11-11: Memories Retold, developed by Aardman and published by Bandai Namco, supported by DLC items that collect money exclusively for War Child.
The head of the War Child game, Wayne Emmanuel, said: “That is a separate narrative during the same storyline as 11-11, but from the perspective of two children. As War Child, we want to strengthen the voices of children who have been affected by conflict and war, and we think that’s the best way to do it. It’s part of our bigger Armistice campaign that happens every year. ”
War Child runs a number of game-related campaigns each year – with Armistice, Wayne Emmanuel highlights: “Day of the Girl, War Child FC or Replay, all of which is retro-style. We have various campaigns that allow us to talk to various studios and genres. ”
Make use of Minecraft
“A group of us think it would be a good idea for the gaming industry to take responsibility.”
Andy Payne, GamesAid
Far from the charity sector, other examples of the power of game therapy have emerged in recent years. Keith Stuart, editor of the game The Guardian, made an entrance into the world of literature in 2017 with a novel called A Boy Made Of Blocks, a fictional work informed by Stuart’s experience of the transformative experience of his son, Zac, about the transformative experience of Minecraft.
Stuart took the story: “We know for 18 months that he is mentally different from his peers. He has a very limited vocabulary. He found school playgrounds just terrible because they were so noisy and chaotic. Eventually, he was diagnosed on the autism spectrum.”
When Zac was around seven years old, one thing that interested him, Stuart explained, was playing games on the iPad. Stuart then went to the Microsoft showcase that featured the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft. “I immediately thought that it would be good enough for Zac,” he recalled. “When I got home, I sat with me, in front of the Xbox 360, put on Minecraft, gave Zac controller and, as I often explained, it was like one of those classic light bulb moments. He immediately understood what Minecraft was and what he must do. ”
Minecraft has a transformative effect on Zac. “As soon as he started building things in Minecraft, he developed this quite strong vocabulary, for almost a few weeks, because he wanted to share his experiences with us,” Stuart said. “Also, he really struggles at school socially. But if we get his friends from school to go home and sit and play Minecraft with him, he is so good at games that for the first time in his life, he becomes a social leader because Minecraft gives distraction, he allows him to talk without all the worries and worries he usually has about socializing. ”
News of the potential therapeutic effect of Minecraft on those with an autism spectrum has spread, and now there is even a special autism-spectrum server for the PC version of the game called ‘Autcraft’. “Minecraft has created a community for people who often don’t get the chance to be in the community or socialize in large groups,” explained Stuart. “And that has created almost online mini-civilizations for people who are non-neurotypical. I think more than anything I have encountered, that shows the value of video games.”
Mark Griffiths, professor of behavioral addiction in the Department of Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, is a lifelong gamer who has more than 30 years of experience in researching the psychological effects of video games. He supplied a stack of papers he had written that detailed the effects of game therapy, saying: “The basic point is this: there is no evidence that the game is having a negative effect at all, and most research shows that it has very positive effects. I have published many studies about game positivity, but of course it’s always negative that gets attention. Negative effects only occur in a small proportion of individuals. “
One interesting research item is the use of games instead of painkillers: “video games are so exciting that you completely forget about other things. You will find study after study showing that if you have children playing video games when they have things like chemotherapy or whatever, they need less pain relief. ”
But the benefits of a wider game do not stop there. “I remember centuries ago talking about schools that use Sim City as a way of teaching economics, for example,” Griffiths continued. “In the ‘game of gods’, when you do something, you realize that they have consequences. I always argue that even in very hard games, there are still strategies that involve problem solving skills and cognitive skills; even games that might have questionable content morally can still have a good effect.
“Every week I get emails from parents saying their children are addicted to social media or video games,” Griffiths admitted. “I will ask why they think so, and they will say: ‘Because they spend three or four hours a day on that.’ And I will write back saying that we psychologists have a word for it: it’s called “normal.” What parents dislike is the idea of children spending four hours on social media or playing games because it’s not something they do themselves. the technology generation gap. “For Griffiths, and anyone who has a purely rational perspective on video games, it’s clear that they provide tons of benefits.
Looking for something to do with a lot of your newfound time? Good, there has never been a better time to look for entertainment in a virtual world.
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