4 ms·

The healing power of video games

47 points by jwallaceparker 13y ago

shakr 13y ago
Awesome article.
gmu3 13y ago
I've read similar stories of teenagers with cancer turning to online games, because everyone treats them differently in real life once they're diagnosed. In games though, they'll get yelled at and raged at like everyone else which is ironically welcomed.
- izzydata 13y ago
  Can say the same thing about people with disabilities or deformities that make people treat them differently. Even if people treat them better or more formal they often just want to be treated like everyone else.
benched 13y ago
I don't have cancer, but for me, video games (esp. Minecraft) provide an escape from the psychological ravages of just being a person among people.
- zacinbusiness 13y ago
  Sort of building on my previous post and re: this post, there are interesting new ways of looking at video games as a sort of modern, digital puppetry and even digital performance. The idea is that as a gamer you are taking on a new persona and even an entirely new body and, with that, you act out different aspects of your personality or explore areas of yourself that you don't get to normally explore. It's interesting, of course, because people are drawn to so many different types of game, and so you can sort of see how they are expressing a normally repressed aspect of themselves. Violent video games in particular are interesting, because people are drawn to them for so many reasons. Sometimes someone is just violent by nature, but other times they are competitive (or they wish to be), or they are just looking for the comradeship that one gains from being part of a team. So playing video games can be really useful and highly therapeutic in that way.
dijit 13y ago
I swear I keep seeing this come up. :\
astrobe_ 13y ago
Sadly "I hope you die from cancer" (or "I hope your mum dies from cancer" etc.) is a message one sometimes gets when one beat a player online. Some kids/teens/twenteens are looking for the worst ways to hurt others with words just because they can't stand losing. If one wants to use video games as a therapy helper, one should avoid competitive online games.
zacinbusiness 13y ago
There is also research being done and even practical use of that research that shows how some video games can help soldiers who are suffering from PTSD. The basics of the theory are that our brains haven't really evolved to truly tell the difference from what we are seeing on the screen and what we are seeing in real life. So, you can guide a soldier through a really violent battle scene in a video game, with things exploding and people shooting at them, and their brain can eventually "rewire" itself to not be afraid of these things because no harm is happening to the actual person. It's fascinating stuff. [edit] Here's one reference but there are loads more: https://intro2psych.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/can-video-games-treat-ptsd/ https://intro2psych.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/can-video-games...

shakr 13y ago

Awesome article.

gmu3 13y ago

I've read similar stories of teenagers with cancer turning to online games, because everyone treats them differently in real life once they're diagnosed. In games though, they'll get yelled at and raged at like everyone else which is ironically welcomed.

izzydata 13y ago
Can say the same thing about people with disabilities or deformities that make people treat them differently. Even if people treat them better or more formal they often just want to be treated like everyone else.

benched 13y ago

I don't have cancer, but for me, video games (esp. Minecraft) provide an escape from the psychological ravages of just being a person among people.

zacinbusiness 13y ago
Sort of building on my previous post and re: this post, there are interesting new ways of looking at video games as a sort of modern, digital puppetry and even digital performance. The idea is that as a gamer you are taking on a new persona and even an entirely new body and, with that, you act out different aspects of your personality or explore areas of yourself that you don't get to normally explore. It's interesting, of course, because people are drawn to so many different types of game, and so you can sort of see how they are expressing a normally repressed aspect of themselves. Violent video games in particular are interesting, because people are drawn to them for so many reasons. Sometimes someone is just violent by nature, but other times they are competitive (or they wish to be), or they are just looking for the comradeship that one gains from being part of a team. So playing video games can be really useful and highly therapeutic in that way.

dijit 13y ago

I swear I keep seeing this come up. :\

astrobe_ 13y ago

Sadly "I hope you die from cancer" (or "I hope your mum dies from cancer" etc.) is a message one sometimes gets when one beat a player online. Some kids/teens/twenteens are looking for the worst ways to hurt others with words just because they can't stand losing. If one wants to use video games as a therapy helper, one should avoid competitive online games.

zacinbusiness 13y ago

There is also research being done and even practical use of that research that shows how some video games can help soldiers who are suffering from PTSD. The basics of the theory are that our brains haven't really evolved to truly tell the difference from what we are seeing on the screen and what we are seeing in real life. So, you can guide a soldier through a really violent battle scene in a video game, with things exploding and people shooting at them, and their brain can eventually "rewire" itself to not be afraid of these things because no harm is happening to the actual person. It's fascinating stuff. [edit] Here's one reference but there are loads more: https://intro2psych.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/can-video-games-treat-ptsd/ https://intro2psych.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/can-video-games...