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Video Games help your wellbeing? I'm sold!
imbalanced
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Apparently video games can help people psychologically fulfill some deep-seeded need to do something with their lives. Can't build the biggest building in the world? At least you got Simcity going for you. Want to fight in a war, but don't like the whole "dying" thing? Bust out the Counter-Strike and feel better knowing you're alive.
So says this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/hl_nm/video_game_dc
I guess we can put this information in the same pile as "video games make better surgeons/pilots" data. Anybody want to tell me your deepest darkest need and what video game solves that psychological hunger for you?
So says this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/hl_nm/video_game_dc
I guess we can put this information in the same pile as "video games make better surgeons/pilots" data. Anybody want to tell me your deepest darkest need and what video game solves that psychological hunger for you?
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Playing video games can satisfy deep psychological needs and, at least in the short term, improve people's well-being, new research shows.
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The more a game fulfilled a player's sense of independence, achievement and connectedness to others, the more likely he or she was to keep playing, Dr. Scott Rigby of Immersyve, a Florida-based virtual environment think tank, and colleagues from the University of Rochester in New York found. And the more fully a player's needs were satisfied, the better he felt after playing.
"We think this is really one of the first validated models of what is going on psychologically when people are playing video games," Rigby told Reuters Health in an interview. To date, he noted, research on video games has focused on their potentially harmful effects, such as promoting social isolation, addiction, and violence.
While the findings don't prove that "video games are always good for you," Rigby noted, they do help to provide a more balanced understanding of people's motivations for playing them. "We're trying to in some sense normalize how people look at video games, rather than seeing them as having some mystical power to addict."
In four studies reported in the journal Motivation and Emotion, Rigby and his colleagues sought to understand people's motivation for playing the games and the games' immediate effect on well-being.
In the first study, they had 89 people play a simple game involving jumping to different platforms. In the second phase, the researchers compared the experience of 50 people who played two 3-D adventure games, one very popular and one less so. In the third study, 58 people tried four different games, while in the fourth the researchers surveyed 730 members of an online gaming community who were experienced in playing "massively multiplayer online" games.
Players' enjoyment of games depended on whether the games made them feel competent and independent, and, in the case of multiplayer games, connected to other players. Players who enjoyed their experience showed increases in well-being, self-esteem, and vitality after playing, while those whose needs weren't satisfied reported lowered vitality and mood.
"Video games we think have tremendous potential to impact people, particularly today's video games which are incredibly rich and complex," Rigby said. "This creates very fertile ground psychologically."
Mastering challenges in video games can be a healthy way of coping when opportunities for feeling independent or competent are scarce in the real world, he argued.
"Video games in some ways are very good at satisfying these psychological needs," Rigby noted. "Often times real life is not as clear...real life often can make you feel ineffective."
SOURCE: Motivation and Emotion, December 2006.
imbalanced on
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Posts
And a toaster.
Free MMO Überlist
Let's not forget manning a giant armoured parade float with treads.
I remember feeling pretty elated when i finally beat Gears Of War and like, "yeah we did it, woo!" to my co-op buddy on the mic, that kinda feeling is just awesome in videogames.
Huh. I thought God and I were on better terms than that...
Also, I have apparently wanted to stab a patient about three times with a scalpel while trying to get my nurse to stop talking.
Video games allow us to act like action superstars and who the hell doesn't want to act like that.
Why are all these studies so completely useless?
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WoW is probably the biggest factor for me. Getting into a good group or obtaining good gear makes me happy and I'll probably be happy for the rest of the day, unless something shitty happens. A bad PuG or wandering aimlessly because of boredom can make me feel crummy and sluggish.
I don't know if this satisfies any "deep needs" in my life, but it can change the way I feel.
Just because it's obvious in hindsight doesn't mean it wasn't worth expressing.
Thank you, Super Mario!
edit:
Me.
All wailing on a guitar.
All popping the hugest boner.
That, and in a bitchin' rock band.
Video games have helped me realise these otherwise impossible dreams.
Thank you, video games.
Steam / Bus Blog / Goozex Referral
And now that need is fulfilled
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Scaling and destroying a goddamned giant with nothing but a sword to save the girl.
They need to make a Phoenix Wright tie in to Trauma Center. Do you know how many malpractice lawsuits I should have? Like being really sleepy and activating your "star" ability.... with a scalpel instead of your hand.
"Games are obviously a construct of the devil to allow mass murderers to realize their sick fantasies! We must not allow them to sate their bloodlust any longer! Playing video games with violence should be a crime because it obviously means that person wants to KILL!"
Aside from that, yeah, this is a really "oh... duh" kinda thing. Yay for Zelda and Trauma Center!
Ironically, I think that video games are tied with riding my bike as the primary ways for me to vent my stress, which actually prevents me from killing people. Trashtalking the NPC/enemies of whatever game I'm playing helps a lot as well.
Steam / Bus Blog / Goozex Referral
It's not suggesting that you want to be a mobile wedge of cheese navigating a pitch black labyrinth, consuming vast quanities of pellets and dodging ghosts, but rather that you want to be in a world where goals are clear and success is inevitable with enough hard work and dedication.
Speak for yourself! *puts on his cheddar suit*
I think perhaps you are taking other posters' responses way too literally...I think most of us get what you are talking about...
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Make it a multiplayer game with the Guitar Hero controller. Spin out different arguments by hitting different key combinations like in Loom, select fitting counter-arguments like the insult swordfights in Monkey Island.
Literally.
...and simulate having to go to the bathroom.
There comes a time in every young mans life when he has to face up and stab some fucking weak points.
You don't fucking say.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
This study didn't tell me anything I didn't already know but I hope one day Americans will lose their hostility towards games.