Rachel Kowert - Video Games and Well-being: Press Start

Palgrave Studies in Cyberpsychology aims to foster and to chart the scope of research driven by a psychological understanding of the effects of the new technology that is shaping our world after the digital revolution. The series takes an inclusive approach and considers all aspects of human behaviours and experiential states in relation to digital technologies, to the Internet, and to virtual environments. As such, Cyberpsychology reaches out to several neighbouring disciplines, from Human-Computer Interaction to Media and Communication Studies. A core question underpinning the series concerns the actual psychological novelty of new technology. To what extent do we need to expand conventional theories and models to account for cyberpsychological phenomena? At which points is the ubiquitous digitisation of our everyday lives shifting the focus of research questions and research needs? Where do we see implications for our psychological functioning that are likely to outlast shortlived fashions in technology use?

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14636

This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Its late morning on a cloudy Saturday morning and my daughter is solidly into hour two of iPad timethis morning itsRoblox(Roblox Corporation, 2005). I might feel guilty, but its early and Im tired. Also, shes got something shereallywants me to see, and then she wants to show me the rest of her world (which usually involves wings, water, and home furnishings). Three days later, shes got out our old Nintendo DS and is playingAnimal Crossing(Nintendo, 2001). When I come to her to tell her to get off, she stops me, saying,

Wait, momma, do you want to see all the things Ive built in the town?

And so I take a deep breath and sit down to look over her shoulder at a bad angle and see what shes made. In five minutes shell transition to practicing her ukulele and Ill sit on the couch playingAlphabear 2(Spry Fox, 2018) on my phone and listen to her awkwardly work through a new set of chords.

My daughter gets the same sense of mastery, the same creative experience, in all three of these settings. And, as this book notes, so do many, many other people. Digital games are new(ish) cousins to board games and playground games and theater games all alike, with both similar and totally new ways of providing players with a range of opportunities to develop skills, explore their inner and outer worlds, and see models for human interaction. What this book does so masterfully is to consider these models through careful parsing of the real evidence out thereinstead of descending into a moral panic about screens, digital content, and online interaction.

In my work, Im constantly talking to people who live and breathe games, and for whom digital gaming worlds are full of joy, fun, and delight. And so often, these loves exist alongside passions for gardening, or skiing, or theater, or bodybuilding.

We need good guidance, backed by good science, on how to help everyoneparents, kids, adultsunderstand what games can and cannot do, what they do and do not offer in terms of skill building and learning, and how they speak to and shape cultural norms and conversations. For example, in my work in the field of mental health there is fascinating early evidence about the role of games in supporting the development of skills and enabling a sense of value, achievement, and satisfaction among people with few other opportunitiesnot to mention the sheer joy people experience while playing.

Play has always been an essential element of human lifelets catch up to our use of it in a digital context. It is time we recognize, understand, and celebrate the ways in which games add to cultural conversations, promote play, mastery, and creativity, and help people enjoy their lives. Im probably going to stick mostly to my cooking and yoga and backpacking, but youll find me to be a longtime devotee of a couple of games (and a loyalist to the ones my husband makes!) and an avid watcher of the games my husband and daughter like to play.

Executive Director,Take This

Seattle, USA

Nintendo. (2001).Animal Crossing[Video game]. Nintendo Co.

Roblox Corporation. (2005).Roblox[Video game]. Roblox Corporation.

Spry Fox. (2018).Alphabear 2[Video game]. Spry Fox.