Humans are playful creatures. Gaming, like most play, provides
small achievements, rewards, competition and social collaboration
in a way that people enjoy. Computer games can use a PC or console,
such as Playstation, X-Box or Nintendo, and can be connected to the
Internet to get bonus features or to play with other players using
the same game. There are also many web-based games that utilise
Flash Player. Facebook has many of these games, which people use to
kill time while waiting for responses from friends, while also
strengthening social connections through shared gaming with their
friends.
Games can have virtual economies with real-world value. Players
that do well can win prizes in some games, and some games allow
users to generate their own content that can be bought, sold, or
traded. More commonly, valued items can be a result of long game
play that can represent a significant investment of both time and
membership fees.
The tendencies towards play and striving to achieve rewards can
be used to engage people in behaviour that isn't traditionally fun,
like completing marketing surveys. "Gamification" uses game
techniques, like achievement badges, to reward the desired
behaviour, which is often engagement with a particular product or
site. This strategy can also be used to encourage better mental
health outcomes.
MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Games)
Users compete and collaborate within a shared virtual universe,
often forming 'guilds' to work together to achieve shared goals
within the game. A well known example is World of Warcraft,
although there are many others.
LAN (Local Area Network) parties
Players all join a localised network to play games together,
often in cafes or at a single house. They are social and
competitive events that require a high-speed connection that can
handle a lot of traffic.
Serious gaming and edutainment
A serious game is a term used to refer to software or hardware
applications developed with game technology and game design
principles for a primary purpose of learning rather than pure
entertainment. In simple terms, it refers to technology-mediated
learning.
Serious games are designed with the intention of improving some
specific aspect of learning and players come to serious games with
that expectation. Serious games are used in emergency services
training, in military training, in corporate education, in health
care and in many other sectors of society. They can also be found
at every level of education.
While most serious games are developed in order to promote or
teach something to the players that the producers are already aware
of, one medical researcher recently produced a game called FoldIt,
where players use their intuition and spatial analysis skills to
collaborate and compete in solving for the molecular structure of
protein compounds. A retrovirus enzyme whose structure has eluded
researchers for a decade was solved within 3 weeks by
gamers,1 which has real world
implications in retroviral drug development in HIV treatment.
Serious games and learning
Serious games have a stated goal and rules to guide players to
that goal. The goal can be fanciful or purposeful, and a game that
is well designed results in meaningful achievement of these goals.
When the game focuses on achievement and education, yet preserves
the playfulness and fun of playing, serious learning is
possible.
Mental Health specific Serious
Games
ReachOut.com has developed serious games such as Reach Out
Central, a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy game that encourages
users to explore how they approach and react to situations, and
encourage them to develop positive thought patterns.
An independent controlled trial evaluation conducted by
Swinburne University of Technology in 2008 found that ROC reduced
psychological distress, alcohol use and avoidance behaviour, and
improved life satisfaction, resilience, problem solving and help
seeking.2
Additional resources:
Serious
Games
eLearning
ABC- serious games