Letters: Game on, comrades
[Re: Gaming time has no link with wellbeing levels, July 27]
The recent study on wellbeing and gaming can give a negative perception of the medium as a form of wellness. Multiplayer games – like the majority of those used in the study – can often omit a key element of the gaming experience around learning and difficulty curves.
In contrast, most story-driven games will be carefully crafted around a difficulty curve, increasing the challenge of the game without reducing the player’s motivation or wellbeing.
The achievement when overcoming those challenges creates a positive sense of progression and purpose in the gamer.
This is something that’s harder to control in a multiplayer setting, where the performance or outcome can massively vary how the player feels. If we truly want to know the value of gaming and wellbeing, we need to consider the broad range of games out there – both in terms of gameplay mechanics, narrative and genre – in order to fully understand the impact it has on a person’s mental state.
Humans are naturally “playful” – whether through puzzles, quizzes or games – so there is no doubt that these activities will always play a key role in ensuring an individual’s mental wellbeing.
Gordon Ross