A few thoughts on gaming and videogames, as we stop for a minute to chat about mental health and wellbeing. Ah-ha! You’ve happened upon the bit of the Film Stories site where we chat about mental health and wellbeing. Nothing massively complicated, we just try and run something most Wednesdays, and have been doing for ... Mental Health & Wellbeing Matters | Videogames
A few thoughts on gaming and videogames, as we stop for a minute to chat about mental health and wellbeing.
Ah-ha! You’ve happened upon the bit of the Film Stories site where we chat about mental health and wellbeing. Nothing massively complicated, we just try and run something most Wednesdays, and have been doing for years. Not everything in this column will be of use to everybody, or anywhere close. But it’s something, and hopefully occasionally, we offer something that might be helpful.
Unlikely to be this week though, as I want to talk about videogames. I’ve lived through several moral panics as someone who’s been playing computer and video games since the 1980s. My favourite was when Anne Diamond reviewed some games for the Daily Mail, on one of the days that it didn’t want to talk about migration. Here’s a Digital Spy report from the time, that saves us linking to the Mail.
Thing is, I’ve read lots of stuff about how gaming is going to turn me violent, or make me more sullen than I already am, or going to end the world or something. But I’m someone who does, and has, find gaming really useful. Not just a hobby, it’s something I turn to when I just need to de-tune my head a little bit.
It’s not helped by there being a limit on the kind of game that you could pick up for 20 minutes, have a go, and then move back onto something else. The highest profile titles now tend to be open world to a degree, and pack in long playing sessions to try and get near the end of them. But not all. Gaming, particularly in the independent space, offers so much variation and so many distractions, that the metaphorical something for everyone applies here. Even you, Anne.
Admittedly, I did work with someone a year or two ago who would put in 12-18 hour shifts on their game of choice. They’re in their 20s, so their metabolism could just about, somehow, cope with that, even if I’m not entirely sure how. I wouldn’t recommend it.
But I do recommend having a game or two in the back pocket to offer some kind of useful escapism. What are yours? I’ve gone back over Phoenix Point and the XCOM games a few times, still love a bit of Sensible World Of Soccer, don’t mind the early levels of Fortnite that seem to have reappeared, and can totally get into a session of Tetris 99 on the Switch. It’s Quiz Time is good when you’ve got a few people around too.
Leave your recommendations below, and let’s give gaming some credit. I can’t be the only person whose head it’s been good for.
