• Home
  • Mission
  • GGCA Blog
  • Events
  • Community Outreach
  • Resources
  • Appearances
  • Contact
Geek and Gamer Counseling Alliance

Social Stigma, Gaming, and Mental Health

12/21/2014

2 Comments

 
This week’s blog post will touch on the stigma of gaming and how we have struggled as an organization to bridge the gap between mental health and the geek and gamer culture.

I would love to say that the era of super hero movies and the high popularity of video games have eliminated the stigma and stereotypes of our culture; however, I believe there is still much to overcome and many of the benefits of gaming is lost when the common belief is that video games are either a waste of time or even further perpetuators of aggression and violence. In looking at the literature, there is no reason to believe that video games cause aggression or lead to violent acts or crime. At the same time, though, we do lack research which can demonstrate the value of games in a person’s life.

In seeking to gain collaboration and support, we have struggled with overcoming this bias. We have reached out to organizations who have shied away from our work due to lack of understanding, preconceived notions about the connection between violence and games, or a desire to see research “proving” that games are good for us prior to committing to working with us. This has been an unfortunate trend as groups have lost the opportunity to learn with us as we hope to conduct research to explore these issues further.

Another goal of our group is advocacy. We hope to educate organizations, professionals, and families on how they can use the culture to support lovers of all things gaming. To begin this work, we go back to the research concept. We want to show that people who truly love games use it as a way to connect with others, a way to decompress after a long day of work, and a way to solve problems and interact with the world in new ways. These are all things we strive to promote in our clients and in ourselves.

Still, though, we find resistance and even disdain from other professionals and have been working on how best to overcome this and market our value and the value of games and geek culture. This struggle is akin to that which I feel gamers experience often on a daily basis. We have experience that when we do find someone who shares our ideals and passions that they are so relieved to find someone whom they can talk to about these things. We do not share our work unless we feel we are in company which would be open to hearing about it. And when we do share it, there is at least for me a certain level of anxiety about what the response will be. This is the same fear that people who identify as geek and gamers often feel when they believe they are not with like-minded company. This speaks to the value of events such as PAX or our geek and gaming days simply to bring people together to feel comfortable and safe enjoying something they love.

The stigma and stereotypes are changing but they are still very real. I hope that through our work, we can help to tear down some of those walls and expose others to the rich world of gaming.

Thank you to anyone who has read this blog over the past several weeks. I wish you all a wonderful and safe holiday season. There will be no blog post next Sunday due to the holiday, but please check back in 2015. Be well!

-Megan 

2 Comments

"For most people, an hour a day playing our favorite games will power up our ability to engage wholeheartedly with difficult challenges, strengthen our relationships with the people we care about most..." - jANE mCgONIGAL

12/14/2014

0 Comments

 
In the coming New Year, the Geek and Gamer Counseling Alliance will amp up our plans for attending PAX East 2015. It will be an exciting opportunity for us to attend PAX as one of our founders, Steve Kuniak, attended two years ago and collected data for his doctoral dissertation at that time. We hope to present on a panel about Steve’s research as well as our perspectives on the evolution and the benefits of geek and gamer culture for wellness. Further, we hope to collect data to explore further who are geeks and gamers? How and why do we identify as a part of this ever growing group? What makes someone a gamer versus a person who enjoys playing games? And how do we differentiate a person who enjoys watching super hero movies from a comic book geek? One potential theory is it exists as a difference between whether or not it is a part of your self-identity. This lends to our mission as an organization and why we feel this is an important consideration and specialization for mental health therapy. One way in which appreciating the culture of geek and gamers can be beneficial is in enhancing the therapeutic relationship.

When we begin our work with a client, we seek to understand them and communicate to them that we appreciate them as unique individuals. Consider the example that once during my first session with a client, he made a reference in passing reference to Blackgate (a penitentiary in the DC comic book universe). I understood this and when I made a related reference back to him, his demeanor, which had been cautious as this was our first meeting, instantly changed as he realized I was “like” him and that I could maybe really understand him. This demonstrates the value of using shared culture in creating that relationship and connection with a client. However, what can you do as a therapist if you do not share these same interests and knowledge bases? This is where you begin your homework. Just as you would if you had a client who was of a religion you were not familiar with, you would seek to learn about it. Even simply showing interest and a willingness to learn about this group is extremely valuable. In my experience, geeks and gamers love to share about their passions and this can lead to a stronger therapeutic relationship as they know you truly are interested and listening to what they have to say.

Even as a geek and a gamer, I want to continue my homework. I want to continue to ask questions and learn about this community and their identity so that I can better serve them. Our hope at PAX 2015 is to gather information, engage with the community, and then share this with the public and mental health professionals to support geek and gamer wellness.

Any thoughts about the value of understanding the geek and gamer culture or ideas on specific areas we should focus on in our research? Please comment below and check back to the blog for more information about our upcoming PAX appearance.



Full quote from Jane McGonigal referenced in today's blog title: 
"For most people, an hour a day playing our favorite games will power up our ability to engage whole-heartedly with difficult challenges, strengthen our relationships with the people we care about most - while still letting us notice when it's time to stop playing in virtual worlds and bring our gamer strengths back to real life."
0 Comments

"The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience." - Gary GyGAX

12/7/2014

0 Comments

 
For this week’s blog entry, I wanted to briefly introduce one of the projects we are currently working on. Gaming, specifically role-playing games, allow players to enter and explore worlds that are full of adventure and wonder. But in truth, these worlds often mirror our own more than we know. Specifically, the inter- and intrapersonal struggles are ones we experience in our daily lives just in less romanticized way. But in a game, these conflicts or crises are seen as a challenge, a puzzle to dissect and are “safer” to approach than those solely housed in reality. This brings us to the power of games and to the opportunity they present.

Following this thought, I began to develop a game using a mix of mechanics from my favorite table top and role playing games. This game will be created in order to help guide play towards topics that clients in my practice often struggle with as well as towards developing resiliency and problem solving/coping skills to address these common issues. For example, a “dungeon” created to navigate the major tasks of grief and to support the client in identifying supports and skills which will help them work through and understand their experience. The game is also being designed to help players better understand themselves as a whole in regards to their perceived strengths and weaknesses and supports. The game will be played in small groups to also support the user to understand themselves in the context of others, to learn how to ask for help, and to learn from one another’s experiences. In the end, the purpose was to create a game which can be played in groups and then processed in either group or individual therapy. And now, the hope is to develop a game which can be used in treatment, in self-exploration, and in casual gaming.

The game is still in the early development stage and the hope is to have it on Kickstarter by spring of 2015. If you are interested in contributing or have any feedback for us regarding the game or its development, please contact us through the contact page. We will post more in the new year about game dungeon topics and fostering resiliency of gamers. 


0 Comments

    Author

    This blog is authored by  members and supporters of the GGCA.  If the writer is not a GGCA member, they have received permission to post their article through the GGCA Executive Officers.

    Archives

    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.