Video games have a therapeutic value?

I found our discussion last week with respect to gamer vulnerabilities fascinating. In line with that, I’ve recently been interested in how the digital world can affect, or eek into the physical. For example, I have a room in my house dedicated solely to gaming and my gaming peripherals. I’ve enabled video games to transform a part of my house. This thought reminded me of the “algorithmic self” and how we ought to strike a “delicate balance between appropriating new technologies and being appropriated by them.” Again, more or less I’ve let video game technology appropriate a room, that for argument’s sake, could be put to other, maybe better uses, say a guest room.

I understand this may not be a “vulnerability” in the context of last week’s talk, nonetheless I suggest it can be, at least indirectly. Consider the behavioural effect of video games we discussed. Am I not bringing vulnerability closer to myself and therefore making myself more susceptible? The ease at which I can now game as compared to when I was a kid (i.e. waiting until the one television set was free) is measurable. Moreover, this isn’t a phenomena unique to hardcore gamers, video games are everywhere, and the ease at which we can play due to improvements in internet technology is also meaningful (e.g. games on smartphone). In this context, should we be paying more attention to vulnerabilities?

(picture sourced from: https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/24/23420502/video-game-kid-brain-function-fmri)

Maybe not, we need to strike a balance! I came across this article by the Verge today (see: https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/24/23420502/video-game-kid-brain-function-fmri) which refers to a new study that suggests “gamers have better performance on some tests of brain function.” According to the study (as cited in the article) this may lend support to the idea that games have  the potential to treat cognitive problems. In other words, there is therapeutic value in video games. This research is relatively new and yet to be fully explored, regardless, it will be interesting to see this push and pull as we learn more.