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Game developers target mental health

8 February 2007 11:45 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 8 comments

Nowadays, the most news you read about video games affecting people debate whether violent video games can influence a person's behavior. With many lawmakers suggesting legislation to limit violence in games and several terrifying events that have been blamed on gaming influence, it is easy to focus on the negative effects of video games. A growing number of developers however, are focusing more on the positive.

After the success of the Brain Training games from Nintendo, which aims to improve the concentration and memory of users (amongst other things), some developers have decided to focus on how video games can affect psychological health in a positive way. Tokyo-based Dimple Entertainment will begin selling its new "DS Therapy" in Japan for the DS in May.

The title promises to deliver a a measurement on your mental and emotional health on a daily basis based on the input of the user. Mark Baldwin, a psychology professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, also offers another game, "MindHabits Booster". This game aims to make players feel good about themselves.

Baldwin and his team designed the game based on social psychology research. They found that repetitive components from video game play could be used to shape the way people think and how they perceive themselves.

Source:
Reuters

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solarf (Member) 8 February 2007 13:08
lol thats pretty cool. [ + quote]
croy00 (Junior Member) 8 February 2007 15:13
Oh my god I can't believe I seen a story for once not criticizing the gaming industry. I can now die happy. [ + quote]
jb2453 (Newbie) 9 February 2007 0:51
There are already games that make me feel good about myself. They're called violent video games. [ + quote]
Vdizzle (Newbie) 9 February 2007 4:32
Sounds pretty gay to me. But then again if u get the rumble pack feature, it can massage u in "all the right places" too. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 9 February 2007 17:28
Using video games to teach ,mental skill ,concentration and memory and apply this to learning electronics or machining or any other skill that takes mental skill ,concentration and memory , one day it could fully replace books. [ + quote]
cart0181 (Junior Member) 9 February 2007 18:36
On that note, check this out from the University of Rochester NY.[url=http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2764][/url] http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2764 It's a recent study about how video games like Unreal Tournament can actually improve certain aspects of your vision. [ + quote]
ChappyTTV (Newbie) 11 February 2007 8:36
Quote: They found that repetitive components from video game play could be used to shape the way people think *Your MIND now belongs to US...* Wonder what little gems of info they'll try to implant in the users brain with this..;-) [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 11 February 2007 10:55
This could be put in two words. Quote: Mind Games :) [ + quote]