JASON PICKER looks at the new wave of videogame research that is debunking the myths and unlocking the benefits of moderate gaming.
Over the last decade or so, there has been a steady rise in the number and proportion of Australians with mental health disorders. According to the statistics, almost half of us will grapple with conditions such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders and substance abuse at some point in our lives. While the reasons for the increase can be at least partly attributed to improved diagnostics and reporting, some opportunistic media outlets and community groups have been quick to point the finger at videogames.
This is nothing new. Videogames (along with heavy metal, and more recently, the internet) are soft targets, taking the blame for everything from the fall in literacy rates to schoolyard shootings. Throughout the history of videogames, researchers have studied their possible negative impacts on children, including whether violent games cause aggressive behaviour or apathy to real-world violence. While most respected researchers in this field have not determined any clear links between games and antisocial behaviour, the negative stories continue unabated. In May, two Wisconsin girls stabbed their friend in an attempt to impress the online meme monster, Slender Man. Despite the Slender Man myth being in existence for years prior to the videogame adaptation, some reporters couldn’t resist bringing up the connection.
WARCRACK
In recent years, attention has turned to the relatively rare phenomena of gaming addiction, with games like War of Warcraft, Diablo 3 and StarCraft among those criticised for their addictive qualities. Fuelling the sensationalised fire has been the death of a handful of gamers after prolonged playing sessions, and at least one tragic case where a child died while his parents were compulsively playing an MMORPG.
Most researchers do agree that videogame addiction and violence is a serious cause of concern for a small number of people, particularly those with pre-existing conditions that make them more vulnerable to influence. Peak medical groups in many countries also now acknowledge that game addiction is a bona fide mental disorder. Like other addictions, it can significantly interfere with a person’s everyday life. Game addicts may perform poorly at school or lose their jobs, are at risk of their relationships breaking down and may develop serious health problems.
While the evidence suggests that gaming can have a negative influence on a small number of gamers some of the time, is there a flipside to the debate? Could a healthy amount of gaming be beneficial to the majority of people, and could games even be used as a treatment option fo people already living with certain health conditions? The answer is almost certainly yes. There is a growing body of evidence being developed both here in Australia and internationally that strongly suggests videogames can have many positive effects.
A 2013 study published by Berlin’s Max Planck Institute for Human Development and conducted in partnership with the Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus found that playing a videogame causes positive changes to the brain’s structure. While previous studies had already found that the structure of a gamer’s brain differed from that of other people, this study found “a causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase”. Notably, the researchers found that gaming could improve memory, fine motor skills, strategic planning and spatial orientation. As well as helping people improve their brain function, the study also suggested a greater good: that playing games had the potential to help people with psychiatric disorders.
The research asked 23 healthy young adults who weren’t regular gamers to play Super Mario 64 on a Nintendo DS XXL for more than 30 minutes a day for two months. A control group was also established with 25 people who didn’t play at all. The brain activity of the two groups was compared using an MRI. The results revealed that those people playing the game had an increase in their brain volume.
While noting that the study only looked at one game and wider assumptions could be misleading, lead author, Dr Simone Kühn, said it suggested that specific regions of the brain can be trained through gaming, which could be beneficial to patients with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. Dr Kühn Dr told Medscape Medical News, "This is the first study that systematically explores structural brain changes in response to training with a commercial videogame" rather than one specifically designed to improve cognitive ability.
HEALTHY PLAY
Australian researchers are also playing a leading role in this new wave of positive videogame research. Last year, the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre investigated the role that technology has on young people, and found that a moderate level of gaming may contribute to their emotional, social and psychological wellbeing. Led by Dr Daniel Johnson, the Director of the Games Research and Interaction Design Lab at the Queensland University of Technology, the comprehensive review of more than 200 research papers found evidence linking videogame playing and “flourishing mental health”.
Dr Johnson told Hyper: “In terms of direct causative effects, you can quite clearly see that [for the majority of people, videogames] have a positive influence on your emotional state, so you feel more relaxed or happier or you finish the activity and you feel good. You get greater vitality, clear feelings of competence, autonomy, relatedness, greater engagement and greater self-acceptance... Anyone who plays games knows that if you’re playing something like Portal 2, there’s a whole bunch of things going on. You need to be incredibly creative, you need to be thinking really hard. If you’re playing in tandem with someone, you need to be working as a team and you need to be communicating in quite a complex way to do that.”
The review challenges a number of assumptions about the effects of videogames, including the belief that the widespread availability of videogames and interactive technology may be driving up the rates of mental disorders and obesity, and can reduce academic performance. However, Dr Johnson’s research found that a moderate amount of gaming could be healthier than not playing at all.
“You get a relationship such that no play and too much play are both associated with more negative outcomes than a moderate amount of play,” Dr Johnson said. “Not so shocking when you’re a gamer, but possibly quite shocking to people who are less familiar with the medium. We can’t assume a causative effect from this research, but there seems to be a positive association [for gamers] with a moderate amount of play.”
Interestingly, the review also suggests that the violence level, genre or amount of time playing a game may be less of a factor in determining a player’s wellbeing than the people the game is being played with and their experience. Even violent games like Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty could have similar emotional, social and creative benefits to the player as other, more family-friendly titles. “It’s about your experience while playing,” Dr Johnson said. “While there’s obviously such a thing as too much time spent doing anything, including playing videogames, it seems to be that how much is too much varies greatly as a function of the experience you’re having while you’re playing and whether it’s in harmony with the rest of your life.”
Taking positive videogame research a step further, the Neuroscience Imaging Center at the University of California-San Francisco is developing games that help reduce the impacts of ageing and mental disorders on the brain. Their cognitive neuroscientists have been working with game developers from the Akili Interactive Labs of Boston to commercialise games that aim to delivering fun environments that improve cognitive ability. Dr. Adam Gazzaley, associate professor and director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center, told The New York Times in February, “You could imagine five years from now that you go to the doctor with a problem and he [or she] prescribes an F.D.A [Food and Drug Administration] approved videogame for you to download and play for two weeks”.
Using games as part of the tools to improve brain function and to tackle brain disorders is already happening to some extent. Following the rise in opularity of mobile gaming technology and motion-controlled peripherals, studies have emerged about their potential to help slow the progression of degenerative brain disorders such as dementia. Some aged care providers now use videogames, particularly Nintendo Wii-based games, as part of the activities they provide to their older clients to help keep both their minds and bodies active. A Western Australia aged care provider, for example, encourages its residents to compete in an annual Nintendo Wii tenpin bowling competition against residents from other aged care facilities.
PTSD VERSUS VR
Looking to the future, there are further opportunities coming with virtual reality technology. While the release of the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus devices will no doubt reignite the debate about the possible negative effects of gaming on children – especially given the more immersive experience that VR can offer – this technology could revolutionise mental health and cognitive treatment.
Dr. Albert Rizzo, a research scientist at the University of California's Institute for Creative Technologies, recently told technology website, The Verge, that he had no doubt that: “Oculus will revolutionize virtual reality for clinical purposes". Dr Rizzo should know; he previously developed VR software designed to treat war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. His Virtual Iraq program is widely used across America to treat veterans by helping them to re-live experiences and build their mental resilience.
Two of the biggest barriers that Dr Rizzo believes are holding back VR as a more viable form of treatment is the cost of the headsets and the limitations of current technology to provide a realistic experience. Both of these problems, he says, could soon be overcome by the commercial release of Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus which will almost certainly drive down costs and deliver better VR experiences.
As new technology makes its way into our homes over the coming years, clinicians may have a unique opportunity to deliver immersive, interactive videogames and programs that could the treatment of some patients. Consider the merits of Rocksmith. While it has some of the hallmarks of a videogame (unlocking items, mini-games), most people would agree that it’s more of an interactive learning tool rather than a traditional game. Rocksmith has played a part in helping thousands of budding guitarists (and bassists) from all around the world learn a difficult instrument. For many people, it’s just one of the learning tools they use in conjunction with lessons from a ‘real’ teacher, by watching Youtube videos, or through any number of other methods depending on individual needs. Similarly, a videogame-like experience specifically designed to engage people with mental disorders could, along with professional help and other tools, allow them to better understand their condition and build mental resilience in a fun and interactive way.
There’s little doubt that the wide appeal of new and emerging technologies has significant benefits, not only to gamers, but also researchers and clinicians. With conditions like dementia and depression rising in Australia, videogame technology may offer a meaningful way to reach people who may otherwise not get the help they need. Moreover, it could also improve how some sections of the media and society currently perceive videogames and gamers. Our favourite hobby could soon have greater legitimacy by becoming an important treatment option for some of society’s greatest challenges, rather than simply being blamed for causing them.
And those are the sorts of media stories we’d love to see more of.