Forums > News > Video Games used to treat Post-Traumatic Stress
nullnullnull (1463) on 7/26/2006 1:33 PM · Permalink · Report
Business Week is running a story ( warning: BW doesn't render worth a damn in Firefox ) about a doctor at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego using games to recreate some of the stresses of combat to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The technology used in many games have had serious applications for some time. Our buddies at CMP run the Serious Games Summit, a conference for academics, policy makers and game developers to get together and share ideas about the non-entertainment benefits of games. Historically games have been used for education and training. This is one of the first instances of games as therapy and it is not surprising that it has come out of the military. Whether you love em or hate em the US Army has had a very forward thinking approach to games. The Army is well known for developing games for training and recruitment. I am not quite sure of the efficacy of the PSTD treatment, but it is nice to see what we love so much being explore to solve real problems.
Where else could games benefit society? Other than keeping everyone indoors and not out in the street hitting each other with lead pipes.
Shoddyan (15002) on 7/27/2006 12:05 AM · Permalink · Report
I've also heard stories about games being used in muscle therapy to treat persons who have become partly paralyzed or have otherwise had to re-learn how to use their arms and legs. (I'll post links if I find the article again)
Along those same lines, there was a story a couple of months ago about Games being used to treat brain injuries... in the specific news item it was a boy who had been brain dead and in a coma was able to relearn various skills.
It's amazing how interactivity enhances a person's ability to comprehend and build neuro paths for different skills.
Scott Monster (986) on 7/27/2006 12:16 AM · Permalink · Report
There are numerous reports about games staving off Alzheimer's Disease. Solitaire, MahJong. My mother is retired and plays online scrabble a lot.
Another true story: I had a friend who would drink a complete bottle of Mad Dog on the weekends. Not healthy. So I spent about 70 bucks and bought him and his family a NES system. Instead of drinking that sugary crap, he'd play Mario Brothers with his son. So I have at least 2 ancedotal stories to prove that games can be beneficial.
nullnullnull (1463) on 7/27/2006 1:29 AM · Permalink · Report
Yeah, but I'd like to drink mad dog AND play vids. Well ok not MD but havin a drink and playing some vids is good fun.
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 7/27/2006 8:58 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Video games will NEVER benfit society because all video games are mindless drip that corode the mind and corrupt our youth. Most people think that video games come from a "design team" that makes the game for months on end. This is completely untrue. Video games really come from the concentrated evil being fed to Satan, and the fecal matter that comes out is raw video game matter. Of course, playing raw video games by a human would cause their eyes to melt out and their sockets and their brain to implode then dissolve into gray goo. First, demons dull the game down with prettier graphics with "phat-ass effects" (the graphics that come out are much worse) and are packaged in a "disc format" that humans can use with their systems (you don't wanna know what format it is in its raw form...yuck).
In conclusions, all video games are the spawn of Satan, planted by God to test our faith. Why would God put something on Earth made by Satan? Well, humans cannot comprehend God so we have no right to question his method of testing our faith. All we know is that we better obey his tests, or God will punish the unfaithful in Hellfire. But he loves you.
Doppelgamer (184) on 7/27/2006 2:36 PM · Permalink · Report
If games can help adjust people's mental state towards the healthy, I have to wonder if there's a slight big of truth in the possibility of the opposite. Though I suspect one would have to possess a pre-existing mental weakness of a sort, as the influence on most people is seems rather benign. Everything in life has an effect on you, whether it's barely noticeable or not, but I doubt it's enough to turn regular, sane individuals to the extremes the media seems to indicate. The gamers I've met are probably the sanest people I know.
Shoddyan (15002) on 7/27/2006 11:25 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Endless Knight wrote--]If games can help adjust people's mental state towards the healthy, I have to wonder if there's a slight big of truth in the possibility of the opposite. Though I suspect one would have to possess a pre-existing mental weakness of a sort, as the influence on most people is seems rather benign. Everything in life has an effect on you, whether it's barely noticeable or not, but I doubt it's enough to turn regular, sane individuals to the extremes the media seems to indicate. The gamers I've met are probably the sanest people I know. [/Q --end Endless Knight wrote--]
I agree with you. And I'd like to see some good studies (e.g. the scientific method) in this regard. I don't think they've been done yet. Instead the media is full of a lot of parents & politicians who have a knee-jerk reaction (sometimes looking for a scapegoat) to the same stuff they don't mind watching in movies and on the news. But these parents & politicians aren't playing videogames. And because it's not for them, they don't have to judge themselves using it... they can happily judge their kids, many of whom have done other stuff their parents don't approve of. After all, the parents of every generation have never stopped knowing what's best for their kids.
Pat Robertson doesn't convince me that games are having a detrimental effect on society. But disagreeing with him doesn't convince me that there isn't an effect either. And I'd like to see better data coming out about who's being influenced by what. As you say, it probably works in the other direction too... and I'd be interested if there's any lasting effects from being involved in complex storylines, becoming more intuitive with foreign interfaces and GUI layouts and simply growing up having accomplished many (virtual) goals.
It's important not to mix up what might be going on directly from games, with what's been going on simply by being a human being.
monkeyislandgirl (8627) on 7/27/2006 4:45 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Riamus wrote--]Uhhh. I know that was supposed to be funny, but... [/Q --end Riamus wrote--]
That was frightening...lol
Unicorn Lynx (181780) on 7/28/2006 5:04 AM · Permalink · Report
Another post like this, and this thread will turn into a discussion about religion, like all other threads. Only tentacle porn can save us :)~
monkeyislandgirl (8627) on 7/28/2006 9:58 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Unicorn Lynx wrote--]Another post like this, and this thread will turn into a discussion about religion, like all other threads. Only tentacle porn can save us :)~ [/Q --end Unicorn Lynx wrote--]
Oh no...not this again eyes Inder
Scott Monster (986) on 7/28/2006 12:57 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start flipkin wrote--]Yeah, but I'd like to drink mad dog AND play vids. Well ok not MD but havin a drink and playing some vids is good fun. [/Q --end flipkin wrote--]
You can have your MD. That stuff is HORRIBLE! Its like KoolAid mixed with extra sugar and everclear.
Indra was here (20756) on 7/28/2006 10:00 PM · Permalink · Report
If games can stimulate reflexes to the sick, imagine what porn can do!
Title: Porn
Basic Genre: Adventure, Action, Simulation, Educational (Health, Science, Religion, Foreign Language, Graphics/Art, Sociology) and on certain cases, Strategy may apply.
Perspective/Viewpoint: 1st Person, 3rd Person, Top-Down and depending on Stamina: Side-Scrolling.
Non-Sport Themes: Adult, Meditative/Zen, Persistent Universe (underline Persistent), Real-Time, Shooter.
Other Attributes: Editor/Construction Set (use your imagination...)
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 7/29/2006 12:14 AM · Permalink · Report
[q]and on certain cases, Strategy may apply[/q]
A woman is at the bar, what would you like to do?
/flirt_
You flirt with the woman at the bar. She is getting interested in you. What would you like to do?
/launch zergling rush_
Your 1337 skillz pwn the woman at the bar. U r teh hAx0rs kekekekekekeke.
Okay, maybe I'm thinking of the wrong type of strategy.
Indra was here (20756) on 7/29/2006 6:08 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Matt Neuteboom wrote--] [Q2 --start WildKard wrote--]and on certain cases, Strategy may apply [/Q2 --end WildKard wrote--]
A woman is at the bar, what would you like to do?
/flirt_
You flirt with the woman at the bar. She is getting interested in you. What would you like to do?
/launch zergling rush_
Your 1337 skillz pwn the woman at the bar. U r teh hAx0rs kekekekekekeke.
Okay, maybe I'm thinking of the wrong type of strategy. [/Q --end Matt Neuteboom wrote--]
Way too much time in front of a monitor, Matt... :))
Unicorn Lynx (181780) on 7/29/2006 4:12 AM · Permalink · Report
Good one, LOL :)