Posts tagged “mental health”

I’m sceptical of big, commercially-endorsed mental health initiatives with names like “The Insight Project”, which Hellblade developers Ninja Theory announced yesterday. This research program will see them collaborate with Paul Fletcher, a psychiatrist and professor of health neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, to study (and hopefully implement) ways videogames can help people with their mental health issues. Sure enough, their announcement video is largely…

Tagged with mental health, Ninja Theory, The Insight Project, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Researchers feeling out an edge of what some call 'gaming disorder' have said they "do not believe sufficient evidence exists to warrant thinking about gaming as a clinical disorder in its own right." Their study looked at adolescents who play loads of video games and came to the conclusion that the games aren't the problem, more the wider world is full of problems and young'uns…

Tagged with gaming disorder, mental health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have voted to recognise ‘gaming disorder’ as a health condition. After drafting it into the updated International Classification of Diseases (ICD) last year, members of the assembly unanimously agreed the draft yesterday, despite dissent from academics, industry groups, and governmental bodies. The classification will come into effect in 2022.

Tagged with Entertainment Software Association, gaming disorder, mental health, UKIE, World Health Organisation.

A number of academics and games industry associations, including the UK's Ukie and USA's Entertainment Software Association, have united to oppose World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to define 'gaming disorder' as a health condition. The WHO, an arm of the United Nations, intend to create 'gaming disorder' with the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), their big book o' physical and mental…

Tagged with Donald Trump, Entertainment Software Association, gaming disorder, mental health, UKIE, World Health Organisation.

Accolade trailers are usually a bit rubbish, so I don’t typically write about them, but Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice [official site] developers Ninja Theory have put together a slightly special one, made up of screenshots taken by players using photo mode, while the ‘accolades’ are, instead of being press quotes, taken from fans who were helped by the way the game tackles mental health. With that…

Tagged with Charity, mental health, Ninja Theory, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

It's Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK, so I thought I'd tell you about Echoes [official site] - a newly announced episodic exploration puzzle game that explores themes of psychology, mental health and the relationship between the two. I'm a sucker for games that strive to generate wider and nuanced conversation around sensitive issues. Echoes appears to be one such game AND it…

Tagged with Echoes +, mental health, Thermo-Dynamic Games.

Asylum Jam, a 48-hour game jam to promote mental health, is back for its third consecutive year. Against the tide of misinformed tropes and unfortunate allegories consistent with popular culture that suggest mental health is something to be feared, Asylum Jam asks participants to design horror games that break from such associated stigma.

Tagged with Asylum Jam, Game Jolt, Lucy Morris, mental health.