VIDEO GAMES AND WELL-BEING. PRESS START

Chapter 1: Digital games and well-being: An overview; Felix Reer, Thorsten Quandt
Chapter 2: Press Reset; Chelsea Hughes
Chapter 3: Explore the Map; Shane Tilton
Chapter 4: Oh me, Oh My! Identity development through video games; Sarah Sawyer
Chapter 5: Forever questing and “gitting gud”; Jamie Madigan
Chapter 6: +1 Strength, +1 Faith: Positive psychology and gaming; Ryan Kelly
Chapter 7: Gaming the mind and minding the game: Mindfulness and flow in video games; Mark Cruea
Chapter 8: Follow the Trail of Enemies; Emory Stephen Daniel
Chapter 9: You are the one foretold; Finding yourself through the journey; Megan Connell, Kelli Dunlap
Chapter 10: Extra lives; Raffael Boccamazzo
Chapter 11: Concluding comments; Rachel Kowert.

This book examines how video game mechanics and narratives can teach players skills associated with increased psychological well-being. It integrates research from psychology, education, ludology, media studies, and communication science to demonstrate how game play can teach skills that have long been associated with increased happiness and prolonged life satisfaction, including flexible thinking, openness to experience, self-care, a growth mindset, solution-focused thinking, mindfulness, persistence, self-discovery and resilience. The chapters in this volume are written by leading voices in the field of game studies, including researchers from academia, the video gaming industry, and mental health practitioners paving the way in the field of “geek therapy.”
This book will advance our understanding of the potential of video games to increase our psychological well-being by helping to mitigate depression, anxiety, and stress and foster persistence, self-care, and resilience.

Features
• Presents research to demonstrate how gaming can be a pro-social, mentally healthy activity
• Contributes a psychological perspective to an emerging body of cross-disciplinary research on the positive aspects of gaming
• Synthesizes research from psychology, education, communication science, and media studies