Background and project rationale:
Stronger family relationships are predictive of better mental health, and better support when problems arise[ref] All families would benefit from new opportunities to connect that work within the realities of modern life. Cooperative gameplay provides opportunities for bonding and strengthening relationships in an accessible and adaptable way. More specifically, a meaningful relationship with fathers, or other Significant Male Adults (SMA), are important to adolescent development, while meaningful relationships with offspring are important to fathers. there are many reasons why parents and adolescents may not get opportunities to connect and open up to each other - especially about emotional or sensitive issues. Gameplay via pervasive digital devices has the power to provide opportunities by circumventing obstacles like time, place, or the intimidating nature of direct discussion. Moreover, play is fun practice and players can practice responding to difficult situations in the safe context of a game.
A reluctance to communicate about emotional experience is common among males, and therefore between fathers/SMAs and their children and this reluctance is an obstacle to either group seeking help when they need it [ref]. Opening new lines of communication is one way to tackle this problem, and this is possible through cooperative gameplay and the opportunities for safe and playful sharing and negotiation it provides. A game can tackle the problem intrinsically (see research below) as well as through the careful employment of content and theme. The gaming environment can also build soco-emotional skills through simulation, modelling and the provision of educational content. Moreover, a game environment can incorporate themes and messages aimed at eroding the stigmas blocking males from seeking help.
The unique affordances of games for connectedness and wellbeing
According to Brand’s (2013) research 96% of 11 to 15 year olds and 85% of 16 to 24 year olds play videogames. Additionally, Australians in their 40s and 50s make up the largest group of new adult gamers with 62% of those aged 36 to 50 (and 39% of over 50) now playing. There is a very clear opportunity to capitalise on young people's passion for videogame play and to build on the growing interest in videogames among older Australians. But it’s not just that games are particularly accessible or popular, it is also that they hold unique potential for promoting wellbeing.
How games can promote psychological wellbeing
Contrary to many popular conceptions, much of the recent research shows a variety of positive impacts of videogame play on both psychological and social wellbeing (see Johnson, Jones, Scholes and Carras, 2013) for a review). Psychological wellbeing can be considered to relate to mood, emotions, thoughts and cognitions, while social wellbeing relates to a person’s ability to make and maintain healthy interactions, relationships and connections with others (Durkin and Barber, 2002; Russoniello et al., 2009).
Przybylski and colleagues (2009) have established, based on self-determination theory, that videogames offer players satisfaction of their need for feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness. Our own research has confirmed this with an Australian sample (Johnson & Gardner, 2010). Moreover, satisfaction of these needs while playing videogames leads to long lasting improvements in positive affect/mood, post-play energy, life-satisfaction and self-realisation (Przybylski et al., 2009). In a randomised controlled trial with a clinically depressed sample, the positive influences of videogames on mood have been shown to include reduction in tension, anger, depression and fatigue and increase in vigour (Russoniello et al., 2009).
Among school aged boys research is coalescing to show a range of psychological benefits of moderate play. The evidence suggests that those who play showed better outcomes than those who never played on positive school engagement, mental health and self concept. More research is still needed, particularly in the area of games designed specifically to support mental health and wellbeing.
How games can promote social wellbeing
As Granic and colleagues (2013) note, perhaps the biggest change in videogame characteristics over time is the degree to which they encourage social interaction with modern games being pervasively social. Yee (2006) collected data from 30,000 players of massively multi-player online role-playing games and found that some of the strongest motivations for play were related to social wellbeing, specifically: socialising (chatting with and helping others), the desire to form meaningful relationships with others, and deriving satisfaction from teamwork. Durkin and Barber (2002) found that a high proportion of time spent playing was with friends and family. Moreover, they found evidence that videogame play was positively associated with family closeness and social involvement.
Additionally, it seems clear that the social connections made during videogame play carry over into real life. Yee (2006) found that players described their online friendships as comparable to their real life friendships and that play was used to form and extend real life relationships.
How games support the discussion of sensitive issues
Cole and Griffiths found that 40% of participants reported that they would discuss sensitive issues with their online gaming friends that they would not necessarily discuss with their real life friends. There is a clear opportunity to help young men and boys build and maintain their relationship with their parents through cooperative, collaborative and creative play afforded through a digital game experience.
Game design can inform other areas in human-computer interaction
What we learn while designing mobile games that promote mental health can be incorporated into other Positive Computing applications (Calvo & Peters, to appear) such as social networks and collaboration software.
Impact
The project will impact the mental health of boys and men in the following ways:
Stronger relationships and increased connectedness between adolescents and fathers/SMAs.
Victory condition: That players report the experience made them feel closer to their teammate and/or that they know more about each other. eg. “I learned a lot about my dad.”
Increased socio-emotional skills derived from novel father-son interactions, structured cooperative play experiences and the negotiation and diverse forms of communication practice that come with these.
Victory condition: That players report feeling more comfortable talking about a wider range of issues.
eg. “I feel like I can talk to my son about sensitive issues more easily now”
Reduced stigma surrounding mental health issues and around help-seeking achieved through exposure to related scenarios, educational information embedded in gameplay, and simulated experience responding to these issues.
Victory condition: That players describe mental health issues as equivalent to any other health issue. That they demonstrate knowledge of prevention strategies and confidence to seek help.
eg. “If anxiety was really getting in my way, I would see my doctor to find out what I could do about it.”
Contribution to research and practice in games for social impact. While the project is designed to have an immediate impact on those who participate, it will also contribute new knowledge for future work in the use of mobile games as a platform for health promotion and social impact. Lessons learned will be disseminated via research and trade publications.
