Adam’s Weekly Blog: Updates and My Noggin- Mental Health and Gaming

Hi readers. It’s me. Ya boi. 

Well it’s here! Our Autumn Issue released last Friday! It’s got all sorts of feel good content inside and I’m so excited to share it with you. You can read it online right here on the website, or pick up a free copy at the Concourse’s Love Health and Wellbeing store, or Skelmersdale Asda. I was at the latter yesterday to pick mine up and it was a pretty emotional moment, to see it all come together and to see my work in a published medium. I even saw someone else pick one up- I didn’t even tell them to, they just did! I’m grateful for the support our magazine gets, from the bottom of my heart and I hope you enjoy this issue.

I also am beginning a new initiative, the Skelmersdale Story Project! It’s a book club that’ll discuss short stories, meetings beginning in November. However, the Facebook group is active and I’ll be posting stuff on there pretty regularly, so if you’re interested, make sure to join! It’s going to be an awesome community addition and I hope we get some interest. Of course the Taletober contest is still going on- with just over a month left to submit entries, so make sure that you give that a look over too!

Apart from that, I don’t have much else to say. Our next quarter is coming up so it’ll be all hands on deck to get our winter edition up and running! Problem with that is that not a lot of interesting stuff will happen that I can report on here. So, Bev has suggested I put up some more personal content. I already made a blog last week regarding my journey with literature, and seven books that changed my life, be it emotionally, or simply my appreciation of the written word. So this week I’m going to talk about another medium I feel passionate about- the world of gaming.

I know our readers are primarily female- and no doubt some among you are mothers. Thus, there’s most likely a stigma around gaming, that it promotes violence and antisocial behaviour etc etc. This is something called the hypodermic needle theory (I learned this in media studies, Di, my media teacher in Runshaw, if your somehow reading this I have you to thank); this theory dictates that media inserts ideas into the heads of others, and that everyone will respond to the text in the same way, due to this medium. This theory has been criticised a lot. There are multiple different ways to interpret a game’s message and themes, the same can be said of a movie or even a song!

So how does this relate to me? Well, I’ve been a gamer since I was around six years old. I am now twenty one years old. God I’m old… 

I’m not sporty or outdoorsy; I prefer video games as my relaxation and my coping strategy. There’s an initiative to go outside and get away from screens, and though I do understand the need for this, the world of video games is not a bad one. It doesn’t make you lazy or antisocial, it promotes a lot. I said I use it as a coping strategy and that is true- I have issues with anxiety and anger, and I find gaming to be a very positive outlet for me. It may be for you, your lover or your child as well. And in this blog, I want to discuss ways in which it has benefitted me, and can benefit those you care about in ways you may not have thought of. I want to open a discussion on this- it might be a can of worms, but I want to connect to readers, I want to show what I’m made of and what I care about. And hopefully you can care as well.

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So, here are my thoughts on gaming and mental health. 

1. Taking a step back.

Most people think of video games as this violent headlong rush, be the good guy, kill the bad guys, reach the goal. But genre applies. There are games that allow you to relax, allow you to mellow out and exist on your terms, with no looming threats or deadlines. A game can be a relaxing or social experience. Games such as Animal Crossing, or, the one I think is personally better, Stardew Valley, promote relaxation, routine and community. These games have you maintain, design and decorate a space, produce things, and interact and socialise with other characters- actively rejecting stress and pressure in favour of a game that works at your pace. When I don’t have a new game to play, I always have Stardew Valley in my Nintendo Switch, and jump on it when I get home from the office. I do some farming, interact with my spouse, maybe fish or interact with neighbours. It allows me to wind down after a day of writing and traveling, and just have control over a little world. I feel inspired, relaxed, and when someone like me has a brain that goes a mile a minute full of ideas and thoughts, the ability to slow down and focus on something calming is such a gift. This leads me to-

2. You are great!

I hated education. Growing and maturing into the man I am in today, I struggled. I had teachers and peers telling me my work wasn’t good enough for them, to try harder, to like different things and to *shudder* suck it up and kick the ball because they say so… Safe to say among students and teachers I wasn’t all that popular, and was surrounded by a lot of negativity. Sure I was smart and good at one or two things, but not the things anyone wanted me to. I was a leather jacket and pompadour short of becoming an anime delinquent… It wasn’t an opportunity or a blessing- it became an involuntary obligation, a chore, but one with high stress and name calling.

 In short, I was made to feel pretty bad. I have a loving family, but when you’re forced into the same environment with the same toxic mentalities five days a week, it gets to a certain point where it’s all deafening.

 Video Games teach you that you are good enough.

 Whether it’s beating a final boss, completing a puzzle, or just delivering a mushroom to a random npc, video games give you praise. They tell you that you are capable of great things, and then when you perform these great things, you get rewarded, and heralded. In a school, or work, or even a home environment where self-love is difficult, a thank you and a well done from a few pixels on a screen can go a long way in making you feel that you are an amazing person. In our Autumn Issue, hypnotherapist and friend of the magazine Lynn Roberts talks about the notion of being good enough isn’t viable when it comes to other’s opinions, as the standards of other people are much different to yours, and that in reality, we’re often competing to be the best at someone else’s vision. I agree with her, and have a great love for the article, which is why I am tagging onto it. When you game, you are in control. It isn’t someone else’s world, it is yours. You’re driving. So when you’re told that “you’re the best”, then you are the best. You are achieving and thriving, even if it is in a small way. And that gave me so much strength through those bad times that I could be a Pokémon Champion, or Hero of Hyrule, and no one else could take that away from me. I was desirable. I was loved. I was appreciated. It was amazing, and still is… 

3. Learn something!

In the 80’s when games were becoming popular on home consoles for the first time, a game was released called Metroid. It was a sci-fi epic, a bounty hunter in space armour exploring distant planets and destroying aliens. It was standard fare until the final boss was defeated, wherein the character everyone had been playing as the whole time removed their helmet, revealing that they had been playing as a woman the whole time. 

Video Games are, just like movies and books, envoys for social issues and learning. Sure, some of them out there are simple beat em ups, but games with story more often than not have important messages, like Metroid’s take on feminism with an epic sci fi hero being a strong, independent woman. And that’s not all. Some of my favourite games that tackle social issues include-

The World Ends With You- Expand your horizons, love yourself and don’t let the past define you.

Fire Emblem Three Houses- End prejudice and love whoever you choose.

Persona 5- Do what is right and stand up for yourself and others.

I could go on with a long exhausting list but you get the point. While movies have you a passive observer of these messages, spelling them out for you (looking at you modern Disney), the medium of gaming makes you an active participant in the story, where your unable to sit back and mindlessly consume. It puts you directly against those who are against what you are fighting for and allows you to show them they are wrong.  You observe the message of the narrative and internalise it naturally, not because you’re explicitly told it is a good thing, but because you’re in on the stakes if those against it win over you. You can undergo a social change or learn a lesson even without actively knowing you have- simply knowing that it is the right thing to do, because you have done it before. It promotes a more natural way of learning how to treat others, and yourself, and one that is more organic.

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Overall, I think that video games are not only a valid and important medium, but a lifesaver. I owe so much of my personality, my morals and my fondest memories to them, and I hope you can see why. If you’re still pensive, or simply curious about a loved one’s love of games, strike a conversation about it. Ask what sort of things they like, what they play, how it makes them feel to play it. You may be surprised by the result-it will not only help your understanding of the gaming world and your loved one, but they will appreciate you trying to connect with them and their interests. It’s not a harmful outlet- but one that can inspire much love, creativity and positive change. 

Anyway that’s my two cents on that. I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog. Next week… I have no idea what I’m going to write honestly! I’m going to take each week as it comes, maybe some more personal content, maybe some more information and content regarding About the Town’s progress. I just hope you all continue to cheer me on! Make sure to check out the new issue- it’s cool, I’m in it!

I’ll see you all next week.

Much love.