Gaming boosts mental health: Study
Since the onset of Covid19 pandemic, people have been giving priority to the mental health of not only themselves, but also their friends and family members. Even big companies and start-ups also started to prioritise the mental health of their employees as well as their customers, and are delving into reducing the mental stress and anxiety in these difficult times.
Many people, to reduce their stress and anxiety, have taken to gaming, allowing a larger population to experience the positive effects of gaming on psychological health. According to a Forbes study, the gaming industry has seen a 73 per cent growth since the beginning of 2020, and over the last five years, there has been more research linking video gaming to positive mental health and well-being.
A recent Microsoft study found that 84 percent of people agreed gaming has positively impacted their mental health over the past year, while 71 percent said gaming had helped them feel less isolated.
One such gaming startup that is working towards the mental health of people and towards female-friendly games is Gamestacy, a Mumbaibased game developer company. Started in August 2016 by Danish Sinha, Gamestacy mainly focuses on breaking the stereotypes, empowering women gamers to engage in gaming.
Speaking to this newspaper on the positive effects of gaming on one’s mental health, Danish said, “Since everybody was in lockdown and there was no means of going outside, TV shows and gaming spiked up. The gaming industry boomed, giving us a chance to grow. Movies and books also affect you positively, but gaming does more since a person has to play it more actively and put his mind and skills in the game.”
“Gaming takes you to another place, forgetting your present situation, and this point makes it extra effective on a person’s mental health because they tend to come out of their state of anxiety or depression for a while, resulting in positive and competitive thoughts,” Danish added.
He added that gaming also influenced an individual’s personality, given the game was positive and emotional and helped a person think in a better way. “However, there are games that affect a person in a negative way, and those should be avoided,” Danish said.
He added that games like Temple Run or bike racing games grabbed the attention of the player, thus making them more attentive, while mind games strengthened the memory of a person and made them sharper.
Talking about how Gamestacy was born, Danish said, “There are a lot of challenges for women in the industry and we wanted to solve those. We wanted to give women a platform where they can either let out their anger from the real world or have some relaxing time while playing a game. That is how Gamestacy was born.”
Talking about the idea behind the company, Danish said, “I have personally seen women players either mute their microphones while playing the game or change their names because they’re afraid they will face backlash and harassment from their fellow male players. So, in our games, we have a chat box which is very limited and all the communication happens in a highly moderated way, thus paving the way for a safe gaming zone.” Gamestacy has, till now, launched three female-friendly games — Turney Road, Nuclear Reaction and Instagame. With their upcoming game ‘Influenzer’, they plan to initiate a change in the current gaming scenario, which currently has bare minimum to offer to female gamers.