Social anxiety and other mental health issues. Being unable to be in the same place as loved ones. There are many reasons, stages of life and circumstances that can leave us feeling isolated and lonely. Playing these games with young people, and answering questions they might have along the way, can be a useful starting point for important conversations about grief."
They can help show the player that they are not alone in what they are going through. "The games we have selected don't necessarily offer an ideal way to cope with death but tackle the topic of death openly and with a positive attitude. With these games, players may find valuable space in which to acknowledge grief as a completely normal reaction to bereavement." "To help children cope with loss, it is important that they receive honest explanations about death, appropriate to their level of understanding. "We express grief in different ways depending on our age," they said. By focusing on the intersection between gaming and mental health, they want to raise awareness of mental health challenges and reduce the stigma surrounding these issues. I've come up with some games that explore this topic, along with help and suggestions from Gaming The Mind ( Twitter), an organisation of UK-based mental health professionals who aim to promote positive mental health within the gaming community. But also, games can provide a helpful space in which to process, consider and understand death and loss. This means that some care is necessary if players are sensitive to losing significant people. Games include interactions, narratives and characters dealing with all aspects of life (and death). They provide a space where trust and authority can be experienced first hand, and where the negative and positive consequences of how we handle these topics play out. These games each provide different ways for players to develop critical thinking. With the amount of content that is online sometimes it’s quite easy to be reading something that is inaccurate without realising."
There are even games, like Papers Please, that enable the player to police who is and isn't allowed access to information or even access to the country.Īs Childnet write, "Critical Thinking is an important skill that we need in order to navigate the internet safely and find the latest news headlines or facts and information. Other games, like Headliner, put the player in charge of information so they can see the consequences first hand of its misuse. Some of the games, like Thousand Threads, either put them in a world where what people say and believe impacts the other characters. Childnet are also part of the UK Safer Internet Centre and organise Safer Internet Day in the UK every February. They believe that the internet is a wonderfully positive tool for children and young people. Childnet International is an online safety charity working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people. We've worked with Childnet International on this list of games that help children and young people experiment with what they should trust and the potential unintended consequences.
This starts with questions of trust and authority but then leads to decisions about how we use and share information ourselves. Being able to discern between reliable sources and unreliable sources of information is an important skill for children to develop.
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