My Own Game

As a psychology major, I have been told many times that there are situations in which some patients are misdiagnosed and are given the wrong treatment. Many of the disorders may overlap or have similar characteristics, which may be difficult for psychologists and psychiatrists to accurately diagnose a patient. Therefore, my game would focus on having the player become the psychologist and see if he or she can correctly diagnose the patient. The game would involve the patient coming into therapy sessions, and providing the player different choices to choose from. The more correct diagnoses the player makes, the more points he or she gets. In a sense, this would be like a House episode, in which the characters are constantly trying out different solutions in order to get to the right one. This game would not only be fun to play, but also educational, specifically for those interested in the career field. Whether other people will be interested in playing it is a different story...

S. Korea Fights Gaming Addiction

Source: flickr.com

Imagine this: Its late at night and you're playing a video game online. You've been playing this game for at least two hours and you're so close to winning one of the hardest levels in the game. Suddenly, like the Cinderella story, your clock hits midnight. And just like that, you are automatically exited out of your game. Basically at this point, you are losing your mind and muttering obscene words under your breath.

You probably can't imagine this too well considering the fact that because you live in the United States, land of freedom, you would play until you finished the level or the game, or just quit whenever you felt like it. This is not the case for South Korea.

According to the article, "South Korea Imposes Midnight Gaming Ban to Combat Addiction," South Korea believes that people are becoming too addicted to their video games. A survey of 1,500 students found that "nearly a third (29.3 percent) showed signs of game addiction, while nearly 40 percent of male students were determined to be addicted."

The country already shuts down the internet automatically at midnight, causing online gaming sessions to be automatically shut down as well. I'm curious to see if this ban on online video games actually works. I certainly hope South Korea conducts a follow-up study on this ban. But don't you worry. You have all night to play your video games. Aren't you lucky!

Making the World A Better Place..Through Video Games??

When I think of video games, I think of Super Mario Bros, Call of Duty, Madden, etc. But game designer, Jane McGonigal, visualizes video games in a whole different light. Instead of violence, sports, and other common characteristics of video games these days, she focuses on improving the world, specifically Africa.

McGonigal's game is called, "Urgent Evoke," which focuses on solving problems plaguing Africa such as poverty, starvation, violence, etc. According to the article, "Online game seeks to empower Africa," players earn points by solving tasks such as "volunteering, making business contacts or researching an issue, then submitting evidence of their work online." A challenge is presented and for 10 weeks the player must think of several ways to solve the issue and present it. Other players will review their work and provide points and power ups, and whoever has the most points wins.

Ok, so what's great about this game and what's not-so-great?

Let's start with the positive and the most obvious reason why this game may be potentially successful. It focuses on helping Africa! Any game that is geared towards making the world a better place gets a A+ in my book. Not to mention, this game can be useful for entrepreneurs and those interested in improving world problems to creatively think of ways to solve them. This game is supposed to help players think of new, realistic ways to improve issues such as famine, in Africa.

Now for the negative sides to this game. Again, let's start with the obvious. This game is geared towards helping Africa, therefore, it would be helpful to have residents in Africa to participate in this game. But there's one problem: the majority of people in Africa don't even have internet access! According to the article, "400 of the 3,500 people who have signed up for the game so far come from Africa." In addition, many people believe that video games can be addicting. Psychologist Dr. Kimberly Young believes that while people can develop skills while playing video games, it does not mean they can develop the same skills in the real world. Instead of playing video games, people should be actually solving problems in reality.

So what do you think? Is this a game that you think you would be interested in?