GAMBIT Research Video Podcast: “Game Design Meets Therapy”

From the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab Video Podcast:

In this episode, GAMBIT Postdoctoral Researcher Doris Rusch explains the research goal behind her summer 2010 game project based on clinical depression.

Doris’ game project is based upon a number of premises. Excerpted key ideas:

• “Depression is the opposite of play”
• “Play is facilitated by security and a sense of personal perspective (meaning)”
• “‘Healthy’ / ‘happy’ means experiencing agency; having some control over one’s life”
• “Depression is loss of many things, among others ‘agency’ — one is turned from agent to victim
• “Gameworld = emotional landscape”
• “Normal object goals: meaning offered by outside world (nogs). They provide a sense of security and stability…”
• “Special object goals: strong emotional resonance. They represent personally meaningful goals / perspectives / interests (sogs)…”
• “Together, nogs and sogs build the basis for ‘play’ and enable the highest level of agency”