Gaming for mental health

Oh yes, I do too! I have a switch and ps4, currently I'm playing Bloodborne but I've also spent a lot of time on Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. I played BOTW whilst I was on furlough, the best 3 months of my life 

What board games do you like and recommend? I personally like Splendor, Monopoly, Catan and Chess. 

I ended up asking for a refund of the DSi and going for the 3DS XL which supports more games and has a bigger screen which I like. I used to have I found out a 3DS some years ago and a DSi felt like a step back a bit in the end. I collected it yesterday and am very pleased with it.

Yes I love gaming to de-stress. Sometimes I get a bit obsessive and gaming feels unpleasant though. I'm playing a lot of Sims at the moment, I love building stuff and recreating characters. I used to wander around Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption since I don't travel much. Timesplitters is one of my faves. I struggle to find a controller that is comfortable because I have small hands, and I never really got on with keyboard gaming so I have to regulate my gaming sessions or I get painful hands because I don't realise I need to stop.

Have fun gaming

Hi yes but I’m more into board games every Wednesday I go to a group called social gamers in a board game bar and cafe. I really enjoy it and I meet other people as well. 

I completely agree especially regarding the structured life and routine! I also like the fact the game is turn based so you have time to make decisions in battle but also have time to make decisions on the answers to questions in class or in interactions with people, which I wish I could feel like in real life, so its nice to have that experience in a game. I also forgot to recommend Fire Emblem series actually, as that has a social interaction aspect too. 

yeah persona kinda filled that gap for me of a normal life i didnt have and normal socialisation.
your char has a very structured life too and time slotted management and routine. plus the tackling of personal and mental issues of each character. you could easily identify with alot of their struggles and so they are good written identifiable normal characters.

Hi! I always play games to improve my mental wellbeing, it really helps me to fully focus on something and not be distracted by any thoughts or things that are happening, its a great relief to just play a game and be fully in the moment and enjoying it. 

My favourite switch / playstation games are: 

1. Persona 3, 4 and 5 - Persona is my favourite game of all time. It's all about facing your true self and I learnt a lot of good things from it. It has a social aspect to building relationships with others and weirdly, it makes me feel good as I struggle with that in real life. It's single player too. Can be bought on playstation and switch. 

2. Stardew Valley - its about a person who leaves boring office life to live a calm life on a farm. It's quite slow paced, but I really enjoyed it, the music in the game is good and it really helped when I have been down to play this game. It's on playstation and switch. It is just a very calm and chilled out game. If you like games like minecraft or terraria, you might like this game. It also has a cool retro art style. Can be played single player or multiplayer and its quite cheap to buy too. 

3. Xenoblade Chronicles - there's three games so far and the story in this game is amazing, if that's something you like. It's a JRPG, but its only on the switch I think. 

They would be my top recommendations.

Yes I do it helps me relax and something I enjoy. It gives me that alone time as well albeit more difficult now married and the requirement to be with spouse when I just want my own time to recharge as it were. 

I have done this for decades though and only really understanding it now although would hide it from people I work with and still dont openly announce gaming as a hobby but working in tech it seems it would be more common anyway.  

I like mobile games from time to time. Tetris, sudoku, checkers, parking lot and other this type of games. Recently didn’t play it, but generally they work good for me in public transport to not get stressed that there are many people or that someone may look at me. 

I went on Ebay and bought a white Nintendo DSi for £40. I also got 4 games as well. I got  Bejeweled 3 which was new for £10. I also bought Super Mario Bros for £12. I am not sure if this is the same one my brother used to own though. I also bought Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games for £8. I also got Luxor as well for £15. I just hope it is all good when I get it.

I used to like playing Bejewelled and I used to like playing Luxor as well. I haven't looked if I can use these on my Windows 10 laptop now. I will do myself and see if this game is still for sale.I might buy a console for myself as well just for a few games.  Before all this though, I liked playing Mario in the castles back in the day and Super Tennis with my brothers. Lemmings though which my brother owed I couldn't cope with. It just made me feel dizzy and unwell so rapidly after playing it.

Yeah, I play Solitaire or a word game on my tablet as a way to occupy my mind when I'm a bit anxious or don't have the mental energy to engage much.

When I'm feeling more ok mentally I like to play adventure games on my Xbox like Fallout 4 or the Assassins Creed games.

Eve online. i dont play other games, im not a gamer per se. i have 8 accounts.

Hi. I’m a gamer too. I spend about 8 hours on my PlayStation daily. This helps me to switch off and just concentrate on my games. I like survival games, adventure and love Tomb raider and last of us. 

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i find the ps4 generation seemed to want to be a ps1 nostalgia console. all the remakes of classic ps1 games. 

Completely agree. I loved gaming in the PS1 /PS2 era, it was the right balance of challenging and formulaic. Now the games are way too complex with millions of possibilities and its too overwhelming. Bring back Final Fantasy IX on PS1, best game of all time! 

oh for sure ---- i have talked to an experimental AI psychoanalyst  and it was quite frighting and spookie

Yeah I adore Journey, I love the multiplayer aspect to it and finding someone randomly to share the 'journey' with. Wish they did a sequel.