One Powerful Way Video Games Improve Your Mental Health
How virtual environments help young people make sense of the world.
Yes, we all love to slander video games. Myself included. After all, the addictive effects of interactive media can’t be overlooked.
But what if I told you video games produce an amazing, positive effect on your brain?
And no, I’m not talking about well-known benefits such as ‘video games improve your cognitive abilities’ or ‘video games help kids develop learning skills’.
I’m talking about a new, undiscovered way video games can help millions of young people shape their identity and escape loneliness.
It’s what researchers defined as Virtual Third Place.
What is a third place?
We live most of our lives in two distinct places — our home and our workplace.
However, they’re not enough to live a healthy and satisfying life. An additional place is required, one where people weave social connections and enjoy each other’s company. A third place.
In 1989, the sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term third place to define such places. As he puts it:
“The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people’s more serious involvement in other spheres. Though a radically different kind of setting for a home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extend […]” -Ray Oldenburg
Cafes, pubs, parks and libraries immediately come to mind as third places, especially in European urban contexts: Parisian cafes and bars that serve drinks right below residential apartments; the local British pub where folks from the same neighborhood come together to create a unique sense of community; the Italian bar sport frequented by elderly people who play cards and sip white wine all day. And the list goes on.
Thanks to the third place, people from varied social fabrics get away from the concerns of everyday life and get to enjoy each other’s company — just for the pleasure of it.
Oldenburg summed up 8 characteristics that best describe the third place:
- Neutral ground: people can come and go whenever they want, and everybody feels comfortably at home.
- Leveller: It’s an accessible place without any criteria of exclusivity and selection of its member.
- Conversation as the main activity: People gather in a third place to build relationships through dialogue and conversation.
- Accessibility and accommodation: You can enter the third place at any given time and be assured that some acquaintances will be there.
- The regulars: Their presence is essential to make the third place truly magical.
- Low profile: It’s not trying to impress newcomers
- The mood is playful: A third place needs to have a playful spirit.
- A home away from home: The psychological comfort that exists within the third place makes it feel like home.
Long story short, the third place makes your life better. But what does it have to do with video games?
Well, modern technology brought the benefits of the third place from the physical to the digital world. The virtual, online environments that millions of gamers inhabit earned themselves the definition of virtual third place.
Video games make for the perfect virtual third place.
The potential benefits of a virtual third place for our well-being sparked interest among researchers.
For Colleen Reilly, the virtual third place is saving young Americans from loneliness and misery. According to her, our mind benefits from virtual worlds in the same way folks enjoy human connections in a traditional third place. Playing World Of Warcraft, following this logic, might be as healthy as going to the park.
“If it is 9 p.m. and someone is feeling lonely, the typical reaction might be to drink alcohol or eat ice cream; the virtual world affords the participant the option of going dancing with friends, or simply talking and connecting. […] There is an instant sense of belonging and inclusion.”
-Colleen Reilly
When you belong to a community and get to build social relationships, you feel satisfied and right at home. Relationships lead to happiness. In a world where social media wants us lonely and alienated, online communities are a bastion of sociability.
Human beings — especially young people — aren’t meant to be alone. We’re social animals. We have a genuine need to communicate and to be entertained. Ewa Markiewicz argues that video games could be just apt to fulfilling this function. Video games allow you to communicate with your friends online and to enjoy an entertaining — albeit virtual — experience with them.
There are many games that can be brought as examples of virtual third place. The first genre that comes to mind, however, are MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online video games) like World Of Warcraft or Runescape. If you aren’t familiar with video games, Steinkuehler and Williams found some key features to best describe the MMOs experience and the respective communities in their virtual third place research.
- Avatars used to interact with other players in a 2D or 3D world.
- Fantasy settings. When you think of The Hobbit or Dungeons & Dragons, MMOs are set in similar worlds inhabited by elves and dwarves, with dreamy landscapes and stunning architecture.
- Community. Much like creatures from Tolkien novels, players in MMOs form clans, create camps, raid dungeons, exchange goods, and rank up to gain status and power. Players can interact through text chat or over microphones to exchange ideas and build friendships.
- A new third place: In the end, the total immersion in this escapist fantasy is what makes MMOs so beneficial for our health. They replace the traditional third place when it comes to informal sociability, Steinkuehler and Williams suggest, as they appear “particularly well suited to the formation of bridging social capital — social relationships that, while not usually providing deep emotional support, typically function to expose the individual to a diversity of worldviews.”
Gamers can relate
But if you’re a gamer like me, you won’t need much scientific evidence to hear what I’m saying. We all know that being a member of a video game community feels good.
I used to be freaking shy when I was younger, having very few friends. People regarded me as a super introvert, quite silent guy who hated small talk. Sometimes, I felt lonely. But I also had a computer. Online communities gave me that sense of belonging that I barely found in real life.
Every time I came back from school, all I wanted to do was sit at my computer and catch up with my online friends. We played together on our own servers, told jokes, and shared unforgettable moments.
Moreover, video games gave me opportunities that real life never offered me. Joining online communities allowed me to improve my English at an early age. I got to meet people from different continents with all sorts of backgrounds, in a diverse and respectful environment. The virtual third place opened so many doors for my personal growth and mental health.
And I can’t deny I suffered from video game addiction a few times. Being part of an online community always caused a huge dopamine rush. But when I look back at those times, I simply can’t ignore the benefits it brought to my mental health. Online communities helped me improve my social skills, and proved that there’s a way out from misery and social awkwardness.
I’m now a young man in my 20s, you can’t imagine how my social skills and relationships have improved over the last few years. I’m more confident than ever. And if loneliness doesn’t haunt me anymore, I owe it to the virtual third place.
If you’re a young person struggling with loneliness, you should care about the virtual third place.
My hope is that young people are made aware of the incredible effects video games and online communities can have on our mental health and social skills. Video games are often demonized by older generations through stereotyped claims such as ‘video games cause violence’ or ‘video games are a waste of time’, while positive aspects such as the virtual third place are often overlooked.
I also know that Americans can’t access the third place so easily. European cities applied the concept of third place so that places like cafes or pubs can be accessed effortlessly, fostering the creation of communities around third places. The American reality is quite different, and if young Americans are more inclined to suffer from loneliness, the virtual third place could be an antidote to their problems.
What we know for sure is that video games have more positive effects than we thought, and people should be made aware of that.
Oh, and if you’ve never been part of a video game community, get out there and give it a try.
