Sayonara Hard Mode

A long-lasting debate around game difficulty flared up again recently. Should games be inherently challenging? What can-or should-developers do to make their games more accessible? Does taking away the challenge hamstring a game’s ability to build resilience? My playthrough of Sayonara Wild Hearts provided me with the answers.

Memes and Memeversations: A Blessing or a Curse?

A meme is, simply put, an "idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme" (Wikipedia). Originally coined by famous biologist Richard Dawkins, memes are seen as the driving force behind culture, as vital to the development of culture as genes are vital to evolution. But are they really?

DEEP - The moment it clicks

One of the coolest things about observing people when they play a game, especially when you get to observe them for an extended period of time, is witnessing the moment when someone becomes truly immersed in the game environment, when they truly connect with it, when something just 'clicks'...

The Charizard Cortex's True Lesson

A new Stanford study has uncovered the next puzzle piece about how our brains process what we see around us... using Pokémon! I think, however, that there is an additional, valuable thing to be learned from this study, which has also to do with how we view things, but in a way you might not expect.

Hot off the press: a paper about the use of design thinking to improve mental health interventions for youth

A new paper by Hanneke Scholten and Isabela Granic is out, published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research! Find 'Use of the Principles of Design Thinking to Address Limitations of Digital Mental Health Interventions for Youth: Viewpoint' here or read about it here.

@PlayNiceInst Good luck @GEMH_Lab! :D

@PlayNiceInst @followerikvdb @GEMH_Lab Could not agree more!

@PlayNiceInst @followerikvdb @GEMH_Lab I totally agree!

Shout-out to the fine folks at @GEMH_Lab who keep me sane and happy (and employed

@peacefulbeingol @GEMH_Lab https://t.co/ieW2ThTj7o