As the end of this month approaches and a new theme finds its way to our lab, we have decided to celebrate this month's theme - prosociality and kindness - with a Let's Play! In this edition, Anouk, Babet and myself have played a fun yet chaotic cooking game called Overcooked!, in which we venture to conquer the kitchen in our quest to beat the giant meat ball boss.
The majority of popular video games nowadays allow (or even require) multiple players to join in at the same time. More than ever before, gamers are being dropped in virtual worlds together with their friends, family, but also total strangers. What kind of effect does this have on our social behavior?
The GEMH Lab explores if we can make a player engage challenging situations confident that other players would help them personally. We chose the MMORPG Guild Wars 2 to examine how its unique combat system, map exploration and character progression could create a context for the player to experience personalized social support.
In September, Mariska Kool and Erna Terpstra visited the GEMH Lab. Mariska and Erna are involved in a very special project; they teach children by using Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) games.
The study of the benefits of playing video games may be relatively new, but the positive function of play more generally has been an important field of study for a long time in developmental psychology.
September 18-22 is the Dutch national week against bullying, so for our second Let's Play we're playing an oldie but a goodie: 'Bully: Scholarship Edition'.
Open University starts two research projects about bullying and uses a games approach
Do schools kill our kids' creativity?
This week, the GEMH Lab is in Normandy, France, for another edition of a productive and inspiring writing week.
I recently had the privilege to spend eight weeks in the United States of America to collaborate with Douglas Gentile and his Media Research Lab at Iowa State University in Ames.