How games saved people's lives

[firecat]

This article: http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=6031

brought me to this site:

http://gamessavedmylife.tumblr.com/

I don't have an essay long enough to post there, but I sometimes say games saved my sanity because when my Mom was sick, which was something that I had no control over, I found it soothing to play various Facebook games such as Farmville and Fairyland, where the object was to create something, however pointless, in an environment that was very simple, predictable, and orderly.

So it's interesting to see other people acknowledging that games help them in similar ways.

I sometimes read fandomsecrets and http://www.postsecret.com and I like seeing comments about how something supposedly frivolous has made a huge positive difference in someone's life.

Comments

[supergee]

Blogging this. Thanx.

[libskrat]

Yep. I have had a bizarre and distressing summer, and games do help.

[sauscony]

Following on Tumblr now, thanks for the link.

This perfectly describes my life right now. I'm coping with my mom's death by playing Sims games every single day. I had a conversation about this with a friend recently and she said Farmville and such helped her a lot after her father's death.

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when we were going through the whole job loss/foreclosure/dad dying/pack up 20 years of stuff thing, I found Farm Town and some forms of online solitaire helped me stay sane. (This assumes I'm actually sane, though.) As a culture, we seem unwilling to acknowledge the value of anything that isn't a "job". Which is sad, on so many levels.

[e4q.livejournal.com]

i love postsecret.

i think that although it's not an artist's project as such, because it's visual and home made it keeps my interest.

i used to be quite driven by my scrabble games, then one day i just stopped and i have never got back into it. but i do do things compulsively, especially when i am ill. i tend to watch whole tv series at once, and get mono about foods as well.

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

AD&D saved my life because without it I wouldn't have two of my lifelong (so far) friends, both of whom have been there for me when I was in very dark places indeed.

Also, when I just can't cope any more I like to "kill things" on AdventureQuest or DragonQuest. Sometimes.