{"id":18029,"date":"2022-01-24T17:43:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T22:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=18029"},"modified":"2022-01-24T17:43:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T22:43:03","slug":"video-games-for-mindfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=18029","title":{"rendered":"Video Games for Mindfulness?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a multitude of ways to meditate and\/or practice mindfulness. I gave an overview of a bunch of them on my Patreon<\/a> (shameless plug for my Patreon<\/a>). However, it never occurred to me to include playing videos games. Apparently it did to Alyssa Celatti over at FandomSpot.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ She looked at a few studies and found, \u201cthat eight out of 10 (79%) gamers state that gaming provides relaxation and stress relief, with well over half of c-suite executives taking daily gaming breaks and benefiting from meditation techniques and hits of dopamine.\u201d With that in mind, they surveyed their online community asked them to \u201clist the games that made them feel the most mindful and in a state of \u2018flow\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the physical element of the study, 100 participants from a range of backgrounds, locations, gender, sexual orientations and ages (ranging between 18 and 72) were asked to test the games that were mentioned most often during the survey.<\/p>\n

Participants were asked to game in two-hour stints, alone, using whatever consoles and peripherals that they would usually use to game but with the addition of them wearing a simple heart rate monitor to ensure that it didn\u2019t raise significantly to suggest stress or over-excitement. They were also asked to record via a questionnaire of how their mood shifted before, during and after gaming to highlight emotions, stress levels and how mindful they felt.<\/p>\n

Obviously, this isn\u2019t a definitive study, and I would also argue that what players are experiencing is relaxation, not necessarily a state of mindfulness. That said, let\u2019s not undersell the importance of relaxation. Particularly in these ever more stress inducing times.<\/p>\n

Ready for the top ten most \u201cmindful\u201d games<\/strong> from this study?<\/p>\n

1.\tThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
\n2.\tKatamari Damacy
\n3.\tTetris
\n4.\tThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
\n5.\tMinecraft
\n6.\tNo Man\u2019s Sky
\n7.\tEuro Truck Simulator
\n8.\tHouse Flipper
\n9.\tFirewatch
\n10.\tFlower<\/p>\n

You can get all the details of the survey and scientific journals used here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you\u2019ll receive monthly tarot\/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/magicalbuffet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"