Shifting worldview using video game technologies

Interactive video games have become one of the most engaging forms of media today. Although video games are predominantly used as a form of entertainment, they are finding other application areas including education and training (serious games). The interactive and engaging nature of video games also makes them an ideal platform for creating experiences that facilitate personal transformation and psychological well-being (meaningful games). Conditioned behaviors and beliefs have a physiological basis and are related to and accessible through emotional stimulation and awareness. A video game situation engages the player's awareness and mind, while their real-time response, including the decisions they make within the game as well as their physiological reaction to the situation, reveals their conditioned behaviors and beliefs (worldview). By stimulating reflexivity in the player at critical moments, games can illuminate the relationship between thoughts, feelings, sensations in the body, and behavior. As players become increasingly aware of the nature of their underlying beliefs, change occurs. This chapter presents a conceptual overview and framework for developing meaningful games as well as several approaches for designers to use in creating positive psychological change and transformation, including: transformation through narrative, cultivating somatic awareness, medication through gameplay, directly inducing experiences through non-traditional video game technologies, and facilitating introspection.