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Transcript

Gaming for Good (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Megan Nolette and.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew Davis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: It is easier for people to understand no matter where
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: in the world they live.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Brian is so sad that he cannot move. He has
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: been like this for several weeks now. Each day he
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: tries to get out of bed, but his mind tells
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  Speaker 1: him it is not worth it. He has school, he
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: has classes to go to, but he is feeling so
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: horrible that none of this matters. Some days he feels
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  Speaker 1: the world would be better off if he were dead.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Brian has de pray. This mental disorder makes him feel
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  Speaker 2: helpless and alone. He experiences very few positive emotions. The
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  Speaker 2: way he separates himself from others makes it worse. But
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  Speaker 2: Brian does have one good thing in his life. It
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  Speaker 2: is called Civilization five. It is a video game. While
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: he plays, Brian commands a group of people. He guides
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  Speaker 2: them through history. These people do wonders while under his
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  Speaker 2: direction they build cities and go to the moon. Brian
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  Speaker 2: cannot control much in his life, but he can when
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  Speaker 2: he plays Civilization five. It reminds him that he is
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  Speaker 2: able to do things while he waits for his depression
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  Speaker 2: to lift.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You may be used to hearing about the dangers of
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: video games. They can be addictive, they can prevent the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: development of social skills in young children, but there is
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  Speaker 1: evidence that video games can help people as well. Today's
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  Speaker 1: spotlight is on video games and mental help.
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  Speaker 2: There is a name for what Brian is doing. It
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  Speaker 2: is called escapism. Escapism is when a person uses stories
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  Speaker 2: and media to forget the world around them. A child
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  Speaker 2: with a harmful parent might listen to a lot of music,
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  Speaker 2: or she might read many books. These forms of media
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  Speaker 2: bring her joy. They help her see that the world
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  Speaker 2: can be a good place.
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  Speaker 1: Escapism can be dangerous. Sometimes people escape from situations they
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  Speaker 1: should address. If a man is in a bad relationship,
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  Speaker 1: he might need to end it, but he may avoid
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: doing so by watch television. The television makes him feel
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: good even though the situation is bad. He avoids what
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  Speaker 1: he needs to do because it is hard.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: But escapism has its positive sides. It might keep a
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  Speaker 2: person healthy in a situation they cannot leave. It helps
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  Speaker 2: people manage the difficulties in their life. Ashley Olivin is
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  Speaker 2: a doctor who helps people with their mental health. She
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  Speaker 2: wrote about escapism on verywellmined dot com.
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  Speaker 3: There are risks, but escapism is not always bad. Sometimes
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  Speaker 3: it can be good. For example, imaginative play is a
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  Speaker 3: healthy part of child growth. Reading a book can be
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  Speaker 3: an excellent way for readers of all ages to experience joy.
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  Speaker 3: It exercises the bread and reduces tension.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Video games offer a special form of escapism. Like other
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: forms of media, they offer players a way to imagine
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  Speaker 1: they are somewhere else, but a person can act in
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  Speaker 1: a video game, they have some form of control. A
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: player may identify more with the character on screen. The
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  Speaker 1: character's achievements become the players. There is a kind of
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: satisfaction that comes with completing goals. Johnny Kiedini is an
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  Speaker 1: English games journalist who lives with depression.
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  Speaker 4: Johnny said, it is satisfying when you complete an activity
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  Speaker 4: in a video game and you get a little bit
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  Speaker 4: of joy. It feels like you're getting things done in
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  Speaker 4: a way that you might not normally feel every day.
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  Speaker 2: Some video games go even farther. They let people work
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  Speaker 2: through their problems within the game. Balder's Gate III is
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  Speaker 2: one of the best examples of this kind of game.
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  Speaker 2: The game takes place in the world of Firun. It
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  Speaker 2: is a world of magic and monsters, but the people's
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  Speaker 2: problems there are just like ours. Many of the game's
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  Speaker 2: main characters have suffered greatly. If the player befriends them,
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  Speaker 2: they overcome their problems. If the player does not, their
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  Speaker 2: character grows worse.
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  Speaker 1: One of these main characters is called Asterion. He is
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  Speaker 1: a victim of slavery. He has just escaped when the
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  Speaker 1: player first finds him free for the first time. He
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  Speaker 1: does not know his place in the world. He sometimes
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  Speaker 1: acts evil or selfish, but this is because he does
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  Speaker 1: not feel protected or safe. The game lets the player
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  Speaker 1: help him feel safe. It is very effective for story telling,
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  Speaker 1: but it is even more effective for people who have
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  Speaker 1: gone through similar things. It helps them understand their own problems.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Reddit user Beautiful Terrible Queen is a survivor of childhood violence.
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  Speaker 5: She wrote, I bought this game to hold Astarian's hand.
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  Speaker 5: I wanted to walk out of the dark with him.
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  Speaker 5: I chose to be friends with him for my first
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  Speaker 5: play through. He was a good picture of my younger self.
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  Speaker 5: No one ever held my hand. It took me a
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  Speaker 5: long time to walk out of the dark on my own.
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  Speaker 5: I bought the game. I played it as myself so
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  Speaker 5: it would feel a little faster. I played so I
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  Speaker 5: would have training. It was in case I met some
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  Speaker 5: one who could benefit from what I went through. Just
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  Speaker 5: because we have survived does not mean we can talk
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  Speaker 5: about it, not unless we train a bit.
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  Speaker 2: Some video games may even help mental health issues directly.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, experts at Oxford University studied post traumatic
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  Speaker 2: stress disorder, or PTSD. This mental illness forms when a
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  Speaker 2: person experiences a difficult event, like a car crash or
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: living through war. Afterwards, the person with PTSD relives the event.
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  Speaker 2: These memories feel very real. PTSD sufferers call them flashbacks.
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  Speaker 2: It is like they are going back in time. They
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  Speaker 2: re experience the bad things that happen to them.
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  Speaker 1: PTSD flashbacks cause a lot of problems in sufferers' lives,
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  Speaker 1: but the experts at Oxford found an unlikely aid. It
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  Speaker 1: is a game called Tetris. Tetris is a very simple game,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: but it demands a lot of focus. In Tetris, players
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  Speaker 1: move blocks of different shapes down the screen. They try
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  Speaker 1: to fit these blocks together. They want to form a
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  Speaker 1: complete line. Researchers found that playing this game after a
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  Speaker 1: difficult event stopped flashbacks. The game also reduced the number
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  Speaker 1: of flashbacks people had. They recovered more quickly than other patients.
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  Speaker 2: Not every video game is helpful, and many people do
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  Speaker 2: not use video games in healthy ways. Some video games
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  Speaker 2: are hard to stop playing. They may portray violence and
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  Speaker 2: sexuality in an unhealthy way. Some may encourage unhealthy behavior,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: like gambling, but this is true of many other forms
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  Speaker 2: of media. These may have negative effects on people, but
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  Speaker 2: it also may affect them positively. For many people with
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  Speaker 2: mental health problems, the latter may be more true than
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  Speaker 2: the former. It all depends on the person. It depends
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  Speaker 2: on where they are in their lives.
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  Speaker 1: Do you play video games? Do you know people who do?
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Displaying affect them positively or negatively? You can leave a
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: comment on our website or email us at Radio at
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Radio English dot net. You can also comment on Facebook
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: at Facebook dot com, slash Spotlight Radio.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The writer and producer of this program was Dan Chrisman.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: The voices you heard were from the United States and
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program
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  Speaker 2: and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: again and read it on the internet at www dot
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Radio English dot net. This program is called Gaming for Good.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: You can also get our programs delivered directly to your
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,