But what, really, are the effects of videogames on the mind, and can they compare to the psychoactive effects of the peyote plant? Alan Pope, a behavioral scientist at NASA Langley Research Center in Langley, Virginia believes so. Pope, in an attempt to prove that the same meditative effects experienced with techniques like biofeedback-controlled meditation training could be replicated with videogames, conducted a study with 22 children (PDF) suffering from ADHD. Half of his group was treated with biofeedback meditation, the other half with videogames. The results were startling.
After 40 one-hour sessions, both groups showed substantial improvements in everyday brainwave patterns as well as in tests of measuring attention span, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. Parents in both groups also reported that their children were doing better in school.
There may be far less singing (unless you're playing Singstar), dancing (DDR) or weeping (Final Fantasy VII) but playing videogames indisputably focuses the mind, providing clarity and improving concentration, creating a shared experience similar to consuming the bushy, hallucinogenic cactus plant of Mexico. But what of the social component? According to Science Blog, Constance Steinkuehler, a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Dmitri Williams, a professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, claim that some games "promote sociability and new worldviews," which sounds a lot like organized religion to me.
The researchers, claim that MMOs function not like solitary dungeon cells, but more like virtual coffee shops or pubs where something called "social bridging" takes place. They even liken playing such games as "Asheron's Call" and "Lineage" to dropping in at "Cheers," the fictional TV bar "where everybody knows your name."
"By providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function much like the hangouts of old," they said. And they take it one step further by suggesting that the lack of real-world hangouts "is what is driving the MMO phenomenon" in the first place. ... "To argue that ... MMO game play is isolated and passive media consumption that takes the place of informal social engagement is to ignore the nature of what participants actually do behind the computer screen," the authors wrote.
The doors, as William Blake (or Jim Morrison) would say, are being cleansed, and we begin to see games as they truly are. Providing both a social and mental stimulus, playing games, in this light, can be seen as quite similar to the benefits of organized religion, offering a sense of belonging, a shared mythology and even the physical stimulus akin to drug-induced spiritual visions, like those experienced by the peyote worshippers of Mexico.
That we get something real and physical from games is only beginning to be understood, but those of us who are in already know it feels good to be a part of the culture and to play games. That's why we play them, why we belong. But can you go so far as to describe videogaming as a "religion"?
Philosophy of Life
Merriam Webster defines a religion as "a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices." Encarta agrees and further describes religion as "an object, practice, cause, or activity that somebody is completely devoted to or obsessed by." According to these two reference sources, videogaming could very well qualify.
Mirren at Zelda Universe connects the dots between the Zelda universe in particular and organized religion fairly convincingly, starting with the yellow, triangular symbol adorning the T-shirts of many a gamer: "The Symbol. Every religion has one (or even several) major symbol/s. Christianity in all of its branches has the Cross or Crucifix, Judaism has the Star of David, Islam has the Star and Crescent, Taoism has the Yin and Yang etc. What does Hyrule's religion have? I think any Zelda fan should know; the Triforce."
