Recharging With Games TWO Very Different Ways 

You could do a questionaríeis so we could give you some free data

This might be a good topic to collect data on. Consider setting up a Google Form or similar. Maybe restrict it to only your patrons, etc. to ensure the validity of the data. I look forward to learning what you discover.

you guys missed a crucial nuance and respective set of people. I'll use myself as example. like the multiplayer folk I also use games to vent, get away, etc.. but my comfy games change with the bundle of games I'm actively playing and that are out, at the time. be them multiplayer or *single player!* right now would be dark souls 3, but better yet elden ring, and any souls or sekiro or Bloodborne ahaha. devil may cry 4 or 5 would do nicely as well. and nice 3rd person action adventure like onimusha, ninja gaiden 1,2 etc. the modern xcom, and similar core gameplay games! not discounting some burnout paradise, 2, 3!.. the need for speeds up til gen 3 of consoles and pc counterparts, as well as other good arcade racing games. cs1.6. league of legends. magic the gathering or something good. sonic adventure 2. a certain while soul calibur 4 and 3, dead or alive 3.. Pokémon at a time whic I don't normally even like to play. a stupid large number of random Indies and peculiar experiences, like vanish, race the sun, Mario's for Gameboy and colour. streets of rage,all, golden axe, TMNT etc etc.. ANY shooter with gun controllers! and more things than should be listed for the sake of sanity. please understand that I guess the list of what can be comfy grows with time, but changes in gaming experience reflect changes in what can be comfy, as do as I also grow as a person and naturally change. before souls games I wouldn't be willing to touch games with less action and more RPG. before the modern xcom 1 I wouldn't touch the genre as I didn't think it was for me like games using the same type of camera. to name 2 examples. so my set of comfy games is dynamic on several levels, more levels than both the 2 example groups you identified. and I of course also have a ridiculous sample of all the people I talked about this but it should be comparable to yours in size.

Weird answer here but I like payday2 as a self care game. I know it sounds weird and stupid but the fun of playing a game from 2013 that still Is fun and a good kind of grinding with no real end goal is just nice. Also the endless cook off level making me think. Ok what did I add before or oh what do I have left and when should I resupply. Heck should I run with the bags now. And so on also the way that in the game Bain actually sounds human in that level and makes mistakes Now to talk about my ideal game to play. A house builder like aims 4 but more personal and closer along with the crime element of payday so like oh you robbed a bank sure the money to add to your house/base/safe house. Now I know I can just mod sims but as a person without a pc I find that hard

I use different games for different forms of self care depending on what emotion I'm feeling: Animal Crossing for positivity because people are usually mean to me cause I'm autistic and in AC no one is mean to you. I used to use left 4 dead as a way to get out aggression. I don't play that one as much anymore legend of zelda games for the puzzles to work my brain And rpgs with character creation to live out my fantasy dreams It all depends on the day and emotion.

EVERYTHING in moderation! lol but allowing yourself to have those hours to relax is critical. I know I would work all the time if my partner didn't remind me to relax every now and then.

Real life in moderation too!

@@dsur5547 I found this huge problem when I can't gather enough energy to play games and record videos, sometimes we need less real life in our lives...

On the flipside, banning yourself from playing games until you get those large IRL tasks doesn't work either. Been there, tried that, it was counterproductive.

​@@extracredits so uh.. what does it say about me when my Self Care games are Souls likes. 😅

It's like the game equivalent of comfort food. Everyone's got a different thing that just brings them back.

Pretty much exactly what I was gonna say, though you did it better than I would've. The knowing you won't get stuck is an excellent point. I know myself I'm hesitant to get into new games not from difficulty, but more from not knowing where the break points are. Do I need to commit to an hour a session or else restart the mission? Or are levels only a few minutes long? Can I save any time or only at checkpoints, and if the latter how frequently can I expect them? Meanwhile for games I've already beaten I already know that there's gonna be three bosses in a row or where the towns to restock on supplies are so I know how to pace myself. And worst case I can just quit in the middle of a level even without saving, since I already beat the game. Typing all that out, I wonder if it's possible to thread the needle from a design perspective of laying out everything so a player can confidently know what to expect at every point so they can approach things confidently while also maintaining the sense of discovery of playing the game. Probably not something achievable with every game.

Me with the original angry birds

This. For me it’s warframe and I immediately hop on my steel path grind

I like your train of thought, but… Golden Fleece w/basic dagger

@@leoswalkthroughs3498 lol

These are some of my favourite types of modpacks when I'm not in the mood for a 'kitchen sink' pack that lets me do my own goals of collecting stuff for display (such as TokuNexoCraft for 1.12)!

I used to play a mod called Cuboids Outpost. I'm bad at games but after getting some pretty strong armour I spent my down time farming crops and making food which helped since there was a quest line just for food.

@@ElNeroDiablothat’s dope!

I'm sorry to necro this, but which modpack?

Works for me when I have injuries, but doesn't help with migraines especially if games make you think or memorize too much. Also, tension headaches and headsets are not friends...

Interesting - I have chronic pain, too, and really have to rely on escapism sometimes. What games work best for you?

​@@KasumiRINAI actually can't use headsets for this exact reason! Even if I'm feeling "fine", I end up with a headache within an hour. So I use earbuds exclusively, which is a little sad because I do actually care about sound quality... Still, nice to hear I'm not crazy and other people have the same experience, lol!

​@@safaiaryu12 There are a lot of high-quality earbuds out there nowadays, I'm certain you can find a high-quality pair that works well for you, whether it's Wired or Bluetooth.

I don’t have chronic pain but I do have chronic mental health issues and I also use games for escapism. Any recommendations?

There are tons of games I play over and over just because I know them. I don't have to think about them, just relax and enjoy. Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

I think the pfp kinda gave it away

SAME! I just got Wizards of Legend yesterday and had a BLAST. But my dad advised I stop playing it because it took me away from work I could, should, and want to do. Like my art and building my content for my educational gaming program. Which helped me to realize that I play games as a form of self care like Matthew. Like you said, it's a very slippery slope. I play games maybe 1-2 hours a day so it's not that bad, but overtime that stacks up. I think what's important, and what I'll be experimenting with over the coming months, is proper time management with cutoffs to ensure you're only using the entertainment as a break and not an escape. Also, I'll be looking for other arguably more productive activities that can help me moving forward.

Oooo I totally am the same! I tend to dive far too deep into games to the point that I am hiding from problems, but I have had those moments where stepping into the world of a game I am enjoying helped give me a needed break.

Hm thinking on it, my gaming habits may be more something like this.

Perhaps one of the questions to ask is if there is something may have introduced this feeling in the past, which may be haunting you still, or if there is really IRL things you need to do, but are intentionally dallying, using the game to fill up that time rather than pursuing that task?

I remember reading a comic once that had a character curled up in bed saying they were taking a self care day. A sequel comic had them baking, with their friend asking what about self care, with the character saying (in a more amusing way than I am) that they realized they weren't practicing self care before but had actually just been depressed. It helped me realize the difference between the two. As best as I can describe, self care is about doing things that you enjoy that are, or at least feel like, accomplishments and that build yourself up. A more depressive reaction is more not wanting to do anything at all. In regards to games, if you're playing because you just need to calm down before tackling the world, or to bolster yourself with confidence from defeating a challenge in a safe environment, that's self care. But if you don't really want to do anything, but are just playing games as something to do with your hands, then that's the more depressive form of "self care". I'm not the one to tell you how to get out of that latter situation, but I hope this helps plant a seed of understanding in someone so they can realize what they're doing *is* okay (or not okay) and can have a better approach to their self care. There's enough going on in our lives to have us worry about how we relax!

For me it's the PS2 transformers armada game

Oh yea, I loved playing Dredge and managing items, sanity and space. I even 100%ed it. All fish, Pursuits, upgrades, anomalies... you name it.

IVE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT

It feels ironic when I was playing LOL. A game that scratches that competitive itch, but is also known for breeding toxicity.

Funny, I'm the opposite. Competitive games bring out stress and frustration like nothing else in my life. The paradox of "Every game is winnable" and "This game is built so you'll fail 50% of the time" doesn't sit well with me

Thats a good point. Sometimes you need a release that frustration!

It depends on what you're looking for as you'll likely have different tastes than other folk and it honestly depends on what you're looking for in a game. The games that did it for me are games like Project Zomboid, Xcom 2, Starsector, and Rimworld.

Grand strategy does it for me too. Specifically trying massive overhaul mods for these games.