
More specifically, to use body therapy language, games offer us a chance to discover the inviolability of our bodies, personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination. Whether this is into the awkward teenage years of Mord and Ben in Wide Ocean Big Jacket, the grandparent-escaping Tiger and Bee in Kissy Kissy, the fractured heartbroken body in Gris or the haphazard movement of Octodad we have a chance to reassess our own physicality and how we respond to and treat other people's physicality. Stepping into the shoes of a vulnerable, small or endangered character can help us understand for a short while some of what it is like to be someone else. This is not only an enjoyable way to escape the reality of daily life but a chance to reflect on and understand ourselves, and our bodies, better. Whether we step into the powerful frame of a trained marksman or brave adventurer, while we play we have a different sense of our physicality.

Video games offer an opportunity to inhabit another body.
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But also, some of the games (like Tearaway) let you download templates to cut, stick and make the video game characters in real life. The overlap between real world messy-craft and these games can be through the inspiration of making things. Then there are games like Chicory: A Colorful Tale, that invite players to bring a world to life with paint. Others, like Townscaper, are a way to see the impact of the built environment. Some of these, like Stormworks, offer a way to experiment with the physics of fluids and gravity. The games here mirror this combination of wonder and hands-on science. His book offers playful projects that teach about the centre of gravity, toroidal vortexes, smoke-rings and electromagnetism. This list offers games picked out with the help of Alom Shaha, Physics teacher, author of Mr Shaha’s Marvellous Machines and father of two. However, there are many games that offer players a chance to be the creators, inventors and instigators of some of the most marvellous machines. Unchangeable, uncreative and demanding repetition of players. Video games are often thought of as turning children into small cogs in a machine. Games like A Short Hike, Alba A Wildlife Adventure or even No Man's Sky. Other games, like Everything and Proteus, offer a huge world to poke and prod without getting embroiled with progression.Įven games that do offer a strong sense of story and development often include post-game play or side-quest distractions that are simply there for you to spend time fiddling with rather than winning or losing. Then there are other games, like Townscaper and Pok Pok Playroom, that let you craft your own structures but with none of the usual video game emphasis on score and winning. Some games, like The Longing, Animal Crossing and Adopt Me, simple slow down the need to progress, so all you do is check-in, fiddle around with the game world and then leave.

It's no surprise that there are a number of video games that have picked up on this style of play. The enjoyment comes from doing something that isn't learning or achieving anything. While that initial trend subsided, the interest and enjoyment of tactile objects to fiddle with are very much with us.įidget toys are like the yo-yo or Rubik's cube but without the focus on skill. Fidget spinners burst into the hands of children a number of years ago.
