Games that offer ways to communicate for the joy of conversation, or helping and being helped by other players, help your brain make this chemical. Games that generate oxytocin are those that let you stay in the present moment with other people. It's the chemical that helps you give and receive love in all its forms.Īlong with getting outside for exercise, eating well and nurturing conversations, video games can also help. It's important for bonding with loved ones and friends and without it you can feel anxious and on your own. Without oxytocin you can be subject to feelings of loneliness, stress, disconnection and a general lack of motivation.

Serotonin for significance and importance. Oxytocin for trust and building relationships. You can aid the happiness of your brain by taking on activities that generate key experiences and chemicals:ĭopamine for motivation, learning and pleasure. The games in this list use these two things to create experiences that engage on a deeper level. Voices and choices are a large part of what it means to be human. These games use the immersion of the human voice and branching stories to create engaging experiences. Then there are games for older players like Detroit: Become Human, Last Stop, Grand Theft Auto, Twelve Minutes and Heavy Rain combine branching stories and fully voiced characters.

Other games like South of the Circle, Before Your Eyes, Firewatch and It Takes Two offer fully voiced experiences with choices that don't create new endings but still add a sense of involvement. Games like the Frog's Princess, King of Dragon Pass and Call of the Sea offer a story-book feel with branching narrative that can be a novel way for younger players to discover the joy of stories. For former reduces friction for the player. Choices have a tangible effect on how things turn out. While some video games revel in the density and effort required to discover the narrative in their virtual worlds, others want to make it as easy and accessible to make their story your own. We might not always agree with the reasons or ethics, but we have a chance to revisit our values as we play. Playing them, we face the messiness of real-world justice and consider the power of withholding the truth. The games in this list challenge our neat conceptions of right and wrong. Whether it's not telling Ellie the truth about her unique response to the infection so she can have a 'normal' life in The Last Of Us, lying about who's drugs they are to save a friend in Life Is Strange, deciding not to be honest with friends to save their feelings and avoid confrontation in Oxenfree or rearranging an old man's memory so he thinks he's made it to his dream in To The Moon, telling lies is sometimes the right thing to do. There are many games where you are challenged to make difficult decisions and some of those put you in situations without power, where the kindest thing to do is to lie.

Of course, real life isn't neat and tidy like that. Video games often place you in positions of power, saving the world, righting the wrongs and bringing justice.

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