Can Playing Games Cultivate Mindfulness?

Finding space for yourself can be increasingly difficult in a world where many people feel like they are constantly on call and on the clock.

This is why taking time to practice mindfulness, either as part of online or in-person therapy sessions or through active mindfulness exercises, is more important than ever despite feeling more difficult than ever to find the time and mental headspace.

However, one of the greatest aspects of mindfulness, alongside its applicability, is that it can be practiced in so many different ways.

The core principle of focusing on the moment, the passage of thoughts, sensations and emotions as they enter and exit our minds without judgement, does not necessarily need to be practised through quiet contemplation or rigid meditation but through anything that focuses your attention purely on the present.

This concept, known as flow, is found in cooking, in crafting, in cleaning and in gaming.

Whilst sometimes dismissed as yet another distraction, a study comparing games and mindfulness meditation apps found that the former is remarkably effective for promoting psychological recovery and improving mental well-being.

Whilst there are still many facets that need to be studied on how they accomplish this, one of the biggest means by which they help people feel better and why players will often feel refreshed, motivated and even more productive following a play session.

Games Are Perfectly Designed For Flow

Whether it is Guitar Hero, Tetris, Doom, Minecraft, Final Fantasy or any other game, one of the aspects of gaming that they do so well is creating a state of flow, often known colloquially as being “in the zone” or “locking in”.

Whilst this concept has primarily been studied through solving puzzles such as crosswords or through particularly intense reflex-focused play such as an intense first-person shooter, a character action game or a rhythm game such as Dancing Stage, almost all popular games have a gameplay loop which encourages this flow state.

Whether it is the repetitive harvesting of resources in Minecraft, the levelling up process in a role-playing game or even just travelling through an open world or through the infinity of space, all of these elements help to cultivate mindfulness, which can be very much taken advantage of.

Work Towards A Creative Goal

There are multiple components to why arts and crafts help spark mindfulness, but the two biggest of these can also be found in many popular games.

They provide a rhythmic, repetitive process that creates a flow state that allows people to focus on the senses, whether it is the tactile feeling of keys, the tension of sewing thread as it is pulled through a needle, or the satisfying click of keys, buttons or pieces of a model kit.

The other part of what makes creativity so powerful for mindfulness is the pursuit of a creative goal. 

Whilst some games are focused entirely on the process, there are others that are designed to act as a sandbox that encourages creativity and construction.

Minecraft is a particularly interesting example; whilst there is an overall goal to the game, to reach The End and slay the Ender Dragon, the vast majority of players instead explore the procedurally generated block-based world and use its resources to create anything they want.

From small sculptures and little dream houses to the entire world, games allow a remarkable level of creativity and that can help instill a state of mindfulness.

Instant Reward

Particularly in the workplace, it can be difficult to keep motivated when working on long-term projects, particularly if they cannot be broken up into manageable, measurable chunks.

However, gaming is built around solid, achievable goals and that can provide a rush of dopamine and a sense of accomplishment.

The understanding that games produce dopamine rushes is far from new; executive games have been popular for decades and games used to practice IT skills such as Solitaire and Minesweeper have been widely played by management staff for a long time as a source of instant gratification.

The concept is value neutral, and in the context of psychology and mindfulness, they are a quick and effective way to provide a mental recharge, create that flow state through encouragement and repetitive play and help the mind to recover enough to focus.

Cultivating Self-Reflection

Some games, such as the remarkably unique Disco Elysium offer players a remarkable platform for self-reflection, as many of the actions, words and deeds undertaken over the course of playing the game reflect some aspects of how we live our lives.

One of the best examples of this is Journey, which is a particularly meditative example that focuses a lot on the ways in which players interact with strangers they meet throughout the eponymous journey.