Digital art and casual games are good for you!

Digital art and casual pc games; it seems like such an odd couple, doesn’t it? I’ve been struggling with maintaining focus here on this blog, but often find myself torn between my two greatest loves… digital art creation and casual pc games. After reading a recent article citing survey results by a casual game development company, I think I’ve reached a better understanding of why these two seemingly unrelated topics remain my focus, and obsession.

Fully 94% of disabled players of casual games said they believe playing casual games “provides physical or mental benefits” — compared to 80% of casual game players overall. The most common benefits cited by disabled gamers (when asked to choose as many as applied) were stress relief (81%), mood lifting (69%), distraction from issues related to disability (66%), improved concentration (59%) and mental workouts (58%). Interestingly, the top benefits varied significantly based on the type of disability; the top three benefits by disability type were:

• Physical: Stress relief (84%) and distraction from issues related to disability (73%)

• Mental: Stress relief (87%) and mood-lifting (78%)

• Developmental/Learning: Improved concentration (79%) and improved coordination/manual dexterity (73%)

As a mother of teenage twins, who is dealing with the chronic pain of nerve damage due to a car accident, I guess you could say I’ve got stress and physical disability pretty much covered LOL. The distraction of the casual pc games has gotten me through more than one sleepless nights, and sometimes it’s the only thing that can take my mind off the pain. Creating a digital painting, or delving into a detail oriented 3D render requires so much concentration that the pain, as well as the hours, just seem to slip away.

Both activities (playing the pc games and creating digital art) have also helped to keep the nerve damage from eating up whatever mobility I have left. So, perhaps I should consider my game playing and art a form of therapy, both physical and mental? Maybe, but in the meantime, I’m not going to stress over the duality of content here on this blog. Casual pc games and digital art are my two favorite things to do, and they both serve more than one purpose. Obviously.

While I understand that everyone may not be interested in creating artwork with digital graphics programs, I would encourage anyone experiencing stress, or a long recovery or illness to try their hand at today’s casual pc games. Even a stroll through an online art gallery (like mine at DeviantArt.com) can lift your mood, or at least distract you for a while.

I find it comforting to know that I have the alternative relief of games if the creativity just isn’t there for creating artwork. On the other hand, when I become frustrated with a game, then it’s good to know I can open up my graphics programs and channel that emotion into a new piece, as I did tonight with the graphic at the top of this post.

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