How In-Game Weather Can Regulate Mental Health

If you run into a thunderstorm in a game, you might begin to think about how you should adjust your play-style. Maybe you should find shelter, or avoid using metal weapons. On a surface level, this is all we think about when we run into adverse weather in a game. But one of the things we don’t often consider is the effect in-game weather has on mood. In this episode of Psych of Play, we’ll talk about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and a recent study that suggests bad weather can actually play a key role in regulating emotion and mental health. In-game weather may be more powerful to us than we previously realized.

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Games Shown:

Celeste (2018) - Matt Makes Games
God of War (2018) - SCE Santa Monica Studio
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) - Nintendo
Metal Gear Solid (1998) - Konami
Fallout 4 (2015) - Bethesda
Minecraft (2009) - Mojang
Octopath Traveler (2018) - Square Enix
Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) - Rockstar Games
Pokemon White 2 (2012) - Game Freak
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) - Guerilla Games
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) - CD Projekt RED
Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) - Ubisoft
Super Mario Odyssey (2017) - Nintendo
Pokemon Crystal (2000) - Game Freak
Zelda: Wind Waker (2002) - Nintendo
Zelda: Ocarina of time (1996) NIntendo
Journey (2012) - That Game Company
Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) - Nintendo
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012) - Monolith Soft
Undertale (2015) - Toby Fox
Mad Max (2015) - Avalanche Studios
Motorstorm Apocalypse (2011) - Evolution Studios
Rain World (2017) - Videocult
Frostpunk (2018) - 11 Bit Studios

Movies/TV/Clips:

My Hero Academia (2016) - Viz Media, Shueisha
The Garden of Words (2013) - Makoto Shinkai
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (1999) - Disney
The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) - Disney
50 First Dates (2004) - Happy Madison Productions
Eight Below (2006) - The Walt Disney Company
Good Will Hunting (1997) - Miramax

   • [No Copyright TimeLapse] - Cloudy Gre...  
   • SEASONS of NORWAY - A Time-Lapse Adve...  
   • Scenic Time Lapse: Fall Foliage & Inc...  
   • Видео  
   • Best of Dallas Texas by Drone in 4k  
   • Chicago Summer Time Lapse  
   • Miami South Beach Time-Lapse  
   • Chicago Weather: Winter storm dumps u...  

Music Sources:

Octopath Traveler OST - The Frostlands
Octopath Traveler OST - My Quiet Forest Home
SteamWorld Dig 2 OST - Precipice
The Legend of Legacy OST - A Great Calling
Hollow Knight OST - Reflection
Celeste OST - Madeline and Theo

Research Sources:

Affecting mood (SAD):
https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-wea...

2) Nostalgia can help regulate mood
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psyc...

3) Reverse SAD
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/103...

4) Heat vs Cold and Decision making
https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...

5) Nostalgia Study
http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-27...

Welcome to Daryl Talks Games

Hi! I’m Daryl, and on this channel I explore the intersection between video games, psychology, and real life.

I’ve talked about how Pokemon and the Generation Effect can make you a better student. I’ve made a video on why game developers really should understand functional fixedness. And I’ve interviewed some of the best speedrunners on Earth to find out how exactly they make setting world records look so easy.

Primacy and Recency, subconscious associations, classical conditioning, divergent thinking, amnesia (the disorder not the game), if its psychological concept that relates to games, I’ve probably talked about it before or will in the future. But to be clear, psychology isn’t all I talk about. Every now and then I’ll dabble in a little bit of game design and sometimes I’ll just talk about life and how games really can make it better... and for some people are the best way to relate to the world around us.

So if all that sounds like a good time to you, subscribe to my channel, watch my videos, and if you feel so inclined, show a friend! If you take a look at my videos, I truly hope that you learn something or are entertained and that your day is better after watching!

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