Game Information
| Title | It's for the Best (student-created game) |
| Presenter(s) | Joseph Dean, Doris C. Rusch |
| Session | Conference Reception, Game Exhibition, and Poster Session |
| Time | Thursday, October 16, 7:00p-10:00p |
| Location | Ballroom |
| Format | Game Exhibition |
| Description | "It's for the Best" is one of four games that are part of the interactive documentary "For the Records" that deals with young adults and mental illness. "For the Records" aims to increase understanding of what it is like to struggle with mental disorders, particularly eating disorder ("Perfection"), OCD ("Into Darkness"), ADD ("It's for the Best") and bipolar disorder ("FLUCTuation"). I am submitting all four games separately.
"It's for the Best" explores the psychological addiction to ADD medication. It is modeled after one of the development team member's experiences. When he was diagnosed with ADD at the age of eight, his parents told him he needed medication to keep up with school. This created the feeling of not being 'good enough' without medication, which persisted all the way through college. He finally decided to stop taking pills and graduated successfully, regaining a sense of self-worth. The game does not propose that medication per se is bad, but aims to raise awareness for how the need for medication can make you feel. As far as mental health issues go, ADD is usually considered 'not a big deal' (at least compared to depression, psychosis or anorexia). This under-acknowledges the feelings of self-doubt ADD brings with it. By allowing the player to experience these feelings, the game aims to create empathy and hopes to promote a mindful way of communicating the need for medication to ADD patients. In It's for the best players try to keep up with assignments represented by papers that flutter onto the screen with increasing speed. Clicking on papers makes them disappear. A pill is featured prominently in the middle of the screen. Clicking the pill clears the screen of papers and slows down their onslaught. Using the pill as a power up, however, is far less satisfying than trying to keep up with the papers through clicking them directly (which is impossible and manifests in growing piles of unfinished assignments that clutter up the screen and create paper mountains of growing self-doubt). The game is accompanied by unnerving whispers of 'you're not good enough'. |