Humans are social animals, and in many ways, our need for connection and social interaction is the core of the Don’t Fight Alone Initiative. It is this undeniable truth, and the desire to provide a community-based support system that led Stephen Machuga to start the Stack Up Overwatch Program (StOP) in 2018. In creating the program, Machuga had a simple goal: to use trained and supervised volunteers through Discord to create a peer-based mental health initiative aimed at providing the Stack Up community with the tools necessary to identify and react to mental health challenges in their lives, before a point of crisis is reached.

Talk about visionary. To assist the program, Machuga brought in Dr. Colder Carras, who according to this article published in the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health, used her in-depth knowledge to “study and evaluate the usability/efficacy of an online gaming community in addressing mental health crises among US military veterans.”

Seeing how our experts have long histories of playing video games and have participated in/benefited from supportive online communities, we asked them to identify several reasons why online communities can have a positive impact on the mental health of veterans.

The Fun Factor.

Let’s start with the most basic and seemingly overlooked: playing games with your friends is fun. Or as Stephen Machuga put it, “life is hard and when you or someone you know is suffering from PTSD, sometimes a smile is the best medicine to get you through the day.”

To back this up, Dr. Kowert cited another study comparing the effectiveness of traditional therapy to playing Mario Galaxy. Surprisingly, the study group that played Mario Galaxy showed a more significant decrease in their reported depression. In short, going from stress to play can inherently lighten people's moods because playing video games can release endorphins, which make people feel better. And the benefits of being around others, albeit virtually, can help people gain a sense of connectedness and relieve stress through socialization.

Socialization

According to Dr. Colder Carras, “many vets don’t have the opportunity to socialize frequently or don't feel comfortable socializing in real life, and these communities can be invaluable support systems.” Often, people don't have the time to "get out of the house" regularly, and video games can substitute for this lack of social interaction.

You don't have to leave the house, abandoning household and family duties, and no extensive planning is required. For vets, who may lack contact with their former comrades who now live hundreds or thousands of miles away, connecting online is a practical way to override the natural separation that happens in the real world.

Video games are accessible nearly anywhere, eliminating geographical reasons for not socializing, and more affordable than many other leisure activities. They provide a venue for socialization that can meet the needs of a wide range of personalities, on demand, with relatively little investment. Not to mention, the question of "what should we do?" is already solved.

Dr. Kowert added that, “while some people might not feel comfortable opening up in a controlled therapy setting, they might feel more likely to share their feelings in a shared online experience. Or in some cases, veterans don't necessarily need to talk about how they feel and what's going on in their lives – they can get the same catharsis by just sitting there, playing, and sharing the experience with others.

Roleplay

For some people, socializing in real life is stressful. You're putting yourself out there, opening up to judgment. In many video games, you don't have to be "you." According to Dr. Colder Carras, this ability to inhabit a virtual personality gives players a sense of autonomy they might otherwise lack.

Many veterans struggle with regaining their autonomy in their everyday lives, and doing so in a controlled setting can give them the opportunity to overcome certain barriers that reality might present. Dr. Kowert says that inhabiting a virtual personality allows you to share things you normally wouldn't, and you don't have to be embarrassed or feel self-conscious because you're not acting as yourself. For those struggling to regain their footing in the real world and find autonomy, video games can provide an irreplaceable training ground for social interaction.

Structure

Many people find comfort in being part of organized activities and finding their own role within them. In her time playing WoW, Dr. Colder Carras was a part of several different "guilds," or

structured groups within the WoW community. Guilds usually have a hierarchy of leadership and extensively plan before taking on various missions in the open world of the game.

Dr. Colder Carras considers herself a gamer, but not a good one; she fondly remembers participating in different raids and playing her part, which was rarely related to actual combat. She enjoyed learning new recipes for potions, gathering materials, defending resources in battlegrounds, and helping the rest of the team prepare and succeed in their roles. The diversity of roles in games lets players focus on what they enjoy most and are good at, opening them up to wider audiences beyond those with lightning-fast reflexes and a head for strategy.

In the Arma community, players often organize themselves in "units," training and participating in well-organized operations regularly. In a unit, not everyone needs to be a deadly fighting force commando extraordinaire. Running logistics, being a medic, and high command are examples of non-combatant roles in Arma that are equally essential, and many people prefer them to engaging in firefights constantly. As with WoW, this opens the game to a wider audience and requires teams to have more diverse skill sets among their ranks, increasing the complexity of gameplay and emphasizing the necessity for teamwork.

Structured gaming groups also give players a sense of purpose and connectedness. According to Dr. Colder Carras, many veterans who have spent years embedded in the highly structured hierarchy of the military greatly miss this sense of structure and connectedness when trying to return to normal life. For them, spending their free time in a structured community reminiscent of their deployment can be comforting and help them revisit and process difficult experiences from the safety of their homes.

Empathy

Learning to empathize with others is also a crucial aspect of personal growth that can alleviate stress. Online gaming communities are populated with different people of various ages and backgrounds from across the world. For Dr. Kowert, who grew up in a small town in Texas, playing World of Warcraft (WoW) online was the first time she interacted with people from Germany and the Netherlands. Getting to know people abroad helped her understand that people everywhere can be quite similar. She credits video games for helping her gain broader empathy for people around the world and believes this sense of understanding can be hugely beneficial for many people.

To sum it up...

The social aspects of video games and the online communities around them bring many benefits for people suffering from mental health issues. For veterans, social outlets with built-in activities can provide a source of stress relief, inhabiting a virtual personality can alleviate the intimidation associated with traditional socialization, and structured in-game groups can help fill the void left by the regimented lifestyle they were used to in the military.

To support veterans through the Don't Fight Alone initiative, you can donate to Stack Up here: https://tiltify.com/+arma-platform/dont-fight-alone

If you or anyone you know is a veteran in need of help, visit the Stack Up Discord at https://discord.com/invite/StackUpDotOrg