Progress has been slow since my initial blog post. As of yet, I have still failed to acquire a mentor for my project, but it has been suggested to me that I inquire of the neuroscience department staff at San Diego State University and UC San Diego regarding possible mentors for my project. As having a mentor for guidance is a core standard of the Sage Creek Genius Project, this is both a setback and a step forward at the same time: while I still have yet to acquire a mentor (due in part to my revising my Genius Project idea over this past summer), I now have the information I need to begin a genuine mentor-recruitment process that is suited to my particular Genius Project.
Regarding the progress I have made on the actual project itself, the process of researching the benefits of video games regarding anxiety reduction has begun. As of yet, my approach of study has been fairly simple; my main focus is currently to research the sandbox genre of video games (such as Mojang's Minecraft) and analyze their effects on the human brain. In the case of Minecraft, the serene, vast landscapes allow a player to become completely immersed in his/her world, free to engage in any activity as desired. This makes Minecraft a perfect game for anxious individuals to play in order to relieve some of the anxiety currently plaguing them. Other than this, progress has, as stated in the beginning of the blog post, proven to be fairly slow.
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| The large, serene worlds of Minecraft are perfect for enabling anxious individuals to relieve some of their pent up anxiety. In these worlds, players are free to explore as they choose without restriction. Image taken by David Meinen. |
Regarding my passion for this project, I am pleased to say that my present idea is just as appealing to me as it was when I wrote my first blog post. As I mentioned, I love to play video games to relieve my own anxiety and I am at present interested in a career in medicine, so by combining these two interests into one Genius Project, I can explore the health benefits of my favorite pastime: video games!
Regrettably, given how little progress has been made in my project (again, in large part due to my project receiving a makeover over the summer), I am unable to say that I have as of yet made any impact upon my community. However, as I accumulate information from various sources regarding video games' capacity to alleviate anxiety, I firmly believe that I will be able to recommend a particular genre of game to individuals struggling with anxiety; this is ultimately my goal for this project.
Lastly, in regard to challenges that I face as I pursue the end goal of my Genius Project, the biggest challenge at the moment is simply acquiring a mentor to guide me as I accumulate my research. In addition to this, a mentor is absolutely necessary according to project guidelines, so I am hoping to remedy this complication as soon as possible. In terms of overall challenge, however, my biggest obstacle is time itself. Among school work, extracurricular activities, etc, I am experiencing increasing levels of difficulty in allocating time to work on my Genius Project. As time moves along, however, I intend to develop a research plan that will regiment how much time I am to spend per week researching video games.
That is all for this post, but I do hope that you all will continue to stay tuned for further updates. I guarantee that this will be an exciting journey, especially if, like me, you immensely enjoy playing video games! I look forward to writing my next post.
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