17 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION VIDEO GAMES FOR MENTAL HEALTH Given the aforementioned benefits of video games in comparison to traditional prevention programs, it is unsurprising that in recent years there has been a growing interest among mental health practitioners and researchers in utilising applied video games as a means of promoting mental health (Fleming et al., 2017; Fleming et al., 2023; Granic et al., 2014; Kazdin, 2015; Lau et al., 2017; Townsend et al., 2022). Furthermore, the effects of casual games (i.e., entertainment or commercially available, off-the-shelf games) have been increasingly examined in the field of mental health, because they are affordable and already widely available for the general population and provide repeated training for target behaviours (Ceranoglu, 2010; Colder Carras et al., 2018; Granic et al., 2014; Steadman et al., 2014). Applied games are digital interventions that employ game design elements in an effort to making interventions more enjoyable, motivating and engaging (Schmidt et al., 2015). Their primary aim is to educate or motivate users, and to train or promote behaviour change, other than pure entertainment purposes (Michael & Chen, 2005; Stapleton, 2004; Stokes, 2005; Vajawat et al., 2021). Two categories of applied games can be distinguished, namely ‘gamified’ interventions and ‘serious games’ (Fleming et al., 2017; Schmidt et al., 2015; Vajawat et al., 2021). Gamification refers to adding game elements such as points and rewards, increasing difficulty levels and narratives to interventions (M. Brown et al., 2016; Cheng et al., 2019; Cugelman, 2013; H. J. Park & Bae, 2014; Seaborn & Fels, 2015), without necessarily focussing on playfulness and fun (Fleming et al., 2017). Serious games, on the other hand, are full game experiences: they are designed to be immersive and entertaining as well as incorporating evidence-based therapeutic techniques (Eichenberg & Schott, 2017; Fleming et al., 2014; Zayeni et al., 2020). Concerning mental health, the potential and promising effects of applied games have been shown in several reviews and meta-analyses focussing on a variety of mental health problems (David et al., 2020; Dewhirst et al., 2022; Eichenberg & Schott, 2017; Fleming et al., 2017; Halldorsson et al., 2021; Johnson et al., 2016; Lau et al., 2017; Shah et al., 2018), but also specifically for anxiety (Barnes & Prescott, 2018) and depression (Dias et al., 2018; Fleming et al., 2014; Li et al., 2014; Rasing, Stikkelbroek, & Bodden, 2020). Casual games, on the other hand, are built for player enjoyment and recreational purposes, with no consideration of their therapeutic potential (Deterding, 2015; Fullerton, 2014). While casual games are not explicitly designed as such, they may have a positive impact on mental health. Players
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