Lost in isolation and loneliness, I discovered the world of Gundam. From the model kits, video games, and anime, I found that the characters’ struggles often mirrored my own mental health problems. But Gundam inspired hope. In the words of Banagher and Gundam quotes, I found motivation. And in Gundam Unicorn Anime, I finally discovered the true power of possibility.

There are many positive health effects of video games. Playing video games is fun and makes us feel happy. But it’s more than mashing buttons that bring us joy. What does science say about our gaming and happiness? And can we use these elements in other aspects of our lives to bring us greater happiness overall?

There are many benefits to playing games. When we put down the controller or pack up our dice, the values we learned in playing games stay with us. From video games to tabletop roleplaying games, playing games teaches us about life. Here are the ten most important life lessons that I learned from gaming.

Have you ever enjoyed huge RPGs like Skyrim, Fallout 4, or The Witcher 3 with numerous side quests? Side quests can be a great addition but they can also distract from the main story. What about in real life? The side quests in life often distract from our real-life main quest too. How can you find a balance between working on your dreams and completing those real-life side quests?

Quests in games provide goals, help us progress our story, and develop our character. What if we could do earn experience points and complete quests in real life? There are plenty of real quests that we can take to improve our stats and have some fun along the way.

Here is a list of 25 real-life quests for nerds, geeks, gamers, and would-be adventurers to get you started on your adventure.

Whether video games or tabletop games, we enjoy the immersion, interesting questlines, and magical creatures of role-playing games. But next to it, our reality may feel anything but an adventure. Boring responsibilities, difficult challenges, and some days life is anything but fun. 

But what if we thought about real life as an RPG?   While it may seem like a novel idea, changing our mindset and thinking about life as a game can produce real benefits to our lives. 

Gaming has been blamed for a variety of negative impacts with studies showing a correlation between gaming and mental health issues. But as a gamer myself dealing with anxiety and depression, I’ve always felt that gaming made me feel better, not worse. More recent studies have shown that while there may be a connection between gamers and higher levels of anxiety, it is not necessarily causation. And in fact, gaming has been shown to be beneficial and help symptoms of anxiety and depression in many people.

The holiday can be a wonderful time of the year. But this time of year can also be a great source of anxiety.

And as a gamer, I find that I would much prefer to spend those cozy winter days online in a dungeon than participating in the festive season. And I am far from alone in seeking this Scrooge-like escape. Here are some ways to use gaming and other tips to help with holiday anxiety.

We strive towards big dreams and exciting ideas. But sometimes, it feels that we aren’t getting any closer to our goals. Each step is met with someone telling us our victory is in another castle. How do we find the motivation to keep going despite the frustration? Here are some of the best ways to keep you in the game and ready to level up.

Can Dungeons and Dragons help us to trust others? Faced with a mysterious NPC, many of us immediately become suspicious and wary. What are the reasons we don’t trust others and can we learn how to trust someone? And what if they as suspicious of us, are we seen as trustworthy in their eyes? The question of can RPGs help us trust others is yes, if we are willing to learn how to trust others, including ourselves.

Whether it's playing a role-playing game or living our lives, we seek a motive and a purpose for our actions. We are driven by the why. What is the importance of why and how can you find yours?

Every good fantasy story and RPGs include a band of adventurers facing danger together. In real life, we can have the same. Real-life party members help us battle our monsters and encourage us to work toward our goals. Who are your traveling companions and what RPG party roles do they fill? And if we are in a real-life RPG, how can we find other adventurers to share the journey with us? Remember, it’s dangerous to go it alone.

Our day-to-day can feel like a never-ending list of chores where it’s a struggle to be motivated and productive. But tying those boring tasks to a role-playing game can make it a lot more enjoyable. Here are 10 of the best RPG gamification apps for adding some adventure to your tasks.

We may not have dragons to slay and princesses to rescue in real life, but there are plenty of quests that we can take to improve our stats and be more successful.

I’m addicted to buying video games. I'll be looking forward to this amazing title, but then I keep buying games and not playing them. I tell myself, I’m not going to get any more until I finish what is in my library. But every Steam sale, I end up buying games I never play. Many players have libraries full of games that have never even been installed. So why don’t we play the games we buy?

Once the best, max-level gamers were once low-level newbies themselves. The making of greatness starts in humble beginnings. When searching for authenticity and meaning, look to your beginnings. Start finding your purpose by looking at your past. Here are some questions to search those childhood memories, so that you can work on remembering who you are by remembering who you used to be.

Is life an RPG? In role-playing games, you get to beautiful landscapes, exciting action scenes, fantastic stories, interesting characters, and best of all, be the hero. But what about real life? There's no magic or fiery steeds. But if life was a game, how would it compare to our favorite RPGs? Here’s a review of the game of life and why real life is the hardest RPG of all.