CFPs “The Multifaceted Relationship between Fear and Technology” | H-Net

Interdisciplinary Workshop, 10–12 October 2018, Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Development, Berlin

“Or is the real danger an addiction to gaming, as
some members of the American Psychiatric Association proposed in 2017
when they formulated the new diagnosis Internet Gaming Disorder? In
other spheres of society, experts and laypeople alike subscribe to the
notion that computer games harbor the danger of a “substance-independent
dependency.” Around the world, clinics and self-help groups are being
set up to help heal the addicted. Gamers themselves present us with yet
another form of fear, in the sense that many of them enjoy games built
on an intense experience of fear, such as horror games like the popular Outlast.
What is so attractive about this kind of play-fear? Is it a source of
pleasure? Or can gaming be used as a kind of medicine to put a damper on
everyday fears? For years, psychologists, neurologists and doctors have
been grappling with the possible therapeutic dimensions of artificially
invoking fear in playful settings. Computer games designed for this
purpose are supposed to help people control their physiological
reactions of fear in certain situations or overcome real phobias through
playing in virtual worlds. There is even a special genre of
cancer-killer shooters intended to help people sublimate fears of
illness into positive forms of resistance. For those afraid of losing
their mental sharpness, there are computer games for “mental jogging”
designed to hem cognitive aging.“