“Fighting was the only thing I was good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in”
- Solid Snake
You can, easily, find medical articles talking about the benefits video games have on mental health. From the insensitive man that has no other "socially accepted" way to vent out his feelings (since gaming still has that "childish" stigma), to the bullied kid who knows no other friends than the ones he or she made through a joystick. Also, you will find an equal number of studies that point to the negative effects of this virtual world of us... you heard about them all already, addiction, escape from reality, lag of goals, etc.
Whether who is right or wrong, there is an undeniable fact about objectives and life: no matter what it is, if you set a target for yourself, on your own, and you feel passionate about it, you will do whatever it takes to get it.
From Candy Crush to Dark Souls, if you want to reach the end of your game you will try countless times, figure out different strategies and even study the methods from people that achieved your same goal before. If motivate yourself to build a new set of skills and get new pieces of selfless knowledge just to become an achiever, forcing you to postpone your suicidal thoughs is not a medecine agains depression, then I don't know what is it.
The magic about this is that everything happens so naturally that you don't notice the exact moment you want to be better at something, buy you feel a sweet obligation to this new project that sure will make you face all kind of difficulties, difficulties you want to overcome despite your sadness and anxiety, difficulties that, once they become achievements, they will make stronger.
I'm not a psychiatrist, and I don't want to fill this article with metrics and statistically verified data, and will ask you to allow me to be a hopeless pixel romantic and let me tell you I'm absolutely convinced that, when you want to be a better version of yourself, the world is a little bit better.
Thank you for being a gamer, for overcoming the hardest levels of your life, for being the strongest character of the party. That's why you inspire us to keep fighting.