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Video Games As a Tool for Development for Adolescents


Based on Erik Erikson's theory on social development, there are eight stages that an individual goes through and should pass from infancy to late adulthood. In each of these stages, the individual is presented with challenges that can make or break his/her character and over all self. Success in meeting and overcoming these challenges in one stage is very important to succeed in the next.
According to Erikson, identity crisis occurs in the adolescence stage. The challenge in this stage is to achieve ego identity to be well equipped for the next stage- adulthood. Adolescents need to find out who they are, where they belong, and where they want to go. One's self image is important for the individual not just for himself but also to be able to meet what is expected of him in the society.
Adolescents are in a situation where they are unsure of who they are, who they should be with, and where they should be going. Video games allow them to somehow slowly make the pieces in their life fit together. They are able to discover what their skills are and enhance them. They find other people who share their same passion and interests. They see the path that they want to go in the real world as they journey in their virtual one.
Creating your avatar is showing who you really are. The customizable characters in the game allow an adolescent to express his real self or the self he wants others to see of him. He can dress and equip his avatar according to his own preferences. The avatar can be representations of who he really is or of what he want others to know and see about him.
Belonging to a guild is belonging to a real group. A guild is that safe haven of people where the adolescent feels the security and acceptance of having a group. In this stage where he sometimes feel left out, "not normal",and not fitting in, the guild in his video game is the closest he comes to achieving acceptance and belongingness. It is important to belong to a group to establish one's identity. It gives the adolescent the sense of knowing who he is because of the group he hangs out with.
Conquering a quest in the game is a real journey. The constant search of where the adolescent is going and what he should be doing are met the same way as they play and conquer a stage in the video game. The adolescent faces challenges in the game that they can equate or compare to those they encounter in their real world and sometimes more. The success he feels in finishing a quest can translate to success in what he faces in the real world.
If these are the premises that the adolescents can see when they play video games, there shouldn't be a problem with mastering the conflict in the Adolescent stage. The video game should be used as a tool to help one's personal development. For when the adolescent masters and overcomes the conflicts in this stage, they would be able to transition and healthily go through the next one- Adulthood.

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