September 25, 2025 • 21 mins
The boundaries between education and entertainment blur as Dr. Daniel Kaufmann (Dr. Gameology) takes us on a thought-provoking journey through the cognitive benefits of gaming in this premiere episode of Solo Quest.
Drawing from his extensive background as a clinical psychologist and passionate gamer, Dr. Kaufmann introduces us to the concept of video games as "learning boxes" – sophisticated environments where players develop problem-solving skills, cognitive flexibility, and personal growth through play. Whether navigating the moral choices of Baldur's Gate 3, solving the environmental puzzles of Legend of Zelda shrines, or creating in the infinite sandbox of Minecraft, each gaming experience trains our minds to approach challenges with creativity and resilience.
The episode delves into how gaming mechanics mirror real-life development, with the concept of "leveling up" serving as a powerful metaphor for personal growth. When we gain experience points in games, we're practicing the same persistence needed to advance in education, careers, and relationships. Through examples from various genres, Dr. Kaufmann demonstrates how games reveal our values and priorities while simultaneously providing tools to develop in those directions. The behavioral reinforcement in Persona games teaches social dynamics, while the problem-solving in Metroidvania titles translates directly to academic and professional challenges. Even using gamified apps like Habitica can transform mundane tasks into rewarding quests for self-improvement.
Join us for this insightful exploration of how gaming shapes our learning and discover why the skills developed through play might be exactly what we need to become the heroes of our own life stories. Subscribe to The Gaming Persona podcast for more episodes that destigmatize video games and celebrate their potential to make us better thinkers, better problem-solvers, and ultimately, better humans.
If you would like to support the show and help us unlock additional possibilities for future episodes and projects, this can now be done through Patreon!
You can watch us play games LIVE and join our communities to get more connection from every episode:
- DrGameology on Twitch - Continue the Journey LIVE in 2025!!
- MarcusB814 on YouTube - BOOMBA
Subscribe on YouTube for more content on the Psychology of Gaming or Follow on Twitch to catch the Live Streams!
For more info, check out DrGameology.com!
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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the first ever episode of Solo Quest, part
of the Gaming Persona podcast.
I'm Dr Gamology.
My real name is Dr DanielKaufman.
I have a PhD in counselor,education and supervision.
I provide supervision andclinical services to clinicians
and life coaches across theUnited States and I create
(00:23):
certification parameters formany clinical topics that are
important to me for peoplearound the world.
Internationally, I work withthe International Problem Gaming
and Gambling CertificationBoard.
I work with the AmericanSociety of Addiction Sciences.
I do research work for theAmerican Psychiatric Association
and I write books.
I play video games on stream.
(00:44):
I'm on Twitch.
I do research work for theAmerican Psychiatric Association
and I write books.
I play video games on stream.
I'm on Twitch, I'm on YouTube.
I am all about getting the storyof what video games actually
can do for us in a psychologicalsense, out into the public.
To destigmatize video games,help them become more accepted
as an important part of society.
(01:05):
Geek culture, fandom, but justday-to-day living as well.
What it can do for us toself-soothe, to give us a
challenge, to refine ourproblem-solving skills and our
cognitive processes, to get usto interact with training our
executive functioning in thebrain, to give us a goal, a time
(01:25):
limit that we want to excel atand also just something that we
can do for fun.
I think in society today thiscertainly affects me.
Having fun is okay as long asdot dot and whatever follows
after that dot, dot dot For meover time has made it so fun is
(01:47):
not actually encouraged, becausemy brain wants to be so
efficient and so task orientedbecause of what I've become in
academia, what I've become as aclinician, what I've become in
my personal life, which isthere's not enough, there's not
a lot of room for fun.
And this brings me to our firsttopic today for Solo Quest is
(02:13):
how does gaming actually improveeducation?
And the thing that I want totalk about here is that,
whatever video game you play,whatever genre, whatever things
bring you into video games andgive you that fun that you're
looking for, whatever genre,whatever things bring you into
video games and give you thatfun that you're looking for,
that fix, that something thatyou wanted in your day.
Video games are learning boxes.
(02:34):
They are playgrounds forlearning, for giving the brain a
new process, for finding newprocesses and be able to use
them in our life in a compelling, innovative, creative way, and
it does not matter if you'replaying a game that has Mario in
it or Link or something in theNintendo umbrella or platform.
(02:56):
It doesn't matter if you'replaying something that is
hardcore, like a Souls-stylegame where you might die 17
times an hour or five times aminute.
It doesn't matter if you'replaying a game that is
free-flowing andprocess-oriented, like Tetris.
(03:17):
It doesn't matter if you'replaying something relaxing and
meant to give you a flow state,like Stardew Valley or like
Journey.
We just played Journey and SkyChildren of the Light a little
bit on the channel today, andit's all about creating
experiences for people to letour minds unlock from the
(03:39):
parameters of reality, which canbe very limiting because we are
just us, and give us adifferent world that we're able
to get into.
So when I'm doing an episode ofSolo Quest, these are meant to
be bite-sized little episodes toadd to the gaming persona where
you just get to listen to me.
The chat is here in Twitch.
(04:01):
I will interact with you.
I see a lot of people in thechat.
I'm very excited that you'rehere.
You can always ask questions,follow-ups, you can stay on
topic, you can see if you candrag me off the topic, but again
, it's not a very long episode.
These are meant to bebite-sized little conversations
with me where I just ad-lib onthe topic.
(04:22):
So the topic today is meant tobe how gaming improves education
.
So part one, video games, arelearning playgrounds.
They are constantly taking yourinput, the way you're playing,
the buttons you're pressing, andgiving you feedback.
Do you succeed?
Do you get to move on to thenext space?
Did your character die?
(04:42):
Do you need to start over?
Do you need to reload a save?
And then also, what dialoguechoices did you make?
Did the person accept your idea?
Did they reject your idea?
And then you move forward inthe game based on those ideas
being set as feedback for yourinput.
I was just playing Baldur's Gate3 for a little bit this morning
(05:02):
because I had an issue with thesave file.
I had to go back and replay the15 minutes that I did yesterday
because the save corrupted, butluckily I kept some of my past
saves.
I only had to redo 15 minutesof the game.
That's a whole other thing.
Right there I was playingBaldur's Gate and I found some
NPCs.
(05:23):
Those are non-playablecharacters, and in Baldur's Gate
3, this some NPCs.
Those are non-playablecharacters and in Baldur's Gate
3, this is basically likeplaying Dungeons and Dragons.
You can play it by yourself,you can play it with a group of
up to four people and you havethis party that's walking around
in this world trying to get toBaldur's Gate.
And I'm at a portion of thegame where you're about to get
to the gate itself Act 3,everything's building up.
(05:45):
I've completed a lot of queststhat are extra.
I think my party is max levelAt this point.
We're level 12.
So now it's just aboutfinishing the quest, finishing
the story and the vampirecharacter.
Astarion finds two people fromhis past One is his sister and
her boyfriend and he gets reallyticked off in this conversation
(06:08):
and he decides to becomeaggressive.
And I had three dialoguechoices this morning.
I could let him choose on hisown, let him have agency, no
input.
What is Asterion going to do?
Or I could be brutal and saykill him, emperor Palpatine
style, like from Revenge of theSith, kill him, kill him now.
(06:30):
And then there was the thirdchoice, which is to do a
persuasion roll and to ask himnot to murder that other vampire
in cold blood.
But if you do that, you have toroll a dice.
You have to be able to hit apersuasion check.
When you check something inDungeons Dragons, you're rolling
(06:54):
the dice to see if your answerfor the conversation was
compelling enough to encouragethe other person to see your way
of thinking.
It could be persuasion, itcould be intimidation, it could
be deception, and when you rollthe dice high enough, you
usually get what you want.
And I did roll high enough.
I actually rolled a nat 20, anatural 20.
So on the dice that you roll,these all have 20 sides, like
(07:17):
the one I just rolled for GeekySaga, for our topic today, and I
rolled the d20 and it gave me20.
So I got absolutely what I want.
Asterion decided not to kill theperson.
We got more information out ofhim, and that sets up our quest
a little different and it keepsAsterion in a morally good
category, at least morallyneutral.
(07:38):
In a morally good category, atleast morally neutral.
I think that when we're playingvideo games and we're
interacting intellectually withthe video game or
philosophically, we have a moralbase.
We're trying to be a goodperson, we're trying to be an
evil person, we're role-playingdifferent things.
You're letting your mind becomeflexible and so there's
(08:00):
different levels of learning,and this goes with Piaget's
stages of cognitive development.
Thank you so much for the follow.
I really appreciate it.
By the way, I will acknowledgepeople during these little
podcast episodes.
That is part of the show, I'mperfectly happy with it and this
is a new thing.
The gaming persona has notalways had these episodes.
(08:20):
That is part of the show, I'mperfectly happy with it and this
is a new thing.
The gaming persona has notalways had these episodes.
But that cognitive flexibilitybeing able to move from concrete
thinking and then moving intoabstract levels of thought Video
games are great at encouragingabstract thinking because the
problem solving process if it'sconcrete, you can use a strategy
that's worked in a previousroom.
(08:40):
But if it's concrete, you canuse a strategy that's worked in
a previous room.
But if it's abstract, you haveto identify a new way to solve
the problem.
So if you think about thelittle temples and shrines in
the Legend of Zelda Breath ofthe Wild and Legend of Zelda
Tears of the Kingdom, you getthese skills and abilities with
link and thank you so much forthe follow.
(09:02):
I appreciate it.
This is so great.
Every new shrine that you getchallenges you to use link
skills, but in a new way and byrepackaging these skills in new
ways.
You're learning the extent thatyou can push the engine of the
game to do the physics and tosolve the problems.
You have to be very creative inorder to succeed.
(09:24):
Shrine after shrine after shrine, in the Legend of Zelda, breath
of the Wild, and even with allof that cognitive activity,
hyrule is a sandbox for learning.
You're constantly walkingaround, you're constantly
getting damaged or even lifeended by the monsters that are
in the plains and fields ofHyrule, and you're learning what
(09:45):
works and what doesn't work.
Should I come back here when Ihave different weapons or
different armor?
Should I stay away from herecompletely?
Because my play style isinconvenient for this area?
And I really felt when I wasplaying these games that my play
style was inconvenient for theway.
Link is not very durable.
I need better weapons, I needbetter armor.
(10:05):
I want to max out my stats andbeing that weak is really
challenging for me, which bringsme into other games that have
that sandbox learning potential.
Minecraft is amazing for this.
It is.
Basically, if you took sandtray therapy, removed all the
limits and made it infinite, andthen you put it into a digital
(10:27):
world and used it for therapy,then you would have Minecraft.
Okay, you can create andexpress anything that you want
if you're patient enough andcreative enough.
In a game like that, it's allabout building, and you can also
play survival mode and thingslike that.
I have to admit I'm not verywell versed in how Minecraft
(10:50):
works, because that's not mystyle of game, but one thing
that the Twitch channel is doingfor me during 2025 is, since we
achieved partner and since Ican plan out the things that I
want the channel to be withoutnecessarily worrying about
numbers, I have been branchingout to play different types of
(11:11):
games, different genres.
I'm not limiting myself to justone game.
I'm playing actually five orsix different games right now,
and that's challenging as well.
But gaming can improveeducation this way and this is
the final idea here of what Iwanted to give all of you to
think about the strategies thatwe have to learn in video games
(11:33):
are more than enough to besuccessful in an academic or
work, vocational or relationshipor family setting.
You can actually do a lot foryourself and your self-esteem
and growth through video games.
You can learn a lot about howto have conversations and
support other people throughempathy with video games.
(11:53):
Think about it we just talkedabout Baldur's Gate and
persuading someone to make agood choice.
I love the Persona franchisebecause there are constantly
this mechanism of say the rightthing and the other person
listening will get music notesthat dance above their head.
That is behavioralreinforcement you say something
empathetic and supportive toanother person and they will
(12:15):
respond with positivity towardsyou.
That's also a mechanic thathappens in life.
That is the exact dynamic thatgoverns your friendships and
relationships with other people.
You can learn in a safe spacewhere you're allowed to mess up.
You can learn in a Persona game.
You can learn problem solvingto get through temple rooms and
unlock different areas in yourmap.
(12:37):
That's a Zelda thing, that'salso a Metroidvania thing.
You can do so many things thatwill help you not give up and
see things from a differentangle, get outside of the box
and really show what it is yourbrain is capable of.
And you can refine those skillsin video games, whether it's
(12:58):
hard skills, like being able tolearn, or soft skills like
mental rotation things you can'tactually see or tell about a
person until they demonstrate itfor you.
Video games are filled withthese opportunities and if you
can use these to relax, to copeand de-stress.
We can also use them to learnby new ideas, new intentions
(13:22):
within ourselves and be able toelevate what we bring to the
table philosophically,intellectually, academically and
just.
Our spirit can be unleashed bythe way we play video games.
So do I think video games canimprove education.
They absolutely can.
(13:43):
One of my first peer-reviewedarticles was about how I used an
app called Habitica to create atask list for myself every day
and that task list would give mylittle wizard, my 8-bit wizard
avatar, experience points and Icould unlock new wizard robes
and new hats.
I could unlock new creatures,new dragons, new animals that
(14:06):
can be ridden.
I could unlock new familiars tofloat next to my shoulder.
This app made it so.
Every day I wanted to gain EXPand those tasks were not video
game tasks.
They were the tasks for me tobecome Dr Kaufman, to become,
eventually, dr Gamology, to getthat PhD and finish the program.
(14:26):
And the research I was workingon at the time was looking all
at the personality styles ofplay for over 500 Star Wars, the
Old Republic players.
I was looking at how we playMMORPGs and how that connects
with our personality, and ourpersonality is what creates our
identity and how we interactwith other people, other
(14:48):
situations, other challenges,and the way that we prefer to
rest and restore our energies inlife, make our decisions and
structure our life or notstructure our life.
Are you heavily planned orheavily spontaneous?
Are you moderately planned?
Moderately spontaneous?
The way we play video gamesconnects with who we are as
people.
So if, as people, we valueeducation, then the way we play
(15:10):
video games will enhance ourapproach to education.
If, as people, we are excitedby the way we connect with
others and build relationships,video games will help you see a
lot about yourself, the way youconnect with others and
facilitate growth inrelationships.
Video games will help you see alot about yourself, the way you
connect with others andfacilitate growth in
relationships.
If you are excited by masteryand difficult challenges, video
games will give you thedifficult challenges and see how
(15:32):
much suffering you're willingto overcome and problem solve in
order to gain mastery.
Video games are just a blankcanvas for us to decide what we
want to unlock for ourselves inlife.
It's not that video games takeaway or help develop education.
It's that video games help usdevelop who we are as people.
(15:57):
The way that we relax, de-stressand cope with life is a
reflection of what we wish ourlife had in it.
Those things that restore usare the things that we long for,
and this episode today is justa little talk.
It's just the beginning, thetip of the iceberg.
It's the very top part of themountain that we're all climbing
(16:22):
is really, how can video gameshelp us through life?
How do they build us up andmake us better?
How can I level up as a gamerto be the absolute best version
of myself?
That's what my book, theGamer's Journey, is all about.
It's about looking at thestages of life that we all live
(16:43):
and the challenges we take on,and figuring out what stories
echo this challenge and whatheroes have helped me to believe
in myself during all the toughparts of life.
Whether we're at the beginningand we're in our ordinary world
(17:04):
and we just see a problem andwant to be a part of the
solution, or whether we havesaid my time is now, I'm going
to do this, and you start thejourney, you step out of that
comfort zone and you separatefrom it and you initiate the
process of growth where you canactually achieve the skills,
find the treasures that willmake you better, and these
(17:26):
treasures are not literaltreasures.
They could be philosophical,they could be moralistic, they
could be a worldview, they couldbe a set of skills, unlocking
your talents and abilities,becoming better than you ever
were.
That's what leveling up is.
We level up through gainingexperience, just like we gain
experience in our grade levelfor an entire year and move on
(17:49):
to the next level.
That's a real life level up.
Just like we invest ourselvesin our work and eventually we
might get a promotion and araise.
That's a real life level up.
Just like we connect with otherpeople and we build that
feeling of love over time thatmakes us want to live every
single day of our life with thatperson.
Maybe you connect with them ina lifelong way.
(18:10):
That's a real life level up.
We practice leveling up in videogames because we want to become
better in that world.
But the whole time, I think thelesson we're learning on a
subconscious level is how can welevel up in anything that we
find valuable?
So if you find educationvaluable and that growth and
(18:34):
getting a degree and having anew professional ability so you
can do different work and dodifferent things to make an
impact on your world, and that'show video games will improve
your education is.
It's unlocking your connectionto valuing experience so you can
level up and become the hero ofyour story.
(18:54):
That's what my book is allabout.
That's what this whole thingthat Dr Gamology is about.
It's what the podcast thegaming persona is about and it's
what Gameology is about.
It's what the podcast theGaming Persona is about and it's
what SoloQuest is about.
So thank you so much for hangingwith me on this mini episode.
It's going to hit the podcastfeed later in the week.
(19:15):
I'm excited to give it to allof you.
I may start doing something torelease it early for Patreon
subscribers and Twitchsubscribers and YouTube members
people who are paying for extracontent.
You can still get the episodefrom me live when I do it on
(19:36):
Twitch, so that's the way to getit for free and get it in real
time while it's happening.
I appreciate all your supportand I think all of you are great
.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope that what started with the
D20 chat topic has grown intoactual podcasting episodes.
It was my first time doing oneof these completely on my own.
(19:58):
I'm excited.
I just want to do more.
This was really great.
I appreciate all of you.
Thank you for the people whoput in the chat their support,
their follows, their subs whileI was talking.
I appreciate all of you andwe're going to do this again.
I don't know how often.
I'm testing out a lot ofdifferent things to see what we
(20:20):
can do to make the world betterdestigmatize video games and
help people who maybe don't playgames to see it in a different
way.
But if you do play games, to beproud of what you do every
single time you log in.
So that's the message todayFind that experience, enjoy it,
appreciate it, let it fill youup and, as always, continue the
(20:42):
journey, friends.
Welcome to the first ever episode of Solo Quest, part
of the Gaming Persona podcast.
I'm Dr Gamology.
My real name is Dr DanielKaufman.
I have a PhD in counselor,education and supervision.
I provide supervision andclinical services to clinicians
and life coaches across theUnited States and I create
(00:23):
certification parameters formany clinical topics that are
important to me for peoplearound the world.
Internationally, I work withthe International Problem Gaming
and Gambling CertificationBoard.
I work with the AmericanSociety of Addiction Sciences.
I do research work for theAmerican Psychiatric Association
and I write books.
I play video games on stream.
(00:44):
I'm on Twitch.
I do research work for theAmerican Psychiatric Association
and I write books.
I play video games on stream.
I'm on Twitch, I'm on YouTube.
I am all about getting the storyof what video games actually
can do for us in a psychologicalsense, out into the public.
To destigmatize video games,help them become more accepted
as an important part of society.
(01:05):
Geek culture, fandom, but justday-to-day living as well.
What it can do for us toself-soothe, to give us a
challenge, to refine ourproblem-solving skills and our
cognitive processes, to get usto interact with training our
executive functioning in thebrain, to give us a goal, a time
(01:25):
limit that we want to excel atand also just something that we
can do for fun.
I think in society today thiscertainly affects me.
Having fun is okay as long asdot dot and whatever follows
after that dot, dot dot For meover time has made it so fun is
(01:47):
not actually encouraged, becausemy brain wants to be so
efficient and so task orientedbecause of what I've become in
academia, what I've become as aclinician, what I've become in
my personal life, which isthere's not enough, there's not
a lot of room for fun.
And this brings me to our firsttopic today for Solo Quest is
(02:13):
how does gaming actually improveeducation?
And the thing that I want totalk about here is that,
whatever video game you play,whatever genre, whatever things
bring you into video games andgive you that fun that you're
looking for, whatever genre,whatever things bring you into
video games and give you thatfun that you're looking for,
that fix, that something thatyou wanted in your day.
Video games are learning boxes.
(02:34):
They are playgrounds forlearning, for giving the brain a
new process, for finding newprocesses and be able to use
them in our life in a compelling, innovative, creative way, and
it does not matter if you'replaying a game that has Mario in
it or Link or something in theNintendo umbrella or platform.
(02:56):
It doesn't matter if you'replaying something that is
hardcore, like a Souls-stylegame where you might die 17
times an hour or five times aminute.
It doesn't matter if you'replaying a game that is
free-flowing andprocess-oriented, like Tetris.
(03:17):
It doesn't matter if you'replaying something relaxing and
meant to give you a flow state,like Stardew Valley or like
Journey.
We just played Journey and SkyChildren of the Light a little
bit on the channel today, andit's all about creating
experiences for people to letour minds unlock from the
(03:39):
parameters of reality, which canbe very limiting because we are
just us, and give us adifferent world that we're able
to get into.
So when I'm doing an episode ofSolo Quest, these are meant to
be bite-sized little episodes toadd to the gaming persona where
you just get to listen to me.
The chat is here in Twitch.
(04:01):
I will interact with you.
I see a lot of people in thechat.
I'm very excited that you'rehere.
You can always ask questions,follow-ups, you can stay on
topic, you can see if you candrag me off the topic, but again
, it's not a very long episode.
These are meant to bebite-sized little conversations
with me where I just ad-lib onthe topic.
(04:22):
So the topic today is meant tobe how gaming improves education
.
So part one, video games, arelearning playgrounds.
They are constantly taking yourinput, the way you're playing,
the buttons you're pressing, andgiving you feedback.
Do you succeed?
Do you get to move on to thenext space?
Did your character die?
(04:42):
Do you need to start over?
Do you need to reload a save?
And then also, what dialoguechoices did you make?
Did the person accept your idea?
Did they reject your idea?
And then you move forward inthe game based on those ideas
being set as feedback for yourinput.
I was just playing Baldur's Gate3 for a little bit this morning
(05:02):
because I had an issue with thesave file.
I had to go back and replay the15 minutes that I did yesterday
because the save corrupted, butluckily I kept some of my past
saves.
I only had to redo 15 minutesof the game.
That's a whole other thing.
Right there I was playingBaldur's Gate and I found some
NPCs.
(05:23):
Those are non-playablecharacters, and in Baldur's Gate
3, this some NPCs.
Those are non-playablecharacters and in Baldur's Gate
3, this is basically likeplaying Dungeons and Dragons.
You can play it by yourself,you can play it with a group of
up to four people and you havethis party that's walking around
in this world trying to get toBaldur's Gate.
And I'm at a portion of thegame where you're about to get
to the gate itself Act 3,everything's building up.
(05:45):
I've completed a lot of queststhat are extra.
I think my party is max levelAt this point.
We're level 12.
So now it's just aboutfinishing the quest, finishing
the story and the vampirecharacter.
Astarion finds two people fromhis past One is his sister and
her boyfriend and he gets reallyticked off in this conversation
(06:08):
and he decides to becomeaggressive.
And I had three dialoguechoices this morning.
I could let him choose on hisown, let him have agency, no
input.
What is Asterion going to do?
Or I could be brutal and saykill him, emperor Palpatine
style, like from Revenge of theSith, kill him, kill him now.
(06:30):
And then there was the thirdchoice, which is to do a
persuasion roll and to ask himnot to murder that other vampire
in cold blood.
But if you do that, you have toroll a dice.
You have to be able to hit apersuasion check.
When you check something inDungeons Dragons, you're rolling
(06:54):
the dice to see if your answerfor the conversation was
compelling enough to encouragethe other person to see your way
of thinking.
It could be persuasion, itcould be intimidation, it could
be deception, and when you rollthe dice high enough, you
usually get what you want.
And I did roll high enough.
I actually rolled a nat 20, anatural 20.
So on the dice that you roll,these all have 20 sides, like
(07:17):
the one I just rolled for GeekySaga, for our topic today, and I
rolled the d20 and it gave me20.
So I got absolutely what I want.
Asterion decided not to kill theperson.
We got more information out ofhim, and that sets up our quest
a little different and it keepsAsterion in a morally good
category, at least morallyneutral.
(07:38):
In a morally good category, atleast morally neutral.
I think that when we're playingvideo games and we're
interacting intellectually withthe video game or
philosophically, we have a moralbase.
We're trying to be a goodperson, we're trying to be an
evil person, we're role-playingdifferent things.
You're letting your mind becomeflexible and so there's
(08:00):
different levels of learning,and this goes with Piaget's
stages of cognitive development.
Thank you so much for the follow.
I really appreciate it.
By the way, I will acknowledgepeople during these little
podcast episodes.
That is part of the show, I'mperfectly happy with it and this
is a new thing.
The gaming persona has notalways had these episodes.
(08:20):
That is part of the show, I'mperfectly happy with it and this
is a new thing.
The gaming persona has notalways had these episodes.
But that cognitive flexibilitybeing able to move from concrete
thinking and then moving intoabstract levels of thought Video
games are great at encouragingabstract thinking because the
problem solving process if it'sconcrete, you can use a strategy
that's worked in a previousroom.
(08:40):
But if it's concrete, you canuse a strategy that's worked in
a previous room.
But if it's abstract, you haveto identify a new way to solve
the problem.
So if you think about thelittle temples and shrines in
the Legend of Zelda Breath ofthe Wild and Legend of Zelda
Tears of the Kingdom, you getthese skills and abilities with
link and thank you so much forthe follow.
(09:02):
I appreciate it.
This is so great.
Every new shrine that you getchallenges you to use link
skills, but in a new way and byrepackaging these skills in new
ways.
You're learning the extent thatyou can push the engine of the
game to do the physics and tosolve the problems.
You have to be very creative inorder to succeed.
(09:24):
Shrine after shrine after shrine, in the Legend of Zelda, breath
of the Wild, and even with allof that cognitive activity,
hyrule is a sandbox for learning.
You're constantly walkingaround, you're constantly
getting damaged or even lifeended by the monsters that are
in the plains and fields ofHyrule, and you're learning what
(09:45):
works and what doesn't work.
Should I come back here when Ihave different weapons or
different armor?
Should I stay away from herecompletely?
Because my play style isinconvenient for this area?
And I really felt when I wasplaying these games that my play
style was inconvenient for theway.
Link is not very durable.
I need better weapons, I needbetter armor.
(10:05):
I want to max out my stats andbeing that weak is really
challenging for me, which bringsme into other games that have
that sandbox learning potential.
Minecraft is amazing for this.
It is.
Basically, if you took sandtray therapy, removed all the
limits and made it infinite, andthen you put it into a digital
(10:27):
world and used it for therapy,then you would have Minecraft.
Okay, you can create andexpress anything that you want
if you're patient enough andcreative enough.
In a game like that, it's allabout building, and you can also
play survival mode and thingslike that.
I have to admit I'm not verywell versed in how Minecraft
(10:50):
works, because that's not mystyle of game, but one thing
that the Twitch channel is doingfor me during 2025 is, since we
achieved partner and since Ican plan out the things that I
want the channel to be withoutnecessarily worrying about
numbers, I have been branchingout to play different types of
(11:11):
games, different genres.
I'm not limiting myself to justone game.
I'm playing actually five orsix different games right now,
and that's challenging as well.
But gaming can improveeducation this way and this is
the final idea here of what Iwanted to give all of you to
think about the strategies thatwe have to learn in video games
(11:33):
are more than enough to besuccessful in an academic or
work, vocational or relationshipor family setting.
You can actually do a lot foryourself and your self-esteem
and growth through video games.
You can learn a lot about howto have conversations and
support other people throughempathy with video games.
(11:53):
Think about it we just talkedabout Baldur's Gate and
persuading someone to make agood choice.
I love the Persona franchisebecause there are constantly
this mechanism of say the rightthing and the other person
listening will get music notesthat dance above their head.
That is behavioralreinforcement you say something
empathetic and supportive toanother person and they will
(12:15):
respond with positivity towardsyou.
That's also a mechanic thathappens in life.
That is the exact dynamic thatgoverns your friendships and
relationships with other people.
You can learn in a safe spacewhere you're allowed to mess up.
You can learn in a Persona game.
You can learn problem solvingto get through temple rooms and
unlock different areas in yourmap.
(12:37):
That's a Zelda thing, that'salso a Metroidvania thing.
You can do so many things thatwill help you not give up and
see things from a differentangle, get outside of the box
and really show what it is yourbrain is capable of.
And you can refine those skillsin video games, whether it's
(12:58):
hard skills, like being able tolearn, or soft skills like
mental rotation things you can'tactually see or tell about a
person until they demonstrate itfor you.
Video games are filled withthese opportunities and if you
can use these to relax, to copeand de-stress.
We can also use them to learnby new ideas, new intentions
(13:22):
within ourselves and be able toelevate what we bring to the
table philosophically,intellectually, academically and
just.
Our spirit can be unleashed bythe way we play video games.
So do I think video games canimprove education.
They absolutely can.
(13:43):
One of my first peer-reviewedarticles was about how I used an
app called Habitica to create atask list for myself every day
and that task list would give mylittle wizard, my 8-bit wizard
avatar, experience points and Icould unlock new wizard robes
and new hats.
I could unlock new creatures,new dragons, new animals that
(14:06):
can be ridden.
I could unlock new familiars tofloat next to my shoulder.
This app made it so.
Every day I wanted to gain EXPand those tasks were not video
game tasks.
They were the tasks for me tobecome Dr Kaufman, to become,
eventually, dr Gamology, to getthat PhD and finish the program.
(14:26):
And the research I was workingon at the time was looking all
at the personality styles ofplay for over 500 Star Wars, the
Old Republic players.
I was looking at how we playMMORPGs and how that connects
with our personality, and ourpersonality is what creates our
identity and how we interactwith other people, other
(14:48):
situations, other challenges,and the way that we prefer to
rest and restore our energies inlife, make our decisions and
structure our life or notstructure our life.
Are you heavily planned orheavily spontaneous?
Are you moderately planned?
Moderately spontaneous?
The way we play video gamesconnects with who we are as
people.
So if, as people, we valueeducation, then the way we play
(15:10):
video games will enhance ourapproach to education.
If, as people, we are excitedby the way we connect with
others and build relationships,video games will help you see a
lot about yourself, the way youconnect with others and
facilitate growth inrelationships.
Video games will help you see alot about yourself, the way you
connect with others andfacilitate growth in
relationships.
If you are excited by masteryand difficult challenges, video
games will give you thedifficult challenges and see how
(15:32):
much suffering you're willingto overcome and problem solve in
order to gain mastery.
Video games are just a blankcanvas for us to decide what we
want to unlock for ourselves inlife.
It's not that video games takeaway or help develop education.
It's that video games help usdevelop who we are as people.
(15:57):
The way that we relax, de-stressand cope with life is a
reflection of what we wish ourlife had in it.
Those things that restore usare the things that we long for,
and this episode today is justa little talk.
It's just the beginning, thetip of the iceberg.
It's the very top part of themountain that we're all climbing
(16:22):
is really, how can video gameshelp us through life?
How do they build us up andmake us better?
How can I level up as a gamerto be the absolute best version
of myself?
That's what my book, theGamer's Journey, is all about.
It's about looking at thestages of life that we all live
(16:43):
and the challenges we take on,and figuring out what stories
echo this challenge and whatheroes have helped me to believe
in myself during all the toughparts of life.
Whether we're at the beginningand we're in our ordinary world
(17:04):
and we just see a problem andwant to be a part of the
solution, or whether we havesaid my time is now, I'm going
to do this, and you start thejourney, you step out of that
comfort zone and you separatefrom it and you initiate the
process of growth where you canactually achieve the skills,
find the treasures that willmake you better, and these
(17:26):
treasures are not literaltreasures.
They could be philosophical,they could be moralistic, they
could be a worldview, they couldbe a set of skills, unlocking
your talents and abilities,becoming better than you ever
were.
That's what leveling up is.
We level up through gainingexperience, just like we gain
experience in our grade levelfor an entire year and move on
(17:49):
to the next level.
That's a real life level up.
Just like we invest ourselvesin our work and eventually we
might get a promotion and araise.
That's a real life level up.
Just like we connect with otherpeople and we build that
feeling of love over time thatmakes us want to live every
single day of our life with thatperson.
Maybe you connect with them ina lifelong way.
(18:10):
That's a real life level up.
We practice leveling up in videogames because we want to become
better in that world.
But the whole time, I think thelesson we're learning on a
subconscious level is how can welevel up in anything that we
find valuable?
So if you find educationvaluable and that growth and
(18:34):
getting a degree and having anew professional ability so you
can do different work and dodifferent things to make an
impact on your world, and that'show video games will improve
your education is.
It's unlocking your connectionto valuing experience so you can
level up and become the hero ofyour story.
(18:54):
That's what my book is allabout.
That's what this whole thingthat Dr Gamology is about.
It's what the podcast thegaming persona is about and it's
what Gameology is about.
It's what the podcast theGaming Persona is about and it's
what SoloQuest is about.
So thank you so much for hangingwith me on this mini episode.
It's going to hit the podcastfeed later in the week.
(19:15):
I'm excited to give it to allof you.
I may start doing something torelease it early for Patreon
subscribers and Twitchsubscribers and YouTube members
people who are paying for extracontent.
You can still get the episodefrom me live when I do it on
(19:36):
Twitch, so that's the way to getit for free and get it in real
time while it's happening.
I appreciate all your supportand I think all of you are great
.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope that what started with the
D20 chat topic has grown intoactual podcasting episodes.
It was my first time doing oneof these completely on my own.
(19:58):
I'm excited.
I just want to do more.
This was really great.
I appreciate all of you.
Thank you for the people whoput in the chat their support,
their follows, their subs whileI was talking.
I appreciate all of you andwe're going to do this again.
I don't know how often.
I'm testing out a lot ofdifferent things to see what we
(20:20):
can do to make the world betterdestigmatize video games and
help people who maybe don't playgames to see it in a different
way.
But if you do play games, to beproud of what you do every
single time you log in.
So that's the message todayFind that experience, enjoy it,
appreciate it, let it fill youup and, as always, continue the
(20:42):
journey, friends.
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