IT doesn’t take long for Paul Ewing to get to the point.
“Usually articles about video games are sensationalist stuff like Grand Theft Auto made me kill my granny,” he says. “There’s never been a study to back up these claims.
“It if was true, then three billion people would be a ticking time bomb.
“It would be like the apocalypse if that was the case.”
The filmmaker is talking to the Glasgow Times about his quest to find out the truth around the obsession of nearly a third of the world’s population.
Will video games make you go on a violent rampage? What good can they do? And what is the link between the industry and mental health?
The Sandyhills man will look to answer these questions in his first ever documentary, Mind Games, which began filming last month.
“The documentary is looking at the relationship between mental health and video games, looking at both the positive and the negative,” Paul, 33, says. “It was lockdown that really started it and it was a time where people were struggling with their mental health.
“People who wouldn’t usually be struggling could be because of the
restrictions.
“I saw a number of article which suggested video games are good for your mental health, which was a bit of a shift.
“I turned to games quite a lot during lockdown. They took my mind off things also helped me do a bit of self-reflection.
“In any difficult moment I have had to go through, games have helped.
“I am going to explore people’s personal stories.
“It’s not something I have suffered with greatly in my own life, but I know, from research, two out of three people who suffer don’t get any help.”
Paul does have a personal connection to mental health issues, however.
Two of his uncles have taken their own lives as a result of personal demons and Paul is determined to help others.
He says: “One uncle [took his life] back in 2001 and it was the first death in our family; that opened me up to the idea that mental health was an issue and people suffer in silence. Unfortunately, through lockdown, another uncle committed suicide.
"It was out the blue. That’s another motivation for doing this to make people more aware.”
Throughout his documentary, Paul will feature experts in video games, mental health, and also those within the industry.
This will include Dr Matthew Barr, of the University of Glasgow, Dr Marcus Tan, and journalist Victoria Hood, gaming editor at TechRadar.
“One of the guys I have spoken to is Matthew Barr,” Paul continues.
“In a big study, he found gamers by and large outstripped those who don’t play in gaining graduate skills.
“He also found people’s mental health improved by playing games.
“These are qualities that are often overlooked and there’s academic evidence to show these sensationalist stories are wrong.”
You can donate to Mind Games here.
Do you have an East End story? Email jack.haugh@newsquest.co.uk or join our East End Community Group on Facebook.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here