Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Addiction

“My child is gaming too much!” is a common statement we hear from many parents, especially during this stay home period. Gaming has become an integral part of life for many. The concern escalates when at the 72nd World Health Assembly, 194 members of the WHO unanimously agreed to adopt the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), which includes ‘gaming disorder’ as a recognised disease. The new classifications will come into effect on 1 January 2022. Below is WHO video on Gaming Disorder.

Why are games so attractive? How do we keep up with the increasing number of games? How can we make sense out of this sea of games? Join Ruth Lim in a journey into the world of games. We will explore the various types of games and game genres that are popular among the youth, breaking down the various components of game design.  Gamers are not all the same, and they have different motivations categorised by their Player Types. By understanding your child’s world of games and the motivations of your child as a gamer, you can understand your child and their needs better to start off conversations and deepen the relationship.

The cause of addiction is not only from the substance, in our case, gaming. It happens when deeper human needs are not met. Join Nicholas Lim to learn more about addiction from a psychologist point of view. Through the explanation of the brain development of youths, Nicholas will also explore strategies for parents to communicate and connect with gamers.

The session will be moderated by Pauline Phoon, the founder of SOOS OIO LLP and COMEBACK PTE LTD.

Below is an animation about Addiction based on Bruce Alexander’s research about the cause of addiction.

 ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Nicholas Gabriel Lim

Nicholas Gabriel Lim is a registered psychologist, who has worked with youths for 2 decades. He is the co-founder of the Youth Work Association (Singapore), the author of the ebook Clash of the Mind and Heart: Understanding Adolescents, a clinical supervisor to young budding psychologist, and a youth mentor!

He has spent his career in the people, private and public sectors. All of which have been with youths, families, and advocates of youths. Given his depth and breadth of work with youths, he has been on various government advisory councils, like the Media Literacy Council and the National Council for Problem Gambling.

Nicholas not only has Degrees in Psychology from the University of Queensland and the Nanyang Technological University, but also various clincial and practice certificates like for Youth Work Coaching and Supervision, Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, Adventure Therapy, and Therapeutic Behavior Management, just to name a few. He is currently pursuing his law degree.

In his free time, Nicholas enjoys reading a good book and heading to the gym. Together with his beautiful wife, he has three children. He lives by his favorite mantra, a life well reflected would be life well live!

Nicholas Lim’s Website: https://nigel.com.sg/

Ruth “Potatofluff” Lim
Ruth is on staff with SOOS OIO as an Esports Coach and co-developed TeleTrip, an offline gaming community event. She conducts DOTA 2 foundational classes and workshops for Esports Academy under SCOGA and also teaches the module “Team Management” in Informatics Diploma for Esports and Game Design.

Ruth Lim coached a competitive DOTA 2 team TenTwenty in 2017 that won CPL Championship DOTA 2 Edition 2017, came in 1st in Dew Challenge 2017 and represented Singapore in Asia Pacific Predator League in 2018. Ruth managed Team Impunity FIFA Online 3 who got 3rd in EA Champions Cup (EACC) Winter Cup 2016 representing Singapore. In 2017, she coached Team Impunity FIFA Online 3.

Ruth graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with Diploma in Games & Entertainment Technology and SIT-University of Glasgow in Bachelors of Science with Honours in Computing Science. She also holds a CoachSG coaching certificate.

Well recognized in the DOTA 2 community, Ruth attended numerous international gaming tournaments, got to know and learnt from many of the top players worldwide. Ruth hopes to share her knowledge and experience to gamers in Singapore and beyond.

Guest Speaker from Media Literacy Council

Dr Jiow Hee Jhee
Dr Jiow Hee Jhee is the Assistant Professor and Programme Director of BSc (Hons) Digital Communications and Integrated Media programme at Singapore Institute of Technology and member of the Media Literacy Council. He specialises in the impact of media on the family, media law and ethics, as well as cyber wellness and cybercrime studies.

Other Resources

Click here to read and download the free Understanding Games and Gamers Ebook + Games and Gamers Chart.

COMEBACK is a professional game dependency intervention program. Click here to access the Game Dependency Test.