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Author Topic: Modding Starsector as a tool in Mental Health Therapy  (Read 457 times)

Tecrys

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Modding Starsector as a tool in Mental Health Therapy
« on: May 30, 2021, 03:28:23 AM »

Warning!

Reader discretion is advised. This forum thread might contain sensitive topics or information that might be upsetting to some readers.
If mental health issues and illnesses are subjects that are difficult to handle for you, this thread might not be ideal for you to say the least.

Sidenote for moderators:
It is not my intention to upset anyone or similar but I feel the need to post this here.
In case the subject matter does not belong into a game forum or should be located in a different sub forum, feel free to move or even delete this thread.

I appologize in advance for any inconveniences this might cause.




I am writing this while being a patient in a mental health clinic. For about five years now I am suffering from long and short periods of depression, low self esteem and feelings of being worthless or not good enough.
Now as my plans for writing a new mod and leaving my first mod (Biomancy Genetic Engineering) behind to start fresh are relatively recent, i noticed that planning out the essence of my new mod does help me cope with my current situation. For me it is a method to stay active and use my time in a productive way.
The whole structure of my daily life has been gone for a long time now and this brings all sorts of problems one might think about with it as I was vegetating in front of my computer.
As a result of that I felt unable to do most things that are fun or productive in some way, partly because there is a deep sense of not doing things good enough.

An important keyword in this context is perfectionism: A lot of times I didn't even try things because I was sure it wouldn't be good enough when it was finished.
This is a big problem. As long as one doesn't start something it can't be finished, regardless of potentially doing it right or wrong.
Now, doing things right is nice but doing things wrong is something special since it gives the opportunity to learn.

And this is the time where I get back to modding Starsector:
I did a lot of things wrong in BGE and I learned from it. I learned that it is important to have a plan and structure to avoid chaos in code and assets,
that it is important to find a niche for factions, weapons, ships and hullmodas and that it is important to plan this out beforehand.

What does this have to do with mental health?

Just as I learned the importance of planning and structure in mods, I learned that this is important for daily life. Not having some kind of schedule and structure makes it easy to cancel things you want or have to do, the end result is lethargy which leads to depression.

A different side of modding as a therapy tool is seeing that you are able to create something.
Creation with resources and tools is a good way of sparking creativity and a good amount of dopamine is released seeing your creation grow and being finished. It is a good way of fighting the feeling of worthlessness and overly strong perfectionism since you can keep working on a mod and getting ever so slightly closer to the thing you imagined in the first place.
Ergotherapy works on the same principles, so modding really can be a therapy tool.

What else can we draw from modding in a therapy context?

Everything we create is at the same time a reflection of ourselves. As an example, if you knit a scarf you might choose a color you like.
Does the Scarf have a pattern? Does it have fringes?
Those are indicators that are able to tell us something about ourselves.
What is the identity of the faction you are making for Starsector? Are they aggressive or peacieful? High tech or low tech?
These are all things that can mirror parts of our personalities, we just have to interpret them.

Why might that be useful?

Taking a step out of our heads and looking inside them by analyzing those questions can give a better understanding of ourselves.
And with understanding comes acceptance.
Acceptance of our flaws and strengths.
Acceptance of our personality traits.
And there's something else that comes with accepting ourselves as we are: self love.
Don't get me wrong here, self love doesn't mean you love only yourself and are arrogant or anything along those lines, no. It means being in peace with yourself.
I belive there is little more important then self love. It actually gives you the ability to love others and love them more deeply.

In the end that's what life is about: Love.
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Arcagnello

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Re: Modding Starsector as a tool in Mental Health Therapy
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2021, 03:51:08 AM »

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum subsection of the forum to write this in either, but I'm glad you shared this nonetheless!

The fact Starsector and the modding scene can indirectly (on in your case, pretty directly) improve someone's life like this is a testament of how good of a platform Starsector is and how good of a community this game has! Fingers crossed for your content to find new life and be integrated into mods eventually. I'll definetly play that mod when that happens eventually; I do play with pretty much all new mods eventually afterall :)

And who knows, you might even resuscitate your assents into their own mod eventually, I'll be looking forward to that if it ever happens!
« Last Edit: May 30, 2021, 03:54:55 AM by Arcagnello »
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The therapist removed my F5 key.