Video games as quarantine therapy

(ANSA) - ROME, APRIL 1 - Video games can be a therapy and pastime during the quarantine for the coronavirus epidemic. This is the sense of the #PlayApartTogerther campaign launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the video game industry to respect the rules of social distancing and to be distracted while indoors. The initiative sees WHO on the field as major companies in the sector such as Activision Blizzard, Snap Games, Amazon Appstore, Twitch, Big Fish Games, Riot Games, YouTube Gaming and Zynga, to name a few. The organization hopes that the industry will "reach millions of people with important messages to help prevent the spread of Covid-19," said WHO ambassador for global strategy Ray Chambers in a statement.
"It has never been so crucial to ensure that people stay safe. Games are the perfect platform.
We are proud to participate in such a useful initiative, "explains Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard." Physical distancing must not mean social isolation - adds Nicolo Laurent, CEO of Riot Games - Let's keep ourselves physically separate and adopt #PlayApartTogether to overcome this crisis".
It is quite significant that the WHO is taking this initiative. Just a few months ago, at the end of January, the World Health Organization, shone a beacon on video game addiction by inserting the "gaming disorder" in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.