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It may be surprising for us to believe, because of their outrageous popularity, but video games haven’t been around for all that long. Of course, we needed the television to be invented to gleam its exciting rewards, so in the 1950’s, early 60’s, computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations. It’s said that the first game, called Spacewar! was developed by an MIT hobbyist in 1962. And it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the first video home console was released. After that, new innovations began springing up left and right. Whether it was virtual reality, hand-held gaming systems or facial recognition like we have today, the video gaming arena is ever-evolving.

One thing that has remained true though over the years is the high amount of violence that is shown through various video games. In fact, 75% of video games are violent in nature.

In an article written by the American Psychological Association they say, ‘Violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. In the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise.’

In an effort to embrace both the technology and need for loving and healthy supporting video games, Guardians of Peace was born. Debra Artt, with the help of her daughter Jenna created Guardians of Peace with the intentions of healing kids all over the world.  Using qigong, a popular form of meditation, so popular in fact that it’s taught in schools all over China, Guardians of Peace teaches kids how to meditate while having fun. But it’s not the ‘lotus position meditation’ format that can be sometimes difficult for kids to grasp. It’s more a karate-style meditation that keeps children engaged and coming back for more. The practice ultimately leads to better health, increased happiness, and improved mental clarity. 

Not only is technology embraced in the video game but diversity is an important element in Guardians of Peace as well. The game was created intentionally to feature characters that were of all different walks of life, nationalities and cultures. Continual time spent in front of the video game will inevitably create new neural pathways in the brain to allow for better storylines to be made within the child. New, more accepting beliefs help create more accepting and open kids. 

Parents, consider introducing Guardians of Peace to the whole family. It’s one less fight you’ll have when it comes to video game usage! 

Guardians of Peace is available on Xbox, Google Play, and on the Apple App store. 

From Ticker News Insight, Debra Artt, CEO, Creator of Guardians of Peace and philanthropist, is interviewed to discuss her success in creating Guardians of Peace, with the nudge of her daughter, Jenna. The plan of the game was to help give children the skills to reframe emotional experiences using kindness, meditation and of course love. 

As Debra leads the conversation, ‘My daughter suffered from depression for many years…She started doing some research on meditation and energy healing. And she actually was the one that brought that into the home and it just made a world of difference in her healing. Then I started looking around at drug abuse and the violence in the world…and the whole common denominator was teaching the kids how to calm their minds. The meditation and energy healing does that and I thought I have to get this out to kids all over the world and what better way than to make it an app or a game!’  

When creating Guardians of Peace, Debra had high hopes of creating a teaching game that didn’t make it obvious to kids that they were in a learning environment. To achieve just that she enlisted the skills of her friend who was able to make the game cool and created enticing graphics to keep the kids coming back for more. Debra also does her due diligence and works with seven mentors of all different backgrounds and races to be able to relate to children and show them we can make the world a better place.

The interview then goes into the recent development of the game being made available through Xbox, which has been a huge achievement for the Guardians of Peace team. Debra explains that this game was created as an app first and then the team decided it needed a larger reach and Xbox was all in! 

Finally, the interview rounds out with the crux of the game which is qigong, a form of meditation with a large following. Qigong is so well touted in China that it is taught in their schools. Debra discusses how easy it is for kids to do and says it’s more a karate-style form of meditation that keeps everyone engaged. And not only engaged but illnesses are improved, moods are better and the kids are more present.