Andrew's Side of the Story

Hi, I'm Andrew.

I work in the Australian public service and became interested in mental health following my own experience of depression and anxiety, and also from seeing the sheer scale of the issue and its effects when I was working in youth policy.

In addition to my personal experience, I’ve come across a fair few people while gaming who were struggling with their mental health and were in desperate need to have someone to talk to, but didn’t know where to turn. I have a background in Psychology, but never followed through with my degree - I’m no counsellor. All I could do is offer an empathic ear and encourage people to talk to someone who is on their side and can help bring clarity and a positive way forward. I think Play it Say it would make taking that step a little bit easier, and could be the thing that enables someone to get the help they need.

I also think it makes sense for Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo as a way to support their language around community and to be responsible with the community they are building. It makes commercial sense too – as a parent it would influence my decision about which brand to buy for my kids.

If you like the idea, let us know. If you have concerns, let us know them as well. Got a related idea? We’d love to hear it.

You can catch me on Xbox live through my gamertag: SevenT5, or you can email me here at andrew@playitsayit.com.

Be well, and thanks for stopping by.

Andrew

How we met

Well, about 11 years ago my brother brought Elizabeth round to meet the family and I kicked her arse in a game of not so friendly Monopoly. During the game I dished out a bit of trash talk – as I thought was my right as the person with the most money. But, as a competitive person herself, Elizabeth took some offence and (quite rightly) placed me squarely in a box labelled ‘entirely despicable’.

Elizabeth ended up marrying my brother, but that didn’t work out. But when she moved to Canberra for work, our kids wanted to hang out, as cousins are want to do. We got to chatting and resolved our differences over a game of Yahtzee (I let her win) and got to know each other.

Elizabeth saw the competition BodyShock the Future and, when she mentioned it to me, I let her know this idea I’d been kicking around for a while and wondering how to take it forward. Elizabeth is a gun web designer and threw the site and presentation together in a couple of days. Now here we are!

Impressed? I was. If you’re looking for someone to do a job for you, or you have a space in your organisation for a dedicated and talented person, drop her an email. She’s looking for a job, but will no doubt be snapped up soon… so get in quick!

Elizabeth's Side of the Story

Hi, I'm Elizabeth.

I make ideas come to life. I'm a strategist and help with the implementation of IT-related ideas in the business and education spaces. I am also a jack-of-all-trades having skills in programming, graphic design, system design, project management, elearning, SEO and just making things work.

I think this idea of Andrew's has a lot of potential and I can really see how it would be helpful, even lifesaving, for all people who play games, but especially young men.

I live with three male housemates (including my 11 year old son) who all retreat to their games after a hard day at work or school. Being a girl, I love to talk about my problems to anyone who will listen ("enough about me, let's talk about you, what do you think of me?!"), but I've noticed that boys do the opposite. They go very quiet and just want to be alone, usually to play games.

It's my hope that this website creates interest and momentum around the idea of using gaming to support the health of young men, so please send the link to a friend, tweet about the site, or add it to your Facebook page. Also, we would really appreciate your vote for the BodyShock Your Body competition so we can take this idea to California.

If you would like to talk to me about this idea or anything else, email me at elizabeth@playitsayit.com or message me through Xbox Live, my gamer tag is HarryHeadbanger (I love ABBA & Colin Firth!!).

Thanks for checking out our site. I am really excited that other people are supportive of Andrew and me and our idea.

All the best,

Elizabeth.

How we met

It was actually 12 years ago that Andrew and I had a falling out over a game of Monopoly. My opinion of him at the time was that he wasn't a very nice person and him being a bad sportsperson that particular day was the last straw. We didn't talk again.

That was, of course, until a few months ago when my son and I moved to Canberra, where Andrew also now lives. So when my ex-husband asked me to drop our son over at Andrew's place to play with his cousins, I wasn't looking forward to it.

As it turned out though, Andrew seemed kind of okay, and a few days later I invited him over for a game of Yahtzee. (Random and strange I know, but I had bought it the previous day in a vain attempt to trick my son into stop playing his Xbox for 5 minutes.)

I totally flogged Andrew that day but only because he had never played it before. And, as a good sportsperson, I let him in on all my Yahztee tricks.

So quite ironically, we fell out over a game, become friends 12 years later over a game and are now working on this idea to do with games!

The only correct part of his story was how impressive I am! haha

Andrew is pretty impressive himself though. His most notable achievement in my mind was his involvement in supporting the Australian National Advisory Group on Body Image to develop the Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct to provide national guidance to the fashion, media and advertising industries to bring about long-term cultural change in regards to body image, especially women's body image. And besides that, he's just a really good mate!

Hi, I’m Adam.

I’ve spent the last 13 years in the field of sales/marketing. Right now I’m a university student studying computer science. The hope would be to someday use that degree to do something gaming related even if its just something on the side of a real job.

In my life I’ve had many close friends and family members deal with depression and other mental health issues. It's something very personal to me and something I’m very passionate about. Unlike Andrew I don't have anything close to a psychology background, but I've always tried to be a good listener and a shoulder to lean on for those close to me when they needed it. During those times I always wished there was something other than traditional counseling, since recognising that you need that sort of support is sometimes not the easiest thing to admit to yourself.

I think the idea of online counseling via games is a great solution to that problem. In every situation that I have personally dealt with people, they were simply looking for someone comfortable to talk with, in a casual and non-confrontational environment. This wouldn't be the answer for everyone, but for those that already enjoy gaming, this could be the perfect place for them to seek support.

How We Met

I met Andrew 7 years ago across the battle field of Halo 2. We met online as we both had some mutual friends we gamed with. Over the years as online friends came and went Andrew and I just grew closer. Now a day hardly passes that the two of us aren’t either emailing each other or online shooting virtual bad guys or commanding virtual armies together.

I just recently met Elizabeth thanks to this project. Andrew had shared his idea with me a while back and I was a big fan, but neither of us had the skills to get it going. So when Elizabeth shared the Bodyshock the Future competition with Andrew he shared his idea with her, the two of them were nice enough to include me in this journey.

If you have any ideas or feedback please let us know - all thoughts are welcome. I can be reached here at adam@playitsayit.com or feel free to toss me a message on Xbox live, my gamer tag is: Ranius.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look,

Adam