ABSTRACT
Repressing the act of play and imagination can have a detrimental effect on the cognitions, behaviors, and emotional outcome of children. Fantasy play and make-believe play is an important facet for children growing up, creating a safe place or setting in which to express their fears and desires. By participating in pretend play or role playing, individuals are incorporating past experiences, knowledge, and integration of the world around them to conceptually understand what it means to be alive and cognizant. Video games give the player the opportunity to face the fear based on their own personal power. Their characters develop throughout the game and grow more powerful as the player continues through the story. The relationship, and the defeating of the fear concepts, can be extrapolated from the video game into real life using the same variables the player used to develop their character to appropriately handle their difficulties.
