Self-esteem games are not intended to diagnose low self-esteem, but they are designed to increase self-esteem by displaying a positive ability or function of the player. Games such as Grow Your Chi, Eye Spy and Wham are all video type, computer-based self-esteem games that offer a certain level of pride in the player upon completing the activity. While somewhat difficult at first, the player gains pride in self as the self-esteem games progress and the player's score is increased. Other games include written projects that ask the players to describe all of the good things about themselves or to identify likes and dislikes.
Grow Your Chi is one of the self-esteem games that asks the player to identify a smiling face and the player's name from many photographs of frowning faces and lists of other names. This creates the ability to identify a smile or a happy face from plain, angry or sad faces. Often, outside of playing self-esteem games, the player has no understanding or concept of a smiling face. This is due, in part, to the player's focus on the negative aspect of the world and failure to see the happiness in anything or anyone. It is not uncommon for a player to go through several rounds of these types of self-esteem games without seeing a single smile.
Another of the self-esteem games is Eye Spy. In this game, players are shown a collage of faces and asked to click on the smiling or positive-looking face in the quickest time possible. This causes the player to identify the different expressions demonstrated by the self-esteem games. The player is timed on the average time it takes to identify the correct images and given a time or score. The player is allowed to replay the game over and over and note the decrease in time that it takes to identify the happy and positive images.
When playing Wham, the player is asked to click on a picture or word in the most expedient way possible. The game is intended to increase one's awareness about his or her link to other people and words. By making the player focus on the many different types of faces and appearances, he or she is forced to recognize the different type of expressions. This also allows the player to understand that there are many other people that are important in life and that the world does not revolve around him or her alone.
