As some of you know, I work as an advocate and mentor for people on the autism spectrum.

Just today, the organizers of an upcoming conference have asked me to give a talk on how gaming as a medium and a hobby relates to people on the spectrum. Mostly I'll be talking about how gaming has been a very helpful tool for me in terms of relieving stress and providing a safe environment to escape to, and since a lot of the audience will be people aged 40-60, I want to try to break down some antiquated stereotypes about gaming, like it causing anti-social behaviour or dumbing kids down.

I was wondering if there is anyone else here on the spectrum who would like to shares their views or experiences in regards to gaming?

That's interesting! I'm not an autist, but I was (and I'm still struggling with it) a totally social inept in my childhood. I had a lot of problems getting on with my school mates, and I went through some psychological therapies to overcome my social problems. So even if it's not the spectrum you're asking for, maybe my own experience will be helpful for you.

So, videogames acted like a therapy to me, and they helped me to establish bonds with other people at school. I remember being incapable to talk with anyone, so the usual was to see me with my GBC in a distant corner of the playground playing games. Focusing in something I really loved helped me to go through the hell that school was for me. Though it seems that this acted in the opposed way making me feel more isolated, in the end it was my first step to overcome my social issues. So, what I'm going to say might some weird or even ridiculous, but this first step wasn't the therapies, it was called Pokémon xDDD. It had a huge impact in my childhood, and probably in my entire life. Why? Pokémon was a phenomenom back in those days. So, when people saw me playing in that bloody corner, they started to approach me with their own GBCs to ask for a battle, or just trading Pokémons. Seeing people who share the same passion as me, and who started to talk to me willingly was a huge impact for me. It was a painfully slow process, but I started to open up with those people. With time, I really felt I could trust some people, so meetings for gaming in our homes began. I really have very fond memories of playing videogames in my friends' houses, and having some laughs with them. And one of my most vivid childhood memories was the first time I brought friends at home. My parents were there, and they were literally crying when they see me with some other people, laughing with them, and having fun. They became the biggest videogames' defenders with other parents when they saw that, even making some conferences back in my town about the benefits of gaming on people with social issues.

So, here you go, I don't know if this would be helpful, but it's my honest experience with videogames and the process of overcoming social issues and their important part that they had in my life. Pretty interesting topic if you ask me, so good luck with your conference ;)

Thanks heaps man, that does actually help a lot; that's an angle I hadnt considered yet, that it can be a tool for sociliazing. 

I'm a 20-somethinger on the Spectrum. I was only diagnosed a few years ago, after I became a regular poster here.

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Back in 2010, I was getting back into the Pokemon series after taking a break for a few years. That year, a popular challenge a lot of players were doing for the single player was the "Nuzlocke" rules. Basically, think Pokemon with mandatory nicknames, permadeath, and limited chances to capture anything. I used HeartGold for my run, and it wasn't too long before I had a team full of nicknamed critters at my side. The one I came to rely on the most was a Zubat I named Piconjo. (Piconjo was an animator on Newgrounds back in the day.)

I learned two things from Piconjo. First, it was that even a seemingly bad aquaintance could end u being a wonderful thing. Because let's face it, when you see a Level 3 Zubat in a cave, you're rarely going to jump with joy. But somehow, whenever something tough came up, Piconjo turned out to be the right man/bat for the job. Protecting other party members from the bug gyms's Scyther, devastating Morty's Haunters with Bite, being fast enough to run away from unwanted fights... I wasn't always making the best decisions, but Piconjo the stupid bat had my back.

The second lesson I learned from Piconjo was Fragility.

Rattata is one of the most basic Pokemon in the game. It's basically the rodent counterpart of Zubat. Even trained Rattata are pretty weak, let alone wild ones. And it was only level 18. Piconjo was tougher. But it turns out, that Rattata at that level know Hyper Fang. That move gets a boost when a Normal typed Pokemon like Rattata uses it. So when you factor that with the possibility of a critical hit and the individual stats of the wild rattata... It was a one-hit kill.

What really surprised me was not that I lost a valued party member that I had been growing strangely attached to. Well, at least not entirely. It was that it was so quick and meaningless. Again, it was a random encounter with a very basic enemy that went completely wrong. After everything else, it was anticlimatic.

And this got me thinking about people around me. It doesn't take much for a person to be hurt or worse, and it is usually meaningless. most people don't die because they were leading an operation to evacuate people from a disaster or whatever. We die because of stupid, meaningless things like clots of blood, a moment of being distracted, the wrong medication. It could be a long process, but this is not a guarantee.

So ever since that evening in 2010, I've been acting differently. Remembering that this stranger I'm meeting could be the best surprise of my life, but also that I could not take certain things for granted. When I argue with relatives, I try to be sure to let them know I love them before we part ways. I try to reach out to people, who could soon be gone from my life even if they are perfectly fine. I've made an effort to help others prevent their own pain when I can. And I try to live so that, if I die within the next few minutes, I will have no shames left behind. Regrets and wishes would be inevitable, but I can live with those. Metaphorically.

As it turned out, once I realized how Fragile people were, it became instinct to value them more highly.

Thanks Piconjo, you annoying little bat-thing. Sorry for letting you down.

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I have a couple of other ancedote/story/reflection things, but that's probably the one that had the greatest impact while tying directly to a game.

Thanks Salnax!

This running theme of Pokemon is certainly interesting.

Sounds like a good plan you should definitely do!

Gaming has def helped me creatively. It was probably do to games that I got into drawing. As a kid, I transitioned from Sonic, to Ristar, to Kirby, and then took off to other drawing related things after that, but games are likely what got me on that path. I may have not become a drawer if it wasn't for games.

Also, it really helped me connect to a lot of people when I started college. I has to leave my home and friends, and start over again. I met a lot of guys who liked games and Smash, and we played every night to the point we had a GC and later Wii on at all times with smash in it. It def helped me connect to a lot of people.

Hope those stories help.

I don't have autism, so I don't know if what I'm going to post here will help. But, all the friends I've made during my school years, was made with a combination of playing outside, video games, pokemon cards, yugioh cards, watching DBZ, and Martial Art movies. Even to this day, decades later, we're still friends and we keep in touch. It's through all of these things, I've made a bunch of friends from not even trying at all.

Secondly, let me just say bad parents let their kids play CoD, and GTA games. so with that said, I think parents needs to be more responsible. Let their kids share it up, and don't abuse it. homework first, then games. that is how i was raised. Now look how awesome I am. Believe it!

My brother has Autism, he loves listening to music amd watching videos on his ps vita, he can't play the games, we've tried to get him into it but he just enjoys watching it, he can't pay attention for more than five seconds when I had him the controller. My parents bought him an ipad for Christmas as it has a bigger screen and more storage but my brother still chose to use the vita, I'm sure it's the u.i, as well as because it's what he's used to but I'd definitely say it's partly down to the U.I, it's just a lot simpler to use than an ipad

I'm diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and I'm definitely not the most socializable guy in places like school.

During elemntary school, even though I was extremely shy at first, video games was one way that I was able to easily talk to other kids without really worrying about these differnent sort of social factors, like how I look, or how I act. We would always talk about Pokemon, and whenever we were able to play our GBAs on certain occasions, it allowed us to talk about a hobby we like. We played a lot of Pokemon, and we were also able to bond over games that were completely new to us, such as Kirby and Fire Emblem.

A lot of the friends I made in elementary are pretty much gone now, as they pretty much moved to another country, or a completely different area in my state. I still have a friend in high school that I talk a lot to, and we like talking about games, such as Pokemon and Undertale. I still find it interesting that Pokemon, despite not really being a franchise I care for, still helped me to develop social relations, as it was still something a lot of people were interested in.

I don't have it but when I was in high school I was accidentally put in the special needs study hall for 2 years -we found out within the first week (the teacher and I) that I didn't belong there but I decided to stay and help her with the other students, so I worked basically as a tutor for the special needs kids if I didn't have any homework. Among them were kids with autism in varying severity and something that seemed to motivate them a lot was gaming. Some of them were unable to go into clubs or sports due to other issues that accompanied their autism so an alternative for them was video games. At the time it was really big for them to play on their 3DS's and such and if they finished their assignments before the end of study hall we'd let them play on it (if their grades were up to standard, which they often times weren't, unfortunately). But yeah, it isn't super gaming related but it was a way some children with autism benefited from gaming