Behind Them Sticks: Dr. Rachel Kowert Interview

Welcome again to Behind Them Sticks where the host Hamsolo sits back and interviews content creators, general gamers, and people within the gaming industry about their gaming history. In this special episode, Ham speaks with an actual psychologist about the way video games should or can be perceived.

The person being interviewed is Dr. Rachel Kowert. She has been a gamer since the original NES days. Dr. Kowert found herself loving gaming even more as she fell in love with the RPG genre and it all started with a little game by the name of Final Fantasy 6.

About Dr. Rachel Kowert

As she grew up she got into PC gaming and RTS games became her thing. Games like Civilization and The Sims became her new jam as she became an adult.

Between 2006 and 2007 as she was well on her way to getting her Master’s Degree in Psychology, World of Warcraft was the new big game. It was such a large shift in how gaming was played, that health in video games became a question more than ever before. With all the concerns, panic, and scary headlines surrounding the game, she noticed that there was a lack of scientific evidence to back up all of this fear.

At that moment, Dr. Rachel Kowert realized that there was a space to research how video games impact people. More specifically how gamers interact with video games like World of Warcraft.

At this time, Dr. Kowert continues to conduct research and she often speaks at universities and gaming functions. Around the time of the COVID pandemic, she made a YouTube channel and posted some of her findings, places she has spoken at, and tips to be generally healthy when gaming.

To find out more about Dr. Rachel Kowert, check out the video above.

Be sure to check out the Behind Them Sticks interview with none other than the OG Xbox Godfather, Seamus Blackley.

Post by: Hamsolo of the They Said We Said YouTube channel.