Singapore Parental Control Tools

In the digital era, mobile devices and the Internet have become indispensable for children and young adults, serving as both educational and entertainment platforms. This new digital landscape presents unique challenges for parents, requiring them to navigate the complex task of managing their children’s online experiences. Fortunately, Parental Control Tools offer a valuable solution, empowering […]

COMEBACK 2023 in a Snapshot

2023 is quite a year where two global wars started and still on going. On the positive note, we are thankful that the pandemic is over and normalcy of life is back.COMEBACK has continued to provide workshops to MOE teachers and also ran our school programmes of Game Addiction Talk and TeleTrip Workshop. Our annual Parents Webinar: […]

COMEBACK Defender at Digital for Life Festival

Defender is a mini game set in an alternate retro-futuristic Singapore, driven by open-ended dialogue where the player must convince three town elders that Winsemius’ helmet is as much a force for good as it is for distraction. The player’s role is to serve as the defender of Winsemius with his mysterious illusion-generating helmet. Join […]

Parenting Challenge Workshop: Communicating & Engaging Gaming Youths at Home through Role Play 2023

We are pleased to have our Parenting Challenge Workshops as part of the Digital for Life Festival 2023. This 2-hour workshop is a follow-up to our Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Addiction. During the Webinar, communication strategies and theories on games and gamers were introduced. The application of the strategies and theories in […]

Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Dependency 27 May 2023

Event Info 活动信息 Date: 27 May 2023 (Sat) Time: 8.30am – 11.30am (Singapore Time)Cost: FreeVenue: Zoom WebinarRegistration Link: https://bit.ly/UGGG2023 (Registration opens at 4pm on 28 April 2023) NOTE: A unique zoom link will be emailed to you to join the webinar. Please sign up using the email address you use for your Zoom account. Otherwise you […]

Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Dependency 12 Nov 2022

Event Info 活动信息 Date: 12 Nov 2022 (Sat) Time: 9.00am – 12.00pmCost: FreeVenue: Zoom Webinar NOTE: A unique zoom link will be emailed to you to join the webinar. Please sign up using the email address you use for your Zoom account. Otherwise you might have problem logging into the Zoom webinar as the zoom links […]

IAMCR Beijing 2022 – Game Player Types and its Influence on Game Dependency

We presented our paper “Game Player Types and its Influence on Game Dependency” at IAMCR Beijing this year and got good reviews. Below is the abstract of the paper: Authors Dr. Hee Jhee Jiow – Singapore Institute of Technology Mr. Xing Yong Poh – COMEBACK Pte LtdMs. Pauline Phoon – SOOS OIO LLPMs. Ruth Lim […]

What is Gaming Addiction?

A Gaming Addict. We often hear this label being used to describe someone who is playing video games excessively. While everyone has their own take on how much is considered excessive, many can agree that the line is crossed when real life priorities are neglected. For some, this may mean skipping school, avoiding social activities, […]

Parenting Challenge Workshop: Communicating & Engaging Gaming Youths at Home through Role Play May 2022

This 2-hour workshop is a follow-up to our Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Addiction. During the Webinar, communication strategies and theories on games and gamers were introduced. The application of the strategies and theories in a real-life family situation is not easy. Role play is a good tool to help contextualize the strategies […]

Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Dependency 21 May 2022

We are running the 5th edition of our Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Dependency this year! We are thankful for Tencent’s support to be able to make this webinar free for all.  In 2020, we had 2765 Singapore secondary school students complete COMEBACK’s Game Dependency Test. 19.4% of the students have game dependency, […]

Parents Webinar: Understanding Games, Gamers and Game Addiction

In 2020, we had 2765 Singapore secondary school students complete COMEBACK’s Game Dependency Test. 19.4% of the students have game dependency, with 4% being significant. This means that one out of five teenagers in Singapore have some form of disruptions in their lives related to gaming. To read the full report, go to https://www.comeback.world/2020/10/08/game-dependency-in-singapore-secondary-school-students-2020/ Games […]

My First Experience with a Gacha Game

Recently, there were several  articles about loot boxes and how it can be addictive to players: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/primary-secondary-school-students-may-be-taught-dangers-of-loot-boxes-in-games-from-2021  https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/what-loot-boxes-in-video-games-are-and-why-they-can-be-as-addictive-as-gambling  https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/teaching-about-loot-boxes-long-overdue  https://stories.nws.ai/1288493254/can-loot-boxes-be-as-addictive-as-gambling/#0  “What exactly are loot boxes?”  Loot boxes are in-game mystery boxes which may contain desirable in-game items such as strong weapons, beautiful costumes and rare characters. It is usually not possible to buy or trade […]

Game Dependency in Singapore – Secondary School Students 2020

Introduction Game dependency refers to a situation where gamers become dependent on games, engaging in a gaming lifestyle that disrupts some areas of their lives. Some areas of disruption include relationships, school or work performance, and personal health. The National Institute of Education (NIE) conducted a study¹ in 2010 on pathological video-gaming rates in Singapore, […]

Violent Games and Aggression

Does playing violent video games elicit aggressive behaviours among young gamers? This is a common question posed by many parents. After all, games are becoming increasingly accessible in recent years, with current and upcoming popular games being made available on the mobile device. Some research has shown that violent video games may elicit aggressiveness among young […]

The 4 Gamer Player Types

Gamers are not all the same. We have different motivations and objectives when we play. Gamers can be categorised in 4 broad categories called Player Types. ⁠The 4 broad Player Types are Achievers, Gurus, Explorers and Socializers. We will explain each of the Player Types in a little more detail below. Achiever Player Type Achievers […]

#PlayApartTogether Family Gaming Fun During COVID-19

WHO recommends video games as an effective way of stop the spread of COVID-19 and working with the gaming industry to launch the #PlayApartTogether campaign. Below are a few links to the news releases: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/who-video-games-playaparttogether/ https://www.businessinsider.com/who-video-games-coronavirus-pandemic-mental-health-disorder-2020-4?IR=T In response to this campaign, our Esports Coach Ruth Lim picked a few games that can provide great family fun […]

My PSLE and O Levels Regrets

My PSLE and O Levels Regrets I had two regrets growing up. The first was missing out on one question in my Mathematics paper during PSLE. This question cost me 8 marks. The second was missing the last page of my A Mathematics paper for O Levels, this time costing me 28 marks. The regrets […]

Game Addiction in Singapore

Game Addiction in Singapore as Reported by Media Today Online published an article about a gamer with an addiction problem and “It took a US$48,000 (about S$67,000) overseas detox programme for 23-year-old Bernard Lim (not his real name) to kick his gaming addiction.” This raises the question if there is many more “Bernard” with game […]

The Beginning of COMEBACK

Community is the focus of SOOS OIO. In SOOS OIO, we love running TeleTrips and engaging the gamers. I never thought we will have a program on game dependency. This was not part of my plan. In fact, the problem of game addiction was brought up to me many times at different occasions. I understand […]