Melburnian Drew Taylor has embarked upon a personal project to bring a little peace and focus to this year’s PAX Australia.
Taylor’s personal website details Project: Paper Escape, an initiative that seeks to furnish Take This’ Away From Keyboard (AFK) Room with full-size video game art books.
“Crowds, schedules, the immediacy of once-a-year events and other stressors common at conventions and expos can be triggers for many emotional issues, especially anxiety and depression,” Taylor wrote. “In the midst of this, the AFK Room provides a safe space for people who need it, staffed with volunteers and clinicians who can answer questions and offer support to those who are stressed out.”
Taylor notes that last year’s AFK Room provided attendees with “water, conversation and a handful of ‘mindfulness’ colouring-in books.” He seeks to add a library of 25 or so art books to the mix for this year’s convention.
“The tactile experience of turning pages, the pungent smell of ink, the weight of the book, the textured stock on my fingertips, the incredible beauty and technical brilliance, the slow silent contemplation, the creative insight, the emotional thread of connection between concept and player experience… It’s not long before I feel calmer, self-possessed,” Taylor said, detailing his own experiences.
The library is already taking shape, with art books from Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and Tom Clancy’s The Division sourced or donated by others. At four books strong, Taylor’s initiative is still in need of help.
For more information or to donate to Project: Paper Escape, click here.
Note: Drew Taylor works within the Australian video game industry. As such, Stevivor, specifically Editor Steve Wright, has worked quite closely with him in the past. We feel this relationship does not impact upon reporting on such a worthy cause. With that in mind, we did not contact Drew for comment on this story and rather used his website as a resource.
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