During the coronavirus pandemic, video games haven't just been a good pastime, they have been a pastime for good, too. And the charitable good video games could bring may escalate after COVID-19 concerns pass. The ability of video games to help others is just one of the topics at this week's South By Southwest Festival, which takes place virtually through Saturday. Keynote speakers include former President George W. Bush, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Tinder CEO Jim Lazone, filmmaker Ava DuVernay ("Selma"), Facebook Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams, Willie Nelson and Keenan Thompson interviewed by Chance the Rapper. In addition to more than 230 conference sessions, the festival will debut 75 new films including "Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free."

In many ways, Jonathan Watson is like other 11-year-olds. He does his homework, dreams of becoming a doctor and plays video games when he can. Depending on the day, his favorite is either Minecraft or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unlike most kids his age, though, Jonathan is at the hospital every three weeks for blood transfusions -- a procedure that can take up to six hours at a time. When I visited him at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he wasn't slaying dragons or building a pixelated fortress; he was replaying the opening levels of Rayman Legends on a kart that had just been wheeled in.