New Study Confirms Playing Video Games Can Improve Mood
Gaming is always fun!
By Syazwan Bahri — 30 Sep 2024, 04:12 PM
A new international study from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford suggests that playing video games can boost your mood
The research, which analysed data from players in 39 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Germany, found that PowerWash Simulator players experienced a significant mood boost within the first 15 minutes of gameplay. The study aimed to explore the short-term effects of gaming, revealing that players consistently reported feeling happier after a brief gaming session.
The researchers teamed up with FuturLab, the developer of PowerWash Simulator, to create a special research edition of the game
This version recorded various gameplay events, game status data, participant demographics, and their responses to psychological surveys. The latest findings are based on a dataset the research team had previously published in the journal Scientific Data journal last year. This collaboration allowed for a more detailed understanding of how gaming influences player mood and behavior.
The researchers compared the mood uplift between playing video games and other activities such as listening to music
They found that the average player's mood improved by about 0.034 units on a 0-1 scale from the start of the session to during gameplay, with most of the improvement happening after 15 minutes. This change in mood is comparable to other leisure activities like reading, shopping, or listening to music.
The team also analysed differences in mood uplift among a similar group of PowerWash Simulator players. By statistically modelling these variations, they discovered that nearly three-quarters (72.1%) of players were likely to experience a mood boost while playing PowerWash Simulator.
The researchers also shared other interesting insights from the study
Research author Matti Vuorre, assistant professor at Tilburg University and research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute shared his thoughts.
"At present, short-term changes in video game players' moods are poorly understood. Gameplay research frequently relies on artificial stimuli, with games created or modified by academic researchers, typically played in a lab environment rather than a natural context. Instead, we wanted to know how real play in natural contexts might predict player mood on short timescales," he said.
Co-author Nick Ballou, postdoctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, also shared his insights.
"By investigating player experiences during natural play of a popular and commercially available game, we found strong evidence for a small positive change in mood over the course of a play session. Our current study corroborates what qualitative research and reports from video game players around the world have long suggested: People feel good playing video games," he shared.
Better understanding the vast multiverse of play, including aspects like time patterns, social interactions, in-game behaviour, player personalities, and the causes and effects of gameplay, requires ongoing research
These efforts should be coordinated not only within academic circles but also beyond them.
If you're interested in checking out the research, the paper is published for open access in the journal Games: Research and Practice.
