Quote from Matti Vuorre, Niklas Johannes, Kristoffer Magnusson and Andrew K. Przybylski.

“Our results indicate that the impact of time spent playing video games on well-being is likely too small to be subjectively perceived and is not credibly different from zero.”

To arrive at these findings, the authors measured objective behavioral data and could be obtained by Self-reports on psychological states also explore the depth of the patterns. The motivation for the study is the widespread image that video games in particular are said to have a negative effect on the well-being of people and especially adolescents and children. However, the authors are convinced that there is insufficient data to substantiate this to date and aim to fill this gap with their empirical work. For this purpose they collected six weeks long data on the gaming behavior of a total of 38,935 players – these were obtained by the authors from seven global publishers. The data comes from the games Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Apex Legends, Eve Online, Forza Horizon 4, Gran Turismo Sport, Outriders and The Crew 2.. Email correspondence from publishers was used to contact gamers from Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and an invitation was sent to participate in the study. Between 30,000 and 1,729,629 players were contacted from May to September 2021.

The measures consisted of general video game behavior, general well-being, and motivational experiences. These were then tested for causality after the data were collected – meaning whether these measures had a notable influence on each other and whether associations could be demonstrated. The study indicated that an increase in gaming of one hour per day resulted in an increase in well-being of 0.03 units – meaning, according to the authors, that gamers would need to play ten more hours per day to notice significant changes in well-being. Ultimately, players would would most likely not perceive any subjective change at allif at all only after 17 weeks.

In their findings, the authors of the study appealed to policy makers, health professionals, as well as developer studios, that they need to know if video games have a significant impact on the well-being of gamers. Their Results summarize them as follows:

 

Quotation from Matti Vuorre, Niklas Johannes, Kristoffer Magnusson, and Andrew K. Przybylski.

“We have demonstrated the causal effects of gaming on well-being using objectively recorded gaming behavior. Our results show that the impact of time spent playing video games on well-being is Is likely to be too small to be subjectively perceived, and is not credibly different from zero. In the future, it will be essential to cast a wider and deeper empirical and theoretical net, focusing on the qualities of play experiences, play events, and players for which effects may vary. Until then, limiting or promoting play solely on the basis of time seems to be brings neither benefit nor harm.”

The authors acknowledge that while this study provides initial insight into the impact of games on well-being, deficits need to be reduced with further and larger studies.

Are you surprised by the results? How do you rate the impact of your video game hobby on your well-being?