A new study of gamers says the time they spend playing video games is unlikely to have an effect on a person’s well-being.
A research team from Oxford University studied 39,000 gamers across seven video games over a six-week period.
The Oxford Internet Institute study measured players’ well-being by asking players about their life satisfaction and the emotions they felt, such as happiness, frustration or anger.
The study found that there was little evidence of a causal relationship between playing style and well-being, but that “motives play a role” in player well-being.
However, he acknowledged that more work needs to be done on this issue to build a better picture of gaming’s impact.
The study data came from players of seven popular games: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Apex Legends, Eve Online, Forza Horizon 4, Gran Turismo Sport and The Crew 2.
The new research comes on the heels of a 2020 study, which suggested that those who played video games more often reported slightly higher levels of well-being.
Professor Andrew Przybylski, senior researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, said: “This exciting study collects large amounts of real-world gaming data collected by game companies and donated by gamers.
“Our work reliably measures how long people spend playing these games over time, data that would not have been accessible in the past.
“Our study found no evidence of links between playstyle and well-being, but we know we need more player data from many platforms to develop the kind of deeper understanding needed to inform policies and craft advice for parents and medical professionals.”
Some activists have previously raised questions about the potential impact of video games on the mental health and well-being of gamers, especially young people.
Professor Przybylski said more research is needed to better understand the true impact of video games.
“This work represents a significant advance in this area but we need to throw in a much broader net,” he said.
“If we really want to understand how games affect human health, we have to collect data from the thousands of games played every day.
“Crucial answers to questions about how games affect our society will require all major consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms to enable their users to effortlessly and ethically donate their game data for independent analysis.”
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