If you’ve always thought video games were just a distraction, a new international study from researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute might change your mind. According to this research, playing video games can have a positive impact on mood in just fifteen minutes.
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The study, which analyzed data from 67,328 gaming sessions from 8,695 players across 39 countries, found that players of the popular video game PowerWash Simulator reported an improvement in their mood during their gaming session. The researchers discovered that 72.1% of gamers experience this mood improvement, based on statistical modeling of gamer data.
An almost immediate effect
This research, led by Assistant Professor Matti Vuorre of Tilburg University and Associate Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, aims to better understand the short-term effects of video games on gamers’ moods. Unlike previous studies, which often used artificial stimuli and laboratory environments, this study focused on more real-world gaming sessions.
The results show that the average mood of the players increased by 0.034 units (on a scale of 0 to 1) from the beginning to the end of the gaming session. This improvement is comparable to that observed in other leisure activities such such as reading, shopping or listening to music, the researchers point out.
Nick Ballou, postdoctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, commented: “By studying players’ experiences while they naturally play a popular, commercial game, we found strong evidence of a small positive change in mood during a gaming session. Our study supports what qualitative research and reports from video game players around the world have long suggested: people feel good while playing video games.
To conduct this study, researchers collaborated with PowerWash Simulator developer FuturLab to create a special edition of the game that recorded game events, game statuses, participant demographics, and psychological survey responses.
This special edition of the game was almost identical to the main version, with the addition of “pop-ups” asking players to indicate their mood, all integrated in a fun way to minimize disruption to the gaming experience.
Professor Andrew Przybylski, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, highlighted the importance of further research in this area: “We believe our results are most consistent with the idea that gaming – for most people – is a recovery activity that helps manage daily stress and mood fluctuations, without necessarily having substantial long-term impacts. The fact that we only studied one game – and one that is probably not representative of the games most commonly played today – suggests caution in generalizing our results to other games. Future research should consider the use of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effect of playing PowerWash Simulator or other games compared to other leisure activities or therapeutic interventions.
