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Cited by 330Digital Games and MediaImpact of Technology on AdolescentsEducational Games and Gamification

Video game play is positively correlated with well-being

Open access
Johannes, Niklas, Vuorre, Matti, Przybylski, Andrew K.·2021·Royal Society Open Science
DOI 10.1098/rsos.202049PMC PMC8074794

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Abstract

People have never played more video games, and many stakeholders are worried that this activity might be bad for players. So far, research has not had adequate data to test whether these worries are justified and if policymakers should act to regulate video game play time. We attempt to provide much-needed evidence with adequate data. Whereas previous research had to rely on self-reported play behaviour, we collaborated with two games companies, Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, to obtain players' actual play behaviour. We surveyed players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their well-being, motivations and need satisfaction during play, and merged their responses with telemetry data (i.e. logged game play). Contrary to many fears that excessive play time will lead to addiction and poor mental health, we found a small positive relation between game play and affective well-being. Need satisfaction and motivations during play did not interact with play time but were instead independently related to well-being. Our results advance the field in two important ways. First, we show that collaborations with industry partners can be done to high academic standards in an ethical and transparent fashion. Second, we deliver much-needed evidence to policymakers on the link between play and mental health.

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  • In technology interaction, the Need for Relatedness comprises two aspects: Relatedness to Others and Relatedness to Technology.

    “In comparison to other domains such as education, physical exercise, or work, the Need for Relatedness comprises two aspects in the context of technology interaction: On the one hand, technologies can mediate people's Need for Relatedness to Others (e.g., communication technology), and on the other, people can also feel relatedness to the technology itself (e.g., companion robot).”

    From Development and Validation of a Basic Psychological Needs Scale for Technology Use (2024) · cites this paper as Johannes et al., 2021

    The Method > Measures section assesses relatedness through fulfilling relationships formed with other players, supporting the ‘Relatedness to Others’ aspect in video games. The paper does not describe relatedness to the technology itself or define a two-aspect framework for technology interaction. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Johannes, N., Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K.
Affiliations
University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Przybylski, Andrew K.
ORCID
Venue
Royal Society Open Science
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2021-02
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
202049-202049
ISSN
2054-5703 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1098/rsos.202049
PMC
PMC8074794
OpenAlex
W3112199670
Cited by
330
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 51 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 3
FWCI
76.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Royal Society Open Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/T008709/1)
  • Huo Family Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
Keywords
video gaming, well-being, mental health, play time, need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, telemetry data, industry partnerships, video game regulation, Plants vs. Zombies, Animal Crossing: New Horizons

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