Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players
Studies on video games and well-being often rely on self-report measures or data from a single game. Here, we study how 703 casually engaged US adults’ time spent playing for over 140 000 h across 150 Nintendo Switch games relates to their life satisfaction, affect, depressive symptoms and general m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241174 |
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| author | Nick Ballou Matti Vuorre Thomas Hakman Kristoffer Magnusson Andrew K. Przybylski |
| author_facet | Nick Ballou Matti Vuorre Thomas Hakman Kristoffer Magnusson Andrew K. Przybylski |
| author_sort | Nick Ballou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Studies on video games and well-being often rely on self-report measures or data from a single game. Here, we study how 703 casually engaged US adults’ time spent playing for over 140 000 h across 150 Nintendo Switch games relates to their life satisfaction, affect, depressive symptoms and general mental well-being. We replicate previous findings that playtime over the past two weeks does not predict well-being, and extend these findings to a wider range of timescales (1 h to 1 year). Equivalence tests were inconclusive, and thus we do not find evidence of absence, but results suggest that practically meaningful effects lasting more than 2 h after gameplay are unlikely. Our non-causal findings suggest substantial confounding would be needed to shift a meaningful true effect to the observed null. Although playtime was not related to well-being, players’ assessments of the value of game time—so-called gaming life fit—were. Results emphasize the importance of defining the gaming population of interest, collecting data from more than one game, and focusing on how players integrate gaming into their lives rather than the amount of time spent. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a08bdfb7c8014c32958a5e2afaed07cc |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-a08bdfb7c8014c32958a5e2afaed07cc2025-08-20T02:55:45ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032025-03-0112310.1098/rsos.241174Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo playersNick Ballou0Matti Vuorre1Thomas Hakman2Kristoffer Magnusson3Andrew K. Przybylski4Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKOxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKOxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKOxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKOxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKStudies on video games and well-being often rely on self-report measures or data from a single game. Here, we study how 703 casually engaged US adults’ time spent playing for over 140 000 h across 150 Nintendo Switch games relates to their life satisfaction, affect, depressive symptoms and general mental well-being. We replicate previous findings that playtime over the past two weeks does not predict well-being, and extend these findings to a wider range of timescales (1 h to 1 year). Equivalence tests were inconclusive, and thus we do not find evidence of absence, but results suggest that practically meaningful effects lasting more than 2 h after gameplay are unlikely. Our non-causal findings suggest substantial confounding would be needed to shift a meaningful true effect to the observed null. Although playtime was not related to well-being, players’ assessments of the value of game time—so-called gaming life fit—were. Results emphasize the importance of defining the gaming population of interest, collecting data from more than one game, and focusing on how players integrate gaming into their lives rather than the amount of time spent.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241174video gamesdigital trace datawell-being |
| spellingShingle | Nick Ballou Matti Vuorre Thomas Hakman Kristoffer Magnusson Andrew K. Przybylski Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players Royal Society Open Science video games digital trace data well-being |
| title | Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players |
| title_full | Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players |
| title_fullStr | Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players |
| title_short | Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players |
| title_sort | perceived value of video games but not hours played predicts mental well being in casual adult nintendo players |
| topic | video games digital trace data well-being |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241174 |
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