Time spent gaming is unlikely to have an impact on a person's well-being, according to a new study on gamers.
See also: Sega Genesis Mini 2: The console is coming to North America in October
A research team from the University of Oxford studied 39,000 players across seven video games for six weeks.
The Oxford Internet Institute study measured gamers' well-being by asking players about life satisfaction and the emotions they felt, such as happiness, frustration or anger.
The study found that there was “little to no evidence for a causal link between gaming and well-being,” but that “motivations play a role” in a gamer’s well-being.
However, he acknowledged that more work needed to be done on the topic to create a better picture of gaming's impact.
The data for the study 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 follows a 2020 study, which showed that those who played video games more frequently reported slightly higher levels of well-being.
“This fascinating study brings together significant amounts of real-world gaming data collected by game companies and donated by gamers.”
See also: Internet gaming disorder: Leads to aggression and self-harm
“Our study finds little to no evidence of a link between gaming and well-being, but we know we need much more player data from many more platforms to develop the kind of deeper understanding needed to inform policy and shape advice to parents and health professionals,” said Professor Andrew Przybylski, senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Some campaign participants had previously raised questions about the potential impact of video games on the mental health and well-being of players, particularly young people.
Professor Przybylski said more research is needed to better understand the true impact of video games.
See also: Assassin's Creed Liberation: End of Steam
“This work represents substantial progress for the field, but if we want to truly understand how games affect human health, we need to collect data from the thousands of games played every day.”
Source of information: independent.co.uk
