The research ' which was done from December 2020 to March 2022 ' found that even just owning a game console increased life satisfaction and reduced psychological distress. The results were published today in Nature Human Behaviour. The findings are a first step towards demonstrating a causal link between gaming and mental-health benefits, says Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist who studies how video games influence players' mental health at the University of Oxford, UK. 'The study provides a worked example that games researchers all around the world should follow closely,' he says. But he adds that conducting the experiment during the pandemic could have amplified the mental-health benefits of gaming because people's mental health was generally poorer at that time and there were fewer opportunities to engage in other activities. The effect on well-being will need to be tested outside that situation, he says. Although studies have explored the effects of gaming on addiction,...
learn more
