Video games still generate many questions today about their impact on our brains. Some fear that they will make us more violent, others wonder about the consequences on our mental health. Do they make us happier? Or on the contrary, do they deteriorate our mood? A study by the University of Oxford (relayed by The Guardian) has recently addressed these issues. And their conclusion seems to be without appeal: Playing video games has no impact on our well-being.
To carry out their study, the university relied on concrete gameplay sessions, not estimates. And this thanks to the support of seven publishers (among 30 contacted) and 40,000 players, who lent themselves to the experience. Andy Przybylski, one of the researchers:
With 40,000 analyses, conducted over six weeks, and the variables in the frequency of play, we gave ourselves every chance to determine the effects on the well-being of life. We saw no effect on this, quite the reverse in fact.
The games involved in establishing his conclusions were as follows:
- new horizons
- Apex Legends
- Eve Online
- Forza Horizon 4
- Gran Turismo Sports
- Outriders
- The Crew 2
Everything would be related to the initial state of mind of the player. Participants were first asked to specify their “autonomy, competence and intrinsic motivation.” This to determine their reason for playing. Was it for fun, sociability or, more concerning, to satisfy a purpose in the game, in a convulsive way. The result reflected the initial state. The positive motivations maintained the impression of joy, while the “negative” ones did not improve. Sessions were limited to 10am, although there was no evidence that sessions twice as long would have had any consequences. But under “normal” conditions, mental health is not affected.
Przybylski ends by specifying that this study does not take into account occupations parallel to their video game sequence. But countries like Japan or China are considering limiting the length of playing times, although they are not backed by any hard evidence.
Here, as definitive as it may be to date, this study proves that no, video games do not impact our well-being.
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