As gamers, you've almost certainly heard of video games being the cause of problems, usually in regards to mental health. There have been hundreds of studies throughout the years, claiming that playing violent video games leads to more mass shootings, or a lack of empathy towards others--something even parroted by the former United States president. This time, however, there's a more positive study going around. The University of Oxford has just completed its study on if video games impact mental health. According to that study, which oversaw 38,935 different gamers across English-speaking countries over the course of six weeks. gaming has "little effect" on a person's well-being. The games were a mix of a variety of different genres and violence levels, with the titles involved being Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Eve Online, Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, The Crew 2, and Gran Turismo: Sport.

Andrew Przybylski, a researcher involved in the study, claimed, "our study finds little to no evidence of connections between gameplay and well-being." The study itself made the determination that, "the impact of time spent playing video games on wellbeing is probably too small to be subjectively noticeable and not credibly different from zero." As is the case with most studies, though, there's plenty of room for error, or misrepresentation; while the results were in favor of video games not affecting gamers' mental health negatively, the team stated that the conclusions drawn from the study were "tenative", and that they'd, ideally, want to research a wider assortment of games, and over a longer course of time.

Source

 

[Karstent]

It depends on the ability to tell fiction from reality... some people are unaffected by extremely violent games, and they have normal lives. Others, well... are a lost cause, should we say. No hope for them if a bunch of pixels is enough to make them go on a killing frenzy.

 

[LainaGabranth]

I think people should understand that gaming isn't a cause of violence, if anything it *can be,* (does not mean it always is) a symptom. That's why there's so many weird people who idolize the iconography of Warhammer 40k, even though the setting explicitly criticizes them, because people who are mentally ill will use media as an outlet for their fantasies. Fascists with EU4, HOI4, CK2 and so on, psychopaths with games like Postal 2, Brutal Doom, and so on.

None of these games encourage people to become nazis or shooters and the like, it's the other way around; those people COME to games like this to act out those fantasies. What we should really be testing is if those games lessen the odds of doing that shit since it's fantasy fulfillment.

 

[Stwert]

telling yourself everything's ok is one way to cope, at least

Because you somehow know everything about everyone’s lives? That’s the most impressive feat of psychic ability I’ve ever encountered. Do you also have the ability to act as a medium? I wouldn’t say no to being able to chat with my granny again

 

[CeeDee]

Because you somehow know everything about everyone’s lives?

absolutely

Do you also have the ability to act as a medium? I wouldn’t say no to being able to chat with my granny again

she says she misses you and to call your mom

 

[_TheGuy_]

Like everything else in life, an excessive amount of whatever will affect you in different ways. My take is that, the act of gaming and really being immersed in it involves many hours away from friends or family. Of course, you may be in the same household but you're not fully present. You're glued to this virtual-dopamine/stimulation, until you turn the screen off and realize you're sitting there alone in your room, wanting to return to the game's bgm filling the silence.

It's like that for a couple days, then weeks, months, and finally we lose track of time.

Balance is key, and without a set of limitations life is just as broken as a modern, launch-day title waiting for bugs to be patched out. The idea that video games spawn mass shooters and inhuman criminals is absurd. Like everyone else, this is just their "distraction" from the many struggles life throws at you.

Plenty of other underlying factors before we should even consider video games to be the source.

 

[Stwert]

absolutely

she says she misses you and to call your mom

I don’t need to, she’s dying of lung cancer, so I’m there every day visiting. But good guesses, a bit generic, but I’ll let that slide.

 

[ZeroT21]

Honestly I think gaming itself is a mixed bag, it can let you unwind at the end of a stressfull day or just make it worse if it's a addiction, as nothing is truly good or bad in life, it's just we're influenced/taught to divert blame to everything else but ourselves

 

[Stwert]

Honestly I think gaming itself is a mixed bag, it can let you unwind at the end of a stressfull day or just make it worse if it's a addiction, as nothing is truly good or bad in life, it's just we're influenced/taught to divert blame to everything else but ourselves

One of the benefits of being Scottish, of a certain generation, from an early age the words: it’s your own stupid fault, ye daft wee bugger (I cleaned that up ) are used a lot, usually followed by a swift clout around the ear. So no problem blaming myself for things, it’s an effective way to learn

 

[osaka35]

I agree with the researcher's assessment that 6 weeks is not a very long time. I'd love to see a study over several years, tracking playing habits and attitudes towards certain social issues. I also noticed they didn't specify the age range in the article, but I'm assuming they did in the actual published research? I'd love to see if there any differences between various childhood age-ranges.

 

[ChiefReginod]

Meanwhile, social media gets a free pass despite wrecking the mental health of the last two or three generations.

 

[DS1]

Meanwhile, social media gets a free pass despite wrecking the mental health of the last two or three generations.

Exactly, I was going to say, based on the posts on this thread, the mental well-being of gamers does not seem to be all that great. Whether or not it’s because of the games is another matter, hah.

 

[DuckyManq]

The most violent game there is like Apex Legends XD

 

[MadMakuFuuma]

While calling yourself an American might be a form of mental illness, I think those who appeal to forms of escapism, that videogames specialize in, are already somewhat discontent with life. Being a gamer could be a symptom.

idk... any form of enternainement can be an escapism. people who watch series for hours on streaming, for example. some gamers on twitch really have all the signals of mental problems (anybody knows a streamer called "kaleb"?), but i don't think that in general being a gamer: reality escape.

 

[LainaGabranth]

idk... any form of enternainement can be an escapism. people who watch series for hours on streaming, for example. some gamers on twitch really have all the signals of mental problems (anybody knows a streamer called "kaleb"?), but i don't think that in general being a gamer: reality escape.

This. I think calling the act of engaging with media inherently a symptom of escapism sets an extremely low bar. Sometimes people just really like stuff, despite also being depressed. I don't agree with the idea that people like something just because they're depressed, I think it's moreso that despite being depressed, they also like things. The distinction is important.

 

[tabzer]

idk... any form of enternainement can be an escapism. people who watch series for hours on streaming, for example. some gamers on twitch really have all the signals of mental problems (anybody knows a streamer called "kaleb"?), but i don't think that in general being a gamer: reality escape.

I don't think being discontent with life means mental illness nor do I think it is a necessarily a bad thing. I think anything that lends to the idea of "free time" can be a form of escapism. Anything related to luxury would be similar.

 

[gtaisthebest]

I think sometimes games even positively affect me because they help me relax and unwind.
For example Scrabble - you have to think a lot about words, but at the same time you don`t anything stressful,unless you care a lot about winning and want to be the best always ( in such cases you can just use word finder lol) or Minecraft - you just build something or discovering new worlds.
But actually sometimes it really seems to me that because of some other games I become more aggressive

 

[Marc_LFD]

I think sometimes games even positively affect me because they help me relax and unwind, but sometimes it really seems to me that cause of some games I become more aggressive

What games are those?

It could be the adrenaline.

 

[tabzer]

Final Fantasy inspired me to be a hero and to wage battle against those who I perceive as "the oppressor".

GTA desensitized my views of running over multiple people with cars.

Tetris gets me thinking about how I can level entire cityscapes in one move.