For decades, mainstream opinion of video games has been negative, but new insights suggest that gaming has become a balm for socially isolated people as material conditions continue to deteriorate amid the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty of 2020.
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A new, first-of-its-kind study from the University of Oxford found that video games are linked to a net increase in self-reported happiness. Time spent playing video games is positively correlated with well-being, based on playtime data obtained by researchers from Animal Crossing and Plants vs. Zombies parent companies Nintendo and EA, respectively. The more time a person spends playing these video games, the more happiness they experience, the study found.
"Other forms of mass media such as books, television, and movies require readers and audiences to empathize with the characters in their stories. Video games, on the other hand, are more focused on themselves," Lin Zhu, a graduate student at the University at Albany who researches video games and psychology, said in an interview.
"Whether it's RPGs, third-person games, or games like Animal Crossing that allow players to be themselves, players can experience the game world more directly. In other words, in the game world, you can control your destiny and just be yourself in a certain way."
