Spending hours online playing video games and interacting with others through avatars may contribute to emotional health, if virtual gaming partners include real-world family members.
Contrary to what some might think, spending hours online playing video games and interacting with others through avatars may contribute to emotional health, if virtual gaming partners or opponents include real-world family members.
Earlier research has touted the negative effects of spending too much solitary time playing video games. To challenge this assumption, the researchers analysed a survey of over 5,000 Americans in Sony Online Entertainment's massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, EverQuest II (EQ2). They collected self-reported information about players' psychosocial well being - including their level of loneliness, family communication time and quality - and their Internet use, and also looked at Sony's proprietary game server information about players' online behaviour.
It was found that gamers who played EQ2 with family members experienced various benefits, including more family communication time, even though the quality of communication was not ideal. Gamers who did not play with family experienced the opposite effects, since their family communication time was essentially replaced by their online gaming habits.
Although the study participants included youth, gamers were overwhelmingly young adult males, aged 31 years on average, who were well-educated and had incomes greater than in the general U.S. population. The gamers spent nearly 30 hours online each week, outside of work, and most of that time was spent playing EQ2.
In surveys with a control group, EQ2 players who spent a large portion of their online time meeting new people experienced a better sense of community online, but increased loneliness and less family time. In fact, the game was associated with poor family communication in general, although the effect was weaker for those playing with family members.
The findings show that playing online games can be good for your psychosocial health but it really depends on the purpose, context and type of players.
Earlier research has touted the negative effects of spending too much solitary time playing video games. To challenge this assumption, the researchers analysed a survey of over 5,000 Americans in Sony Online Entertainment's massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, EverQuest II (EQ2). They collected self-reported information about players' psychosocial well being - including their level of loneliness, family communication time and quality - and their Internet use, and also looked at Sony's proprietary game server information about players' online behaviour.
It was found that gamers who played EQ2 with family members experienced various benefits, including more family communication time, even though the quality of communication was not ideal. Gamers who did not play with family experienced the opposite effects, since their family communication time was essentially replaced by their online gaming habits.
Although the study participants included youth, gamers were overwhelmingly young adult males, aged 31 years on average, who were well-educated and had incomes greater than in the general U.S. population. The gamers spent nearly 30 hours online each week, outside of work, and most of that time was spent playing EQ2.
In surveys with a control group, EQ2 players who spent a large portion of their online time meeting new people experienced a better sense of community online, but increased loneliness and less family time. In fact, the game was associated with poor family communication in general, although the effect was weaker for those playing with family members.
The findings show that playing online games can be good for your psychosocial health but it really depends on the purpose, context and type of players.
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