A University of Oxford study published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science found that the amount of time spent playing video games is unlikely to have a significant impact on well-being. The study by the Oxford Internet Institute, with nearly 40,000 individual gamers tracked over six weeks, is the largest of its kind and directly counters the narrative that gaming is harmful to mental health.
The Oxford study has quite a few things going for it. Unlike most previous studies, they partnered with game publishers to obtain real player data rather than relying on self-reported game time. Working with Nintendo, EA, CCP Games, Microsoft, Sony and Square Enix, the study recruited 38,935 Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Apex Legends, Eve Online, Forza Horizon 4, Gran Turismo Sport, Outriders, and The Crew 2 players.
Each participant was asked to fill out three surveys, sent to them via email. In each survey, one set of questions was related to their mental well-being, and the other set about their experiences and motivations for gaming. Participants answered these questions at the start of the study, at two weeks, and at four weeks. The researchers used each participant’s game play data from the two weeks before each survey to investigate the effect – if any – of the amount of time each player spent playing on their mental health.
After crunching the numbers, the research team found that time spent gaming had an “insignificant” effect on mental well-being. The study data suggested that the average gamer would have to play 10 hours more than they usually do each day in order for there to be a noticeable change in their mental health. There were some minor variations when researchers looked at player motivations and the different types of games, but overall there was no significant effect.
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Of course, 40,000 players across seven games is a tiny fraction of the 3.2 billion people who play and the thousands of different games they play. There could be more nuanced effects on subpopulations that play other games than the ones the researchers tracked. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (13,536 players) and Gran Turismo: Sport (19,073 players) were by far the most popular games in their dataset, but neither is representative of the type of games most often criticized.
Professor Andrew K. Przybylski, Senior Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, says in the accompanying press release: “Our study finds little or no evidence of links between gaming and well-being.” However, he recognizes that even the large data set is insignificant given that it is limited to just seven games. “We know we need a lot more player data from a lot more platforms to develop the kind of deeper understanding needed to inform policy and shape advice to parents and medical professionals.”
Similarly, Dr. Matti Vuorre, Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute says that “currently there is not enough data and evidence for policy makers and regulators to develop laws and regulations to restrict gaming among certain groups in the population.” (Something that happened in China.)
Although this study has the largest data set of its kind, it is not the only one to suggest that gaming is not the villain it is sometimes painted to be. A secondary analysis of only the two online shooters (Apex Legends and Outriders) in the study found that time spent playing had no measurable effect on self-reported feelings of anger. Similarly, previous research by the same research group found that the players who spent more time playing reported slightly greater levels of well-being. There is also a lot of evidence that playing video games can improve cognition, boost your memory and increase cognitive flexibility.
That said, it’s also important to note that with a large dataset like this, you’re really getting a sense of the average effect of gaming across the population, not on individual players. The World Health Organization recognizes video game addiction and organizations like Game Quits provide incredibly compelling anecdotal evidence that games can take over people’s lives. It’s also easy to argue that the kind of people for whom gaming is a problem would be among the least likely to respond to a survey.
