New study reveals positive mood changes during video game play

• The study looks at player data from 67,328 gaming sessions from 8,695 players in 39 countries, analysing their mood before and during gameplay
• Across 162,325 in-game mood reports from players of the popular game PowerWash Simulator (PWS), the average player reported a more positive mood during play than at the start of each session
• Researchers predict 72% of players experience this uplift in mood during the play session based on statistical modelling of player data

The study analysed data from players in 39 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Germany and found that PWS players’ moods rapidly increased during gameplay. Players consistently reported a higher mood after the first fifteen minutes of the play session compared to the start of each session.

The research team from the Oxford Internet Institute carried out the study to understand more about the short-term effects of playing video games.

Lead author Assistant Professor Matti Vuorre, Tilburg University and Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute said:

'At present short-term changes in video game players’ moods are poorly understood. Gameplay research frequently relies on artificial stimuli, with games created or modified by academic researchers, typically played in a lab environment rather than a natural context. Instead, we wanted to know how real play in natural contexts might predict player mood on short timescales.'

The researchers collaborated with PWS’s developer, FuturLab, to develop a research edition of the game that recorded gameplay events, game status records, participant demographics and responses to psychological survey items. This latest analysis is based on a dataset the team previously published in the journal Scientific Data last year.

Commenting on the findings, second author Nick Ballou, Postdoctoral Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford said, 'By investigating player experiences during natural play of a popular and commercially available game, we found strong evidence for a small positive change in mood over the course of a play session.  Our current study corroborates what qualitative research and reports from video game players around the world have long suggested: People feel good playing video games.'

The researchers found that the average player’s mood increased by approximately 0.034 units (on a 0-1 scale), from the beginning of the session to during play and the bulk of the improvement occurs for the average player after 15 minutes of gameplay. This change is comparable with changes seen in other leisure activities such as reading, shopping, or listening to music. 

They also looked at differences in mood uplift between the population of similar PWS players. The Oxford team statistically modelled between-person differences in mood shifts in the population of PWS players. They found that nearly three-quarters of players (72.1%) were likely to experience an uplift in their mood during PWS play.

Unlike other studies in this field, the Oxford study is the first of its kind to examine changes in mood during play sessions in a minute-by-minute resolution. The research edition was nearly identical to the main game, with the addition of in-game pop-ups asking players to report their mood, delivered by a newly created character called ‘The Researchers’ making them part of the game lore, ensuring minimal disruption to the player experience.

Senior author Professor Andrew Przybylski at the Oxford Internet Institute said:

'We believe our findings are most consistent with the notion that gaming – for most people – is a recovery activity that helps to manage day-to-day stresses and mood fluctuations, without necessarily having substantial long-term impacts. The fact that we studied only one game – and one that is not likely representative of today’s most commonly played games – suggests caution in generalizing from our findings to other games.  Future work should consider the use of randomised controlled trials to evaluate the effect of playing PowerWash Simulator or other games compared to other leisure activities or therapeutic interventions.

Ultimately better understanding the multiverse of play, including temporal patterns, social experiences, in-game behaviours and events, players’ personalities, its antecedents and consequences warrants continued research efforts coordinated across and beyond academia.'

The paper ‘Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study’ by Matti Vuorre, Nick Ballou, Thomas Hakman, Kristoffer Magnusson and Andrew K. Przybylski is published open access in the journal Games: Research and Practice.