Feb 1, 2024

The Social Psychology of Online Gaming

Despite a widespread stereotype that video games are isolating and gamers antisocial (the early pandemic memes jokingly played on this), gamers have long been utilising online gaming technology to socialise and stay connected with one another. Indeed, studies have shown that online gaming has a positive impact on people’s psychological well-being if it is done in moderation and is an avenue for connecting with others (Martins et al., 2017).Read more :เยี่ยมชม เว็บบาคาร่า อันดับ 1 ได้ที่ https://www.ufa222.me/

However, if online gaming is taken too far, it can have negative consequences for players’ mental health and relationships. For example, it is common to find online gaming communities filled with ‘fuckwads’ who engage in negative behaviors such as cheating, team-killing or harassing their fellow players. This is so common that it was the subject of a Penny Arcade comic and may be a factor in the increased depressive symptoms found amongst gaming populations (Kowert & Mazurek, 2015).

The Social Psychology of Online Gaming

This article aims to examine the connection between online gaming and social relationships by exploring research on gaming motives, socialization and depression. It will also explore ways in which gamers can build healthy, real-life friendships while remaining immersed in their favorite game.

To do this, researchers examined 149 participants who self-reported how many days and hours they spent playing their chosen video games and the number of in-game friends they had. They also completed surveys on their mental health and asked how often they talked with friends in person and online about issues that were important to them. This allowed the researchers to build a model that accounted for the relationships between depression, socializing and gaming and provided insight into the mechanisms that might underlie these relationships.