The act of playing games, as in:
Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming"
Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
Playing a tabletop game, any game played on a flat surface
Playing a video game, an electronic game with a video interface.
The average player would have to play for 10 hours more than usual per day to notice any difference, it found. And the reasons for playing were far more likely to have an impact.
Well-being was measured by asking about life satisfaction and levels of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and frustration.
The results contradict a 2020 study.
Conducted by the same department at the Oxford Internet Institute - but with a much smaller group of players - the 2020 study had suggested that those who played for longer were happier.
"Common sense says if you have more free time to play video games, you're probably a happier person," said Prof Andrew Przybylski, who worked on both studies.
"But contrary to what we might think about games being good or bad for us, we found [in this latest study] pretty conclusive evidence that how much you play doesn't really have any bearing whatsoever on changes in well-being.
"If players were playing because they wanted to, rather than because they felt compelled to, they had to, they tended to feel better."
This time, technology companies, including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, provided six weeks' data - with the players' consent - from:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Apex Legends
Eve Online
The Crew 2
During that time, only one player dropped out of the study - published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
Mental health
In China, children are allowed to play for only one hour per day, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
But many gamers around the world say that their playing helps their mental health.
Gaming Industry Overview
The gaming industry is arguably one of the most important and innovative sectors in tech today. Its importance to culture, social networking and entertainment cannot be understated. The term “entertainment industry” is no longer reserved for Hollywood and the movie industry because gaming is now providing one of the most immersive and awe-inspiring forms of entertainment to more than two billion people around the globe.
Nobody could imagine what the gaming industry would blossom into when they were messing around with Pong joysticks in their basements and competing against their friends for the highest Pac-Man scores in the 1970s and 80s. These simple games would turn out to be the bedrock of today’s gaming industry and instant cultural phenomena. The gaming industry of today is a $200 billion behemoth that is constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and entertainment. Not only do we have the continuous advent of new consoles, PCs and devices that are putting us right into the game, but we also have the opportunity to watch some of the best gamers in the world compete in the e-sports arena and online through streaming platforms like Twitch and Mixer.
"I'm not sure it's something that's measurable with a single 'well-being' state," he said.
"As is everything in life, it's a balance.
"Spend 24 hours a day playing, that's not good - but spend 24 hours a day eating or working out, that is also not good."
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