How video games can make life more meaningful
- Researchers surveyed 166 gamers to understand how video games can have meaningful effects on their lives.
- A staggering 78% of respondents reported that meaningful gaming experiences had altered their lives, highlighting the potential impact of video games on personal growth and development.
- The study identified recurring themes in the responses, including the power of rich storytelling, which could inform game developers and educators to create more impactful experiences.
- Lead authors Nisha Devasia, Julie Kientz, and Jin Ha Lee presented their findings at the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play in Pittsburgh.
- The study’s results challenge the common perception that video games are solely a form of entertainment, instead revealing their potential to inspire positive change and personal growth in players.
In this Q&A, researchers discuss their study which surveyed 166 gamers about how video games sparked meaningful changes in their lives.
Even though video games have grown as an artistic medium since the mid-20th century, they are still often written off as mindless entertainment. Research is increasingly exploring meaningful gaming experiences. Less studied, though, are the ways such experiences can alter people’s lives long term.
In a new study, University of Washington researchers surveyed gamers about video games’ effects. Of 166 respondents researchers asked about meaningful experiences, 78% said such experiences had altered their lives.
Researchers then pulled recurring themes from the responses—such as the power of rich storytelling—so that developers, gamers, and even parents or teachers might focus on those elements.
The team will present its findings at the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play in Pittsburgh.
Here, lead author Nisha Devasia, a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering; co-senior author Julie Kientz, a UW professor and chair in human centered design and engineering; and co-senior author Jin Ha Lee, a UW professor in the Information School, explain their work:
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