The influence of online gaming experience and its social components on gamers' mental health

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate whether online gaming experience and social components in online gaming can influence gamers’ mental health. It is hypothesized that more intensive and frequent online gaming experience is negatively related to gamers’ mental health. Besides, this study hypothesizes that the social components (positive) in online gaming can buffer the negative effect of an online game on gamers’ mental health. There were 157 participants who completed a self-reported questionnaire, including three key measures—Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), Social Presence in Gaming Questionnaire (SPGQ), and Game Addiction Scale (GAS). Results from correlational and regression analyses confirmed that more intensive and frequent online gaming experience was significantly and negatively related to gamers’ mental health. Nevertheless, social components in social gaming could not moderate the negative impact of online gaming experience on gamers’ mental health. Surprisingly, more social components in online gaming (high SPGQ) strengthened the negative impact for people with high frequency and intensity of online gaming (high GEQ).