Games Can Be Good For The Mind State of Mobile Games: Cognitive and Psychological Benefits An Empirical Report by Skillprint Games: Cognitive and Psychological Benefits An Empirical Report by Skillprint An Empirical Report by Skillprint

In a landscape dominated by concerns about potentially negative effects of gaming, our company seeks to explore why people play games, and the benefits of gaming for our psychological well-being. Our extensive research includes a large-scale study examining relations between personality (the Big 5 inventory), game genre preferences, and gamer motivations, along with 28 studies evaluating the emotional impact of particular mobile games. The data paints a nuanced picture of how mobile games can be a force for good when it comes to mental well-being. After introducing our methods and the measures, we will walk you through the key findings and highlight actionable takeaways for people - those who already play games, and those that may want to, if given the right context. These findings will likely be as actionable (if not more) for game developers, educators, and health professionals. To preview our results, we identified several mobile games that positively impact mood, differentially benefitting creativity, determination, focus, and relaxation. Personality traits play a surprising role in moderating these effects, and are also associated with preferring particular genres of games, and with different gaming motivations. Finally, we offer actionable takeaways. Table of Contents Introduction 02 Background 02 Methodology 03 Gamer Personality, Motivations, and Genre Preferences 06 Individual Game Impact Studies 07 Key Findings 10 Recommendations 11 Conclusion 11

psychology of games The aim of this report is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive and psychological benefits of mobile games. [key citations: Bediou meta-analysis suggesting broad cognitive benefits; 2021 study showing benefits to mental health] Building on these past studies, we leverage best practices of psychological science to pave the way for more constructive discussions toward understanding 1 what people look for in a game, 2 how much it varies from person-to-person, and 3 whether they experience emotional benefits. Background Research interest in games is strong, and much of this work suggests benefits of some types of games on some aspects of cognition and mental health. Action video games have been the target of the most research, and this genre has also been found to have the most robust and wide-reaching cognitive benefits: Figure 1 shows the average effect size of playing action video games on different cognitive domains from a recent meta-analysis of dozens of published studies. verbal Figure 1. Average effect sizes top-down attention from Bediou et al.’s 2018 spatial meta-analysis of studies of Skills cognition action video game players problem showing significant benefits in Cognitive solving all cognitive domains except perception problem solving, where there multitasking / have been few published task-switching studies. (Adapted from Bediou inhibition -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 et al. 2018.) Effect Size (Hedge’s g)

Large Scale Study We co lle cted data fro m alm os t 500 on lin e pa rtici pa n ts, using p s y cho logis ts ’ p refe rr ed pe rson al ity te s t, th e B ig 5 Inve n tor y, which gi ve s a con tin uo us scor e (no t ju s t a type) on five be h av ior al tra its : C onsci en tio usn ess, Ope nn ess, Ext rave rsion , A gr eeable n ess, a n d Em o tion al ity. N o te th at m os t pe o ple fall in th e m iddle – a n d be ing too ext reme is p ro blemat ic .. We al so co lle cted data on pe o ple’ s g am ing h ab its, inc lud ing th e freque nc y o f g am ing , p refe rr ed g enr es, a n d p ri ma ry m o tivat ions for play ing g ame s. Ou r fin al U.S.-ba s ed s ample consis ted o f 252 me n, 213 wo me n, a n d 18 non -b in a ry pe o ple. The “Big 5” Personality Traits Talkative, Active Extraversion Trusting, Lenient Emotional, Quiet, Reserved Agreeableness Worried Critical, Irritable Emotionality Even-tempered, Imaginative, Calm Creative, Curious Openness to Organized, Experience Hard-working High- Conventional, Conscientiousness scoring Down-to-earth Low- Disorganized,
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> **[Chart page]** This page contains visual data — view in PDF for the best experience. Motivation Frequency Age Group Responders by Age 18-22 15 22-25 16 25-30 23 30-35 20 35-40 13 40-50 13 0 5 % 10 15 20 of Respondents Game Frequency Never 8 Quarterly 16 Monthly 7 Weekly 11 Almost daily 24 Daily 33 0 10 % of Respondents20 30 Gaming Motivation Challenge 59 Focus 36 Immerse 61 Inspire 15 Relax 75 Socialize 26 0 20 % of Respondents 40 60 Individual Game Studies For a selection of 28 mobile games, we collected data from a random subset of ~50 participants from the larger study, analyzing baseline mood (before playing the game) and the change in mood after the session (see Evaluating Games’ Mood Effects), as well as looking for impact of personality traits (see our game blog posts for full personality effects). Participants also evaluated each game on six characteristics: fun, engaging, challenging, boring, frustrating, and confusing.

Pre-game Intervention Mood Survey Play game Curious Relaxed Focused Creative Joyful ... Not at all Very 2 3 Post-game assigned Mood Survey (≈10 min) E Curious Relaxed Focused E Creative Joyful ... ... Not at all Very Individual Game Studies KAMI Subway Surfers Flow Free Ball Sort Puzzle KAMI 2 Penguin Isle Two Dots KAML2 Wᴿ CAT D Angry Birds 2 Cat Snack Bar BLUE Sound Sky Secret Signs Wordscapes Wordscapes Angry Birds 2 Jetpack Joyride Cooking Fever Crowd City Color Zen Orbit ... and 11 m ore Ski llp rin t g am es inc luding cla ssic M at ch-3, bubb le sh ooter , sp at ial puzz le, hidd en o bj ect, M ahj o ng and m em ory g am es