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

Executive Summary Table of Contents 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. Introduction Background Methodology Gamer Personality, Motivations, and Genre Preferences Individual Game Impact Studies Key Findings Recommendations Conclusion 02 02 03 06 07 10 11 11 1

Introduction: Understanding the psychology of games Background 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 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. what people look for in a game, how much it varies from person-to-person, and whether they experience emotional benefits. 2 2 3 1 verbal top-down attention spatial cognition problem solving perception multitasking / task-switching inhibition Cognitive Skills Effect Size (Hedge’s g) -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 Figure 1. Average effect sizes from Bediou et al.’s 2018 meta-analysis of studies of action video game players showing significant benefits in all cognitive domains except problem solving, where there have been few published studies. (Adapted from Bediou et al. 2018.)

Methodology The “Big 5” Personality Traits Large Scale Study High-
 scoring Low-
 scoring 3 Emotionality Emotional, Worried Even-tempered, Calm Agreeableness Trusting, Lenient Critical, Irritable Extraversion Talkative, Active Quiet, Reserved Openness to Experience Imaginative, Creative, Curious Conventional, Down-to-earth Conscientiousness Organized,
 Hard-working Disorganized,
 Late We collected data from almost 500 online participants, using psychologists’ preferred personality test, the Big 5 Inventory, which gives a continuous score (not just a type) on five behavioral traits: Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotionality. Note that most people fall in the middle – and being too extreme is problematic.. We also collected data on people’s gaming habits, including the frequency of gaming, preferred genres, and primary motivations for playing games. Our final U.S.-based sample consisted of 252 men, 213 women, and 18 non-binary people.

4 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. Responders by Age Age Group 18-22 15 0 5 10 15 20 22-25 16 25-30 23 30-35 20 35-40 13 40-50 13 % of Respondents Game Frequency Frequency Never 8 0 10 20 30 Quarterly 16 Monthly 7 Weekly 11 Almost daily 24 Daily 33 % of Respondents Gaming Motivation Motivation Challenge 59 0 20 40 60 Focus 36 Immerse 61 Inspire 15 Relax 75 Socialize 26 % of Respondents

Evaluating Games’ Mood Effect Pre-game Mood Survey Curious Curious Relaxed Relaxed Focused Focused Creative Creative Joyful Joyful ... ... ... Not at all Not at all Very Very Intervention Play assigned game (≈10 min) Post-game Mood Survey 5 2 3 1 Individual Game Studies Flow Free Angry Birds 2 Cooking Fever Subway Surfers Wordscapes Jetpack Joyride Ball Sort Puzzle KAMI 2 Penguin Isle Two Dots Cat Snack Bar Crowd City BLUE Color Zen Sound Sky Orbit Secret Signs ...and 11 more Skillprint games including classic Match-3, bubble shooter, spatial puzzle, hidden object, Mahjong and memory games