Investigating Health Behaviours in Professional and Recreational Video Gamers: The Impact of Role-Modelling in the Video Game Industry

This study examines health behaviours among professional esports players, streamers, and recreational gamers, investigating whether high-profile gamers serve as effective role models for healthy play. Drawing on a sample of 527 participants, comprising 450 recreational players, 38 esports players, and 43 streamers, the research combines survey data with behavioural observation of 20 streamers across tiers of professionalism. The authors hypothesised that greater professionalism among streamers would correlate with more health behaviours, and they tested this through chi-square analyses and related statistical methods.

The findings reveal a notable paradox. Esports players reported significantly more positive health behaviours than recreational players, including wrist protection, active desk use, and physiotherapy visits, yet they also reported substantially more negative health outcomes, including wrist and neck pain. Professional streamers self-reported discussing or performing health behaviours more often than recreational viewers recognised them doing, suggesting a gap between intended and perceived messaging. Among observed streamers, only one behaviour, the "negative hand" posture, significantly predicted professionalism, and streamers rarely encouraged audiences to adopt healthy habits.

The authors conclude that professional gamers are not effectively role-modelling health behaviours to recreational audiences. They argue that esports lacks the medical oversight and injury protections available in traditional college sports, despite documented gaming-related injuries. The study calls for industry-level regulation of professional player health, greater individual responsibility among high-profile players, and further research into how recreational gamers can be educated, with the authors contending that stronger health standards would benefit player welfare, performance, and the broader legitimacy of the esports sector.