EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 1

Exploring Relationships Between Video Games and the Human Experience

Vijay Reddy
Simon Fraser University
Psych 300W: Critical Analysis of Issues in Psychology
Dr. Gordon Rose
February 9th, 2023

While looking at the readings for the critical reading evaluation schedule, the week eight

readings caught my eye. As someone who plays a fair amount of video games and mostly

consumes media centered around the topic, it felt appropriate to research. I enter this topic with

very superficial knowledge of studies that show the positive effects of video games like Glass,

Maddox and Love (2013) in which they tested to see if playing certain action video games would

increase the cognitive flexibility of participants. Currently my main curiosity is the positive

effects video games have on the players.

To start my inquiry, I will look at the assigned reading of McColeman et (2020).

Similarly, to Glass (2013), McColeman looks at Starcraft players of different skill levels but the

focus is the patterns of information processing (2020). They used players who have spent 545

hours playing this game (McColeman, 2020). This number of hours, in my opinion, is a good

amount but I do not know much about this game other than it is strategy based. While reading, I

wondered why they chose this game, as it was nine or ten years old when this study was being

conducted and is dwindling in popularity since the peak active players during Starcraft 1

(“Starcraft 2 Player Count 2022”, 2022). My main curiosity after finishing reading is what type

of studies have occurred on other games.

The first genre I decided to look at was first-person shooter or FPS games. I chose this

genre because, in my experience, it is one of the first game genres that people are exposed to due

to the popularity of Call of Duty and Halo. I started my search on Google Scholar and found

Colzato, Wilden, Zmigrod et al (2013). In this study the researchers compared people who play

first person shooters to those with no gaming experience with cognitive tasks that measure

working memory and response inhibition (Colzato, Wilden, Zmigrod et al., 2013). The results

showed those that play FPS games updated and monitored their working memory faster and

more accurately than those who do not play games while the other measure was unaffected. After

reading this I wondered if these effects are supported by other peer-reviewed articles. After not

finding relevant research on Google Scholar, I decided to continue the search on the Simon

Fraser Science Database where I found a follow up study to Colzato et al (2013), Steenbergen et

al (2015). In this study, they used a similar experimental procedure but they tested action cascade

and action inhibition (Steenbergen, 2015). They had reaffirmed that the action cascade of

participants who played games are faster in responses but the same inhibition as people that do
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 3

not play games. From these results, I wondered if these results would be the same in sandbox

games like Minecraft or Terraria.

To answer my question, I returned to Google Scholar where I found Moffat (2017). In

this study, researchers looked at a first-person shooter, sandbox, and puzzle games and the effect

playing them has on the creativity of players using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

(Moffat, 2017). For sandbox games, after playing Minecraft, the results of participants increased

in fluency and flexibility but dropped in originality. These results are to be taken with a grain of

salt because they used a sample of seven for this condition of the study (Moffat, 2017). Due to

this, I decided to look for more studies that may corroborate these findings. In an experiment by

Ellison and Drew (2019), they attempted to use sandbox games to induce more creative writing

in Year 3 boys. This experiment had not statistically significant results but students either

improved or maintained the same score as before (Ellison & Drew, 2019). Unlike the first-person

shooter, the sandbox games do not have clear, statistically significant benefits. This conclusion to

the sandbox research surprised me because I assumed that there would be clear evidence for

improved cognitive abilities from sandbox games. The next genre I believe would have positive

effects on cognitive processes are massively multiplayer online roleplaying games.

On my initial search into research on massively multiplayer online roleplaying games or

MMORPG was overall negative. Most research focused on the addiction and escapism aspect,

for example, Kaczmarek (2014) looked at MMORPG escapism and its relationship with well

being. Researchers tested beliefs, time spent in game, offline and online support for real life

problems (Kaczmarek, 2014). The results showed that those with escapist attitudes tended to

have more time in game, higher online support and higher belief in game realism. They also had

lower offline support. The higher rate of online support did not make up for the lack of offline
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 4

support in the people surveyed. This study looked into the negative impacts of the MMORPGs

which is the opposite of the research I have been looking for. Similarly, Kirby et al (2014)

looked into the correlation between playing MMORPGs and the wellbeing of the player. These

researchers found, through a survey of five hundred World of Warcraft players, a negative

correlation between wellbeing and playtime (Kirby, 2014). After reading the research on this

genre I was surprised by the overwhelming negative outcomes discovered. As I read I found

myself asking “how come online support not subvert the negative effects?”. This leads me to

wonder what other genres have similar effect of players.

The last genre that I am curious about is MOBAs or multiplayer online battle arena

games. This genre is famously toxic and reknown for terrible behaviour. As toxic as it may be,

researchers are looking into skills and cognitive differences between MOBA players and non

players. Most studies look at high level players which is hard to apply to the average player. In

Valls-Serrano (2022), evaluated thirty-six League of Legends of players on their cognitive

flexibility, decision making, fluid intelligence, control inhibition and working memory in

comparison to their rank and various other metrics (Valls-Serrano, 2022). The research had

found a positive relationship between cognitive flexibility and rank, decision-making and

minions per a minute or creep score per a minute and some other in-game metrics (Valls-

Serrano, 2022). Although this study looks more into the cognition on performance in game these

aspects may be generalizable to the rest of the MOBA population. After looking through so

much research the thesis I came up with is “The vast amount of game genres creates unique

experiences that allow the brain to become more effiecient in many way so determining

which game genre benefits human cognition can assist in teaching and education”.

References
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 5

Colzato, L.S., van den Wildenberg, W.P.M., Zmigrod, S. et al. Action video gaming and
cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in
working memory but not action inhibition. Psychological Research 77, 234–239 (2013).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0415-2
Ellison, M., & Drew, C. (2019). Using Digital Sandbox Gaming to Improve Creativity Within

Boys’ Writing. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 1–11.

doi:10.1080/02568543.2019.1675823

Glass, B. D., Maddox, W. T., & Love, B. C. (2013). Real-Time Strategy Game Training:

Emergence of a Cognitive Flexibility Trait. PLoS ONE, 8(8), e70350.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070350

Kaczmarek, L. D., & Drążkowski, D. (2014). MMORPG Escapism Predicts Decreased Well-

Being: Examination of Gaming Time, Game Realism Beliefs, and Online Social Support

for Offline Problems. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(5), 298–

302. doi:10.1089/cyber.2013.0595

Kirby, A., Jones, C., & Copello, A. (2014). The Impact of Massively Multiplayer Online Role

Playing Games (MMORPGs) on Psychological Wellbeing and the Role of Play

Motivations and Problematic Use. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,

12(1), 36–51. doi:10.1007/s11469-013-9467-9

McColeman et al. (2020). Digit eyes: Learning-related changes in information access in a

Player’s Creativity. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 7(2), 35–46.

doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2017040103

Steenbergen L, Sellaro R, Stock A-K, Beste C, Colzato LS (2015) Action Video Gaming and

Cognitive Control: Playing First Person Shooter Games Is Associated with Improved
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Action Cascading but Not Inhibition. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0144364.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144364

T. (2022, May 31). Starcraft 2 Player Count 2022. Esports Betting Blog | Thunderpick.
https://thunderpick.io/blog/starcraft-2-player-count-2022
Valls-Serrano, C., De Francisco, C., Caballero-López, E., & Caracuel, A. (2022). Cognitive
Flexibility and Decision Making Predicts Expertise in the MOBA Esport, League of
Legends. SAGE Open, 12(4), 215824402211427.
https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221142728