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Compare & Contrast Essay: Outdoor Activities Vs. Playing Video Games

Video games are often under fire from publicity-hungry senators who want to pander to the older generation. However, as time goes by the people who enjoy video games now will soon be in power. But, until that day we are forced to question whether video games and outdoor activities should be compared and contrasted. This essay compares and contrasts outdoor activities.

Video games

Video games are not designed to burn off a lot of energy. They are not aerobic in any way, nor are they able to increase physical fitness.

Video games are able to stimulate intellect and help to teach people how to focus on one task for hours on end. It gives a psychological reward for extended concentration and effort.

Video games stimulate the competitive urge in people, making them more amenable to real-world competition. Competition is healthy and therefore it is a good thing to stimulate it as much as possible.

Video games force people to use logic and other problem solving elements of their mind. This helps them to become slightly more proficient at problem solving in real life.

Video games help people to come to terms with being on their own for long periods. This is healthy as people who are over dependant on human interaction are often mal adjusted when it comes to independence and having their own direction in life.

Outdoor activities

Outdoor activities are aerobic, even if a person simply takes up walking. This means that energy is burnt off which helps to increase physical fitness.

Outdoor activities are not really set up to help a person concentrate. In fact, they often involve allowing the mind to wander, as this is often part of the relaxing element involved with outdoor activities.

Outdoor activities that involve games are just as competitive as video games, and so are good for people on a psychological level. Encouraging healthy competition is what helps people strive to be better.

Outdoor activities do not stimulate logic and problem solving elements in the mind, but does stimulate spatial and lateral thinking elements in the brain. It also helps to build mind to body coordination, whereas video games only stimulate hand-to-eye coordination.

Outdoor activities are far more social than video games, which means they help people to become more sociable. They make it easier for people to come together in groups and take part in social activities.

It seems pretty obvious that a person should indulge in both video games and outdoor activities in equal measure. Just like any form of recreation, too much of one thing can be bad. A healthy mix of outdoor activities and video games is going to be healthy and positive for both adults and children.

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Video Games as a Legitimate Sport Essay

Memory training, cognitive and emotional development, counterargument.

The technological breakthrough that has been taking place over the past few decades has led to massive changes in people’s lives, including the areas such as leisure, sport, and hobbies. Video games have become part and parcel of many people’s pastime; furthermore, modern video games have evolved to the point where they demand to be recognized as a legitimate sport. Since video games include the elements that allow promoting social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as provide opportunities for sensor development and a better control of one’s sensory experiences, it will be reasonable to claim that video games should become a sport.

The opportunities for memory development and the further enhancement of the relevant skills acquisition must be regarded as the key characteristic that makes video games a legitimate sport. According to the research produced by Basak, Boot, Voss, and Kramer (2008), executive control processes, which are linked directly to memory, deteriorate approximately after 60 years. The use of video games as the means of training the specified ability, in turn, has proven very efficient, which means that the identified activity should be recognized as a legitimate sport. For instance, the outcomes of the research point to the fact that the use of video games allows enhancing participants’ flexibility levels (Basak et al., 2008). As a result, the opportunities for helping them train their analytical skills are created. Indeed, it is essential for a sportsperson to be able to adjust to the ever-changing environment of a competition and be able to perform the tasks of varying difficulty. The application of video games, in turn, will build the foundation for training the habit of using analytical skills in order to assess a sudden change in the environment, define the available opportunities, assess possible risks, and identify the most appropriate solution. The skills listed above align with the criteria set for sportspersons taking part in competitions and other sport-related activities.

The opportunities for training one’s sensory abilities and engaging in the process of active cognitive development should also be considered as a piece of evidence in favor of making video games a sport. According to a recent study, video games create vast opportunities for extensive training of attention and memory, as well as the ability to control one’s actions. Particularly, the authors of the study announce that video games help improve not only visual and attentional skills but also a broader range of abilities, including the ones associated with carrying out “memory, reasoning, and executive control tasks” (Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008, p. 388). Therefore, the use of video games allows training the skills that can be used for improving the performance of the members of the air force, as the authors explain (Boot et al., 2008). In other words, video games not only provide participants with exciting pastime but also contribute massively to their further development, including emotional, cognitive, and physical domains. The opportunities for training skills and excelling in the further performance can be regarded as a profound basis for listing video games among other kinds of sport. Furthermore, the study revealed that playing video games with the level of complexity increasing gradually, one will be able to improve steadily (Boot et al., 2008). Furthermore, the results of the study indicate that the active use of video games allows for a seamless transfer from the simulated tasks to actual experiences:

All game groups improved significantly. For MOH, firing accuracy improved significantly (45% and 52% pre- and post-practice, respectively, t(18) = 3.36, p <.01) as did the ratio of hits taken to enemies killed (.72 and 1.01 pre-and post-practice, respectively, t(18) = 2.43, p <.05). (Boot et al., 2008, p. 391)

In other words, video game players do not require additional training to deploy the newly acquired skills to resolve a real-life problem. Instead, they engage in the process of task management directly and use the skills that they have recently developed in a very efficient manner (Boot et al., 2008). The specified observation can be viewed as a direct argument in favor of including video games in the list of official sports. Furthermore, it can be linked to the idea of helping participants experience a wide range of emotions and, thus, enhance their emotional skills successfully. Specifically, the chance to “experiment with social experiences and simulate alternative emotional consequences” (Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2014, p. 67), which video games give to people playing them, must be recognized as an essential argument in favor of listing video games among the existing kinds of sports. Indeed, with the recent technological breakthrough and the introduction of extensive opportunities for interactions between players, which can be observed in modern video games, the latter are no longer viewed as the activity that isolates one socially and emotionally from the rest of the community. Quite on the contrary, modern video games create premises for a successful interaction between players and, therefore, the basis for their further professional and personal development, which makes video games indistinguishable from other types of sport.

It should be noted, though, that there are several legitimate arguments that do not allow recognizing video games as a sport immediately. While the identified statements do not have enough validity to prove that video games do not belong to the said category, they point to some of the evident problems with defining the subject matter as a sport. The assumption that any video game involves a certain element of luck tops the list of the arguments against defining video games as a kind of sport. Indeed, due to the specifics of programming, the possibility of a random combination of events that will ultimately lead to the success of a particular player exists in the realm of video games. Therefore, the possibility of one player having an unfair advantage over the rest of the participants makes the idea of turning video games into an actual sport rather questionable.

Despite the fact that the element of luck cannot be controlled in video games, the latter still qualify as a sport since other kinds of sports activities also incorporate the factors that cannot be regulated by referees and other members of the sports jury. For example, personal issues such as the well-being of a player, their health status, and other factors linked to the individual characteristics of the participants imply that modern types of sport also incorporate the element of luck as one of the factors that lead to the ultimate victory of a player. Furthermore, there are other extraneous factors that are linked directly to the possibility of victory, ranging from weather conditions to diet to personal issues. Excluding each of them from sports competitions is impossible, which means that traditional kinds of sport may also be deemed as the activities carried out in the environment that does not necessarily provide equal conditions for each participant. Therefore, the phenomenon of randomness that can be observed in modern video games and that may imply that some of the participants may be provided with more chances to win than others must not be viewed as legitimate. The low probability rates of the specified phenomenon occurring should also be regarded as an argument in favor of making video games a legitimate sport.

Providing ample opportunities for socioemotional and cognitive development of a player, offering a chance to enhance one’s sensory skills, and introducing options for several players to participate, video games must be recognized as a form of sport. Although the process of engaging in a video game does not involve establishing a physical contact with an opponent, it requires the ability to concentrate and use one’s analytical, cognitive, and other types of skills to the same extent as any other kind of sport does. Furthermore, video games create opportunities for the further development of a player. They build the foundation for training successfully; furthermore, with the recent technological breakthrough, the simulated experiences that players have when engaging in certain video games is very close to the actual ones. In other words, due to the effort and creativity out in their development, modern video games help blur the line between reality and the virtual world. The range of emotions that both the participants of other types of sports and the players of video games experience runs a full gamut. Consequently, video games must be recognized as a legitimate sport. Video games provide a solid basis for successful training, engage both participants and viewers emotionally, and allow maintaining the consistent communication with the opponent, therefore, qualifying for a sport like any other activity that is currently defined as such.

Basak, C., Boot, W. R., Voss, M. W., & Kramer, A. F. (2008). Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults?. Psychology and Aging, 23 (4), 765-777. doi:10.1037/a0013494

Boot, W. R., Kramer, A. F., Simons, D. J., Fabiani, M., & Gratton, G. (2008). The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. Acta Psychologica, 129 (3), 387-398. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005

Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. C. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69 (1), 66-78. doi:10.1037/a0034857

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Essay on Video Games

Students are often asked to write an essay on Video Games in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Video Games

Introduction.

Video games are interactive digital entertainment platforms. They are played on devices like computers, consoles, or mobiles.

Types of Video Games

There are many types of video games. Some are educational, others are adventure-based or sports-themed.

Benefits of Video Games

Video games can improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and strategic thinking. They can also be a fun way to relax.

Drawbacks of Video Games

Excessive gaming can lead to health issues like eye strain and lack of physical activity. It can also impact social skills if not balanced with real-world interactions.

Video games can be both beneficial and harmful. It’s important to play responsibly and maintain a healthy balance.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Video Games

250 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of interactive entertainment, have evolved dramatically from their rudimentary origins in the 1970s. They have penetrated almost every aspect of modern society, becoming a significant part of our culture and a powerful force in the entertainment industry.

The Evolution of Video Games

In their inception, video games were straightforward, consisting of basic graphics and gameplay. However, as technology advanced, so did the complexity and visual appeal of these games. Today, video games are immersive experiences, boasting high-definition graphics, complex narratives, and intricate gameplay mechanics.

The Impact on Society

Video games have a profound impact on society. They have transformed how we spend our leisure time, and have even created new professions, such as professional e-sports players and game developers. In addition, video games have educational potential, as they can develop problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

Controversies and Criticisms

Despite their popularity, video games have attracted controversy. Critics argue that they promote violence, addiction, and social isolation. However, research on these issues remains inconclusive, and many argue that the benefits of video games outweigh potential negatives.

In conclusion, video games are a multifaceted phenomenon that has significantly influenced our culture and society. Despite criticisms, their popularity continues to rise, indicating their enduring appeal and potential for future growth. As technology continues to evolve, so too will video games, promising exciting developments for this dynamic medium.

500 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of digital entertainment that has dramatically evolved over the past few decades, have become a significant part of contemporary culture. They offer a unique blend of interactive storytelling, art, and technology, engaging players in a way that no other medium can. Video games are more than just a pastime; they are a platform for expression, learning, and innovation.

The history of video games is a testament to the incredible technological advancements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From the rudimentary pixel graphics of the 1970s to today’s immersive virtual reality experiences, video games have continuously pushed the boundaries of what is technologically possible. They have transformed from simple, solitary experiences into complex, social phenomena, connecting people from all walks of life.

The Impact of Video Games

Video games have a significant impact on society, influencing various aspects of our lives. They have revolutionized the entertainment industry, becoming a multi-billion dollar sector that rivals and often surpasses traditional media like film and music. Beyond entertainment, video games have found applications in education, healthcare, and even military training, demonstrating their versatility and potential.

The Benefits and Concerns

Despite the criticisms often associated with video gaming, such as addiction and violence, numerous studies have highlighted the potential benefits. Video games can improve cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and spatial awareness, and can also foster social interaction and cooperation when played in groups. They can serve as therapeutic tools, helping to manage conditions like anxiety and depression. However, it is essential to maintain a balanced perspective, acknowledging the potential risks and promoting responsible gaming.

The Future of Video Games

The future of video games is as exciting as it is unpredictable. With emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and cloud gaming, the possibilities for innovation are limitless. Video games are poised to become even more immersive, interactive, and personalized, offering experiences that were once the stuff of science fiction.

In conclusion, video games are a dynamic and influential part of modern society, reflecting our culture, advancing technology, and impacting various aspects of our lives. They are a testament to human creativity and innovation, offering unique experiences that entertain, educate, and inspire. As we move forward, it is crucial to continue exploring the potential of video games, addressing the challenges they present, and harnessing their power for positive change.

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How-To Geek

Physical vs. digital games: should you buy physical games.

Do discs and cartridges still make sense in this digital age?

Quick Links

The case for digital, diminishing returns.

Many video games are now available as a digital purchase or physical media, and increasingly, more games are only available digitally. Does it make sense to buy physical games anymore?

PC games are now almost exclusively distributed through Steam, EA, Epic Games, GOG, and other digital stores, partially because most computers don't have disc drives anymore. However, the physical vs. digital debate is still raging on in the game console world. Most major game releases on consoles are available in both formats, but many niche and indie titles are not. Some publishers are also skipping a physical option as a cost-cutting measure, like for Alan Wake 2 .

The notion of "owning" a game in a physical format has also deteriorated over the years. Most physical games serve as license keys that still need to occasionally check in with a remote server . Unless you're buying a PC game without DRM (like games from GOG ), or physical games for legacy consoles, you don't really own your own games.

For the games that are available in both formats---and if your gaming platform of choice gives you the option (sorry, Xbox Series S owners)---the question of buying a digital or physical copy is complicated.

There's a reason digital downloads are now the default for game distribution, rather than just an option. You don't need to go to a store (though many of them will sell you the digital codes ), or wait for a disc or cartridge to be delivered. You just buy the game, and you can play it as soon as it's done downloading. You generally don't have to worry about losing access to the game, unless someone steals your login information -- you're more likely to forget a Nintendo Switch cartridge on an airplane, or lose track of a PS5 game when moving to a new home.

Digital games aren't just replacements for single purchases, though. Publishers are increasingly ramping up game subscriptions, like Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play , which offer unlimited access to a collection of digital games for a base monthly cost. You might roll your eyes at the thought of yet another monthly subscription, but they can be an excellent option for some people -- especially when many publishers are releasing individual games that start at $70 .

Digital games also sometimes receive more discounts than physical games, especially after the first few months of release. However, this depends on the exact publisher and platform -- for example, discounts of any kind on Nintendo games are rare.

There's also game availability to consider. Many games might still be playable long after the production run on physical copies has ended but might still be available digitally. This is especially helpful on platforms like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, where the backwards compatibility stretches back farther than the availability of new discs.

Personally, I've come to appreciate digital downloads on most platforms. I bought an Xbox Series X earlier this year, with the intention that I might grab an occasional discounted or used disc game alongside my digital purchases. However, the disc drive has so far been used exclusively for Blu-ray movies. The Game Pass Ultimate subscription includes many of the games I'm interested in, and I've been buying others on my wish list as I receive notifications about discounts.

Digital games are more accessible, sometimes cheaper, and potentially a much better value if the ones you want are combined in a subscription service. Meanwhile, physical games have become worse over time. Many disc and cartridge-based games require additional files to be downloaded to play, either as " day one updates " or as subsequent patches, eliminating the advantage of not waiting for downloads that used to exist with physical games. Physical games also sometimes require some (or all) of the game's data to be copied to internal storage, so you don't save any internal storage by purchasing disc games.

So, do physical games still make sense to purchase? Well, it depends on the platform and use case. I bought many of my Nintendo Switch games as physical cartridges, partially because Nintendo's online game infrastructure isn't great, but also because Nintendo's first-party games usually have a decent resale value. The option to resell your games is still exclusive to physical copies, though you probably won't come close to getting your money back on individual sales or trades -- especially if you're selling the games online and need to factor in the cost of shipping.

The strongest advantage to physical games at this point might be the ability to share your games with friends and family. If you have a significant other or family member that uses the same gaming platform as you (or you share the same console), buying just one copy instead of multiple copies can save you a lot of money while still allowing save files and other data to stay completely separate.

Much of the demand for physical games at this point isn't based on practicality but on collectability . For some people, there's nothing more fun than having an entire shelf (or multiple shelves) filled with your favorite games, displayed in the real world instead of a console menu. It might not matter that physical games have few advantages over digital copies.

For most people, growing your game collection through digital copies probably makes the most sense, but there are still some cases where physical copies are supreme. No matter what you do, though, make sure you lock down your game platform accounts with two-factor authentication.

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

Video games have revolutionized the way we have fun today. If you are writing essays about video games, check out our guide to inspire your writing.  

Few can contest the fact that video games have taken over the world. From the basic, almost “primitive” games of the 1970s like Pong to the mind-bending virtual reality games of the 2020s, they have been a source of entertainment for all. Moreover, they have proven quite profitable; countries like Japan and the United States have made tens of billions of dollars solely from the video game market.

Despite their popularity, much has been debated over the potentially harmful side effects that video games may have, particularly on children. One side argues that playing certain video games can lead to people exhibiting violence in the future, while others believe that video games teach players essential life skills. Regardless, they will continue to be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future. 

For engaging essays about video games, read the essay examples featured below for inspiration.

1. What electronic games can teach us by Kendall Powell

2. designers are imagining video games without guns by keith stuart, 3. playing video games all summer won’t make you feel worse by nicole wetsman, 4.  violent video games bad by andrea newman.

• 5. ​​The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

Writing Prompts For Essays About Video Games

1. video games: good or bad, 2. the benefits of video games, 3. what is your favorite video game, 4. do video games cause people to become violent, 5. video games in your life, 6. video games vs. traditional games, 7. is the video game rating system enough.

“In other studies, researchers found that gamers who trained on Tetris were better at mentally rotating two-dimensional shapes than those who played a control game. Students who played two hours of All You Can E.T., an educational game designed to enhance the executive function of switching between tasks, improved their focus-shifting skills compared with students who played a word search game.”

Powell explains a few possibilities of applying video games to education. As it turns out, certain video games can improve players’ skills, depending on the mechanics. Researchers are inspired by this and hope to take advantage of the competitive, motivational nature of gaming to encourage children to learn. New games are designed to help kids improve their focus, coordination, and resilience, and game designers hope they will succeed. 

“Imagine a game where you’re a war reporter seeking to capture the most iconic, representative images in a battle environment: You’d still get the sense of peril that audiences expect from action adventures, but your relationship with the environment would be more profound. It would be Call of Duty from the perspective of a creative participant rather than a violent interloper.”

The graphic nature of some video games is said to make kids violent, so it is only natural that some creators try to change this. Stuart writes that it is possible to maintain the fun that shooter-type games induce without using guns. He gives examples of games where you do not kill your enemy, simply stunning or capturing them instead. He also suggests photography as an alternative to killing in a “shooting” game. Finally, he suggests basing video games around helping others, making friends, and doing more peaceful, creative tasks.

“Any role video games play in skewing well-being that did pop up in the study was too small to have a real-world impact on how people feel, the authors said. People would have to play games for 10 more hours per day than their baseline to notice changes in their well-being, the study found.”

Wetsman counters the widespread belief that video games “destroy your brain.” Research done with a sample of 39,000 players over six weeks has shown that whether one plays video games for long or short periods, their mental health is not impacted much. There are some exceptions; however, there are not enough to conclude that video games are, in fact, harmful.

“Some people believe that the connection between violent games, and real violence is also fairly intuitive. In playing the games kids are likely to become desensitized to gory images;which could make them less disturbing, and perhaps easier to deal with in real life. While video games aren’t about violence their capacity to teach can be a good thing.”

In her essay, Newman writes about the supposed promotion of violence in some video games. However, she believes this violence does not cause people to be more aggressive later. Instead, she believes these games expose children to certain atrocities so they will not be traumatized if they see them in real life. In addition, these games supposedly promote connections and friendships. Finally, Newman believes that these “harmful” can make you a better person.

5. ​​ The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

“Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes. Simple education around taking breaks, stretching, eating healthy snacks, and resting and icing your thumb, wrist, or elbow when it starts hurting can address injuries early, before they become significant. For the eyes, gamers can try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, try to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.”

Grinspoon discusses both the benefits and the health risks of gaming. Video games allow people to interact with each other remotely and bond over specific missions or tasks, and some research shows that they have cognitive benefits. However, some gamers may develop vision problems and hand and wrist injuries. Gaming and “staring in front of a screen the whole day” is also associated with obesity. Overall, Grinspoon believes that gaming is best done in moderation.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about hobbies .

Many parents believe that their children’s “bad behavior” is because of video games. Based on your experience and others, decide: are video games good or bad for you? Make sure to read viewpoints from both sides and write an essay based on your position. Would you encourage others to play video games? Discuss these pros and cons for an interesting argumentative essay.

Like anything else, video games have both positive and negative aspects. Explain the good that video games can do for you: the skills they can equip you with, the lessons they can teach, and anything else. Also, include whether you believe their benefits outweigh the disadvantages they may pose. 

For your essay, write about your favorite video game and why you chose it. What is its meaning to you, and how has it affected your life? Describe the gameplay mechanics, characters, storyline, and general impact on the gaming community or society. You can write about any game you want, even if you have not played it; just ensure the content is sufficient.

Many claim that playing violent video games can make you violent in the future. Research this phenomenon and conclude whether it is true or not. Is the evidence sufficient? There are many resources on this topic; support your argument by citing credible sources, such as news articles, statistics, and scientific research.

Video games have been a part of almost all our lives. Recall a treasured experience with video games and explain why it is significant. How old were you? Why do you remember it fondly? How did this experience make you feel? Answer these questions in your own words for an exciting essay.

There are stark differences between video and traditional games, such as board games and card games. For an engaging essay, compare and contrast them and write about which is more entertaining, in your opinion. Be creative; this should be based on your own opinions and ideas.

The video game content rating system is used to classify video games based on their appropriateness for specific ages. However, parents complain that they are not strict enough and allow the display of violent content to children. Explore the criteria behind the rating system, decide whether it needs to be changed or not, and give examples to support your argument.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Essay on Video Games

In the rapidly evolving digital age, video games have emerged as a dominant form of entertainment and a significant cultural phenomenon. Their influence extends beyond mere amusement, affecting cognitive development, social interactions, and even physical health. This essay aims to explore the multifaceted impact of video games, shedding light on their benefits and challenges while offering a balanced perspective for students participating in essay writing competitions.

Video Games

Video games have undergone a remarkable evolution since their inception in the 1950s. From simple pixelated games to immersive virtual realities, they have transformed into complex narratives that captivate players’ imaginations. This evolution reflects technological advancements and the growing sophistication of gamers’ tastes and demands.

Cognitive Benefits

Research has shown that video games can enhance various cognitive skills. They improve problem-solving abilities, spatial awareness, and multitasking skills. Games that require strategic thinking, such as puzzles or role-playing games, can significantly boost players’ decision-making processes and adaptability to changing situations.

Educational Potential

Educators have begun to recognize the potential of video games as learning tools. Educational games can make learning more engaging and interactive, providing a practical application of concepts in a controlled environment. This approach can cater to different learning styles and paces, potentially transforming traditional educational methodologies.

Social Interaction and Community Building

Online multiplayer games offer vast platforms for social interaction, allowing players to collaborate, compete, and communicate with others across the globe. This virtual socialization can foster teamwork, leadership skills, and a sense of community among players, challenging the stereotype of gaming as an isolating activity.

Physical and Mental Health Impacts

The impact of video games on physical and mental health is a subject of ongoing debate. While excessive gaming can lead to sedentary lifestyles and associated health issues, active games like those using motion sensors can promote physical activity. Moreover, video games can offer therapeutic benefits, such as stress relief and improved mood, and have been explored as treatment aids for anxiety and depression.

Positive Impacts

• Cognitive Skills: Certain video games, especially those involving strategy and problem-solving, can improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and spatial reasoning.
• Hand-Eye Coordination: Action and simulation games often require precise movements, enhancing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
• Social Interaction: Online multiplayer games can foster social connections and teamwork, providing opportunities for individuals to make friends and collaborate with others.
• Stress Relief: Engaging in video games can serve as a stress reliever and a way to unwind from daily pressures.
• Educational Value: Many educational games are designed to teach specific skills or subjects, making learning more engaging and interactive.
• Pain Distraction: Some video games have been used in healthcare settings to distract patients from pain or discomfort during medical procedures.

Negative Impacts

• Sedentary Lifestyle: Excessive gaming can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to physical health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular problems, and muscular weaknesses.
• Sleep Disturbances: Late-night gaming sessions can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to sleep deprivation, which can negatively affect mental and physical health.
• Addiction: Video game addiction can lead to social isolation, neglect of responsibilities, and adverse psychological effects, resembling addiction to substances.
• Violence and Aggression: Some studies suggest a correlation between violent video games and increased aggressive behavior, although the causation remains debated.
• Eye Strain and Physical Discomfort: Prolonged screen time can lead to eye strain, headaches, and physical discomfort, often referred to as “gamer’s thumb” or “text neck.”
• Social Isolation: While some video games promote social interaction, excessive gaming can lead to isolation from real-life social activities, potentially impacting mental health negatively.
• Escapism and Avoidance: Video games can become a form of escapism, allowing individuals to avoid dealing with real-life problems and responsibilities, which can lead to mental health issues.
• Reduced Academic or Work Performance: Excessive gaming can interfere with academic or work-related responsibilities, leading to decreased performance and productivity.
• Emotional Well-Being: While some games offer an enjoyable experience, others may be emotionally distressing or promote negative emotions, affecting mental health negatively.
• Financial Consequences: In-game purchases and microtransactions can lead to financial strain when not managed responsibly.

Economic Impact

The video game industry has become a significant economic force, with revenues surpassing those of the movie and music industries combined. It has created millions of jobs worldwide in various sectors, including development, marketing, and esports. The industry’s growth has spurred technological innovation, driving advancements in software development, graphics, and artificial intelligence.

Cultural Influence

Video games have transcended entertainment to become influential cultural artifacts. They influence fashion, music, and movies and are a driving force behind major technological and social trends. Games like “Minecraft” and “Fortnite” have become cultural phenomena, influencing everything from playground activities to online communities.

Ethical Considerations and Responsibility

As video games become more lifelike and immersive, ethical considerations come to the forefront. Issues such as the portrayal of gender, race, and violence in games have sparked discussions about the social responsibilities of game developers. Promoting diversity and avoiding stereotypes in games can contribute to broader cultural understanding and sensitivity.

The Future of Gaming

The future of video gaming promises even more immersive experiences with advancements in virtual and augmented reality. The integration of artificial intelligence can lead to more personalized and adaptive gaming experiences, potentially revolutionizing how we interact with digital environments. As technology progresses, the ethical, social, and health-related implications of gaming will continue to be critical areas of research and discussion.

In conclusion, Video games are a complex and dynamic form of entertainment with far-reaching impacts on individuals and society. While they offer numerous benefits in terms of education, cognitive development, and social interaction, they also pose challenges related to health, addiction, and ethical concerns. As the industry continues to evolve, it is imperative for players, developers, and policymakers to balance the positive aspects of gaming with its potential drawbacks. Engaging with video games critically and responsibly can maximize their benefits while mitigating adverse effects, ensuring that gaming remains a positive force in the digital age.

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The Narrative Impact of Active Video Games on Physical Activity Among Children: A Feasibility Study

Amy shirong lu.

1 College of Arts, Media & Design, Department of Communication Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States

2 Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States

Tom Baranowski

3 USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States

4 Information Control Company, Columbus, OH, United States

Richard Buday

5 Archimage Inc, Houston, TX, United States

Debbe Thompson

Alicia beltran, hafza razak dadabhoy, tzu-an chen.

6 McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States

Active video games (AVGs) capable of inducing physical activity offer an innovative approach to combating childhood obesity. Unfortunately, children’s AVG game play decreases quickly, underscoring the need to identify novel methods for player engagement. Narratives have been demonstrated to influence behaviors.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that a narrative would motivate increased AVG play, though a feasibility study that investigated the motivational effect of adding a previously developed narrative cutscene to an originally nonnarrative AVG, Nintendo Wii Sports Resort: Swordplay Showdown .

A total of 40 overweight and obese 8- to 11-year-olds equally divided by sex played the AVG. Half (n=20) were randomly assigned to a narrative group that watched the narrative cutscene before game play. The other half played the game without watching it.

Children in the narrative group had significantly ( P <.05) more steps per 10-second period (mean 3.2, SD 0.7) and overall (mean 523, SD 203) during game play compared with the nonnarrative group (10-second period: mean 2.7, SD 0.7; overall: mean 366, SD 172).

Conclusions

The AVG with narrative induced increased physical activity. Additional research is needed to understand the mechanisms through which narrative increases physical activity during AVG game play.

Introduction

Background and theory.

Children in the United States spend more time with electronic media than any other activity except sleep [ 1 ]. Their daily video game play has tripled over the past decade [ 1 ]. Traditional video games are sedentary [ 2 ] and the likelihood of getting physical activity from health education games is low [ 3 ]. Active video games (AVGs), or “interactive video or electronic games that feature player movement, such as would occur in ‘real-life’ exercise participation” [ 4 ], capable of inducing moderate physical activity levels may be a method for increasing youth physical activity [ 5 - 7 ].

A critical issue for AVG interventions, however, is that players typically do not play them for sufficiently long durations [ 8 ]. Innovative approaches to promote continued game play are needed to address this problem. A possible solution is the telling of narratives, or stories, one of the most distinctive characteristics of human social groups [ 9 ]. Narratives may have a crucial role in motivating increased game play in AVGs through their immersive properties, resulting in increased engagement, but their role has not been systematically investigated [ 10 ].

To our knowledge, this is the first feasibility study to systematically investigate the effect of narrative on children’s AVG play, testing the hypothesis that narratives will increase physical activity during AVG play. A professionally developed narrative cutscene was developed (ie, a brief, animated movie clip) for an existing AVG requiring trunk movement at a moderate level of physical activity. Children aged 8-11 years played either the narrative or the nonnarrative version of the game by either watching or not watching the narrative cutscene before game play.

Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem [ 11 ], which increases the risk of certain cancers [ 12 - 14 ], shortens life span [ 15 ], impedes functional ability [ 15 ], diminishes quality of life [ 15 ], and tracks into adulthood [ 16 ]. Physical activity is critical to preventing childhood obesity [ 17 , 18 ]. US physical activity guidelines recommend 60+ minutes of age-appropriate, enjoyable, mostly moderate or vigorous daily physical activity for children [ 17 ]. Yet few children meet these guidelines [ 18 ]. Most physical activity interventions have not achieved these effects; lack of access and motivation were identified as key challenges [ 19 - 21 ].

Active video games could provide an innovative method of increasing physical activity with promising health outcomes for many children [ 22 ]. As of 2014, an average US household owned at least one dedicated gaming device [ 23 ]. All major game console manufacturers offer controllers that can be used as exercise equipment [ 24 ]. In 2015, a typical child in the United States aged 8-12 years spent 1.33 hours/day playing video games and 81% of them had a video game console at home [ 25 ]. Access to these types of equipment may encourage physical activity among children who live in unsafe neighborhoods that lack accessible outdoor alternatives [ 4 , 26 , 27 ]. Replacing sedentary activities (eg, entertainment-oriented video games) with AVG play may increase physical activity, thus reducing obesity risk [ 28 ].

While AVGs may prevent childhood obesity by increasing physical activity levels, reported AVG play duration varies. One study found that a quarter of young players played AVGs for 2 days a week in bouts of 50 minutes on average [ 29 ], whereas another showed that the daily average time spent playing AVGs was only 5 minutes (SD 13.1) for adults and 8 minutes (SD 14.7) for children [ 30 ]. Despite game companies’ continued high level of investment in “AAA” games, that is, games with the highest development budgets, quality, and levels of promotion [ 31 ], most players did not play one game completely before starting a new one [ 8 ]. The obesity-combating potential of AVG cannot be realized if players do not play in sufficient dosage [ 32 - 34 ].

Approaches are needed to enhance physical activity resulting from AVG play. Narratives possess unique motivational properties that may encourage AVG play [ 10 ]. Although narratives appear in some health video games [ 35 ], most were simply used as background context at the beginning of a game and not well adapted throughout the game play. Few AVGs capable of achieving a moderate physical activity level have incorporated narratives [ 36 ]. One of the most basic forms of human communication [ 37 ], a narrative can be defined as any two or more events arranged in a chronological or causal order [ 38 ]. The ability to enjoy narratives is universal [ 39 ]. On the psychological level, narratives have a significant impact on cognition, affect, and, potentially, health behavior [ 40 ] through transportation, a unique immersive quality that enables suspension of disbelief [ 41 ], instills vivid personal experiences [ 42 , 43 ], and helps create deep affection for the characters [ 44 ]. The addition of compelling narratives to AVGs could foster strong intrinsic motivation, defined as motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from outside, to play by reducing cognitive load [ 45 ]; engendering arousal and attention [ 46 ]; eliciting character identification [ 47 ]; and absorbing players in an immersive fictional world [ 48 ] that promotes physical activity as necessary and fun [ 49 ]. Narratives also encourage players in their role as characters to enhance and maintain their physical activity [ 50 ]. On the behavioral level, AVGs with well-constructed stories may elicit desirable behavioral consequences, such as a higher level of physical activity than that elicited by nonnarrative AVGs. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model of the potential mechanism for narrative effects. A more detailed explanation of this conceptual model can be found elsewhere [ 10 ]. As part of the initial approach in addressing this gap in scientific understanding, this feasibility study tested the hypothesis that a child-friendly narrative would increase physical activity during AVG play.

Conceptual model of the mechanisms for narrative effects. AVG: active video game.

The narrative version of the AVG will result in a higher level of physical activity measured by steps/second count, total steps count, play duration, and total energy expenditure than the nonnarrative version.

This study used a 2-arm randomized controlled design with assessments of children’s AVG play during and after the sessions. Children were randomly assigned to narrative (n=20) or nonnarrative (n=20) groups.

Inclusion criteria were as follows: age 8-12 years, between the 85th and 99th percentiles for body mass index (BMI), ability to speak and understand English, and physically able to play the selected AVG. This group was targeted because (1) obese children in this age group are highly likely to become obese young adults [ 51 ] and interventions have had effects primarily among the overweight and obese [ 52 , 53 ]; (2) children younger than 8 years have cognitive limitations in responding to questionnaires [ 54 ], while children older than 12 years have entered early adolescence and may require different intervention strategies [ 55 ]; (3) English is a commonly taught language among children, including migrant children living in the study region; and (4) higher BMI percentile could prevent them from playing the AVG safely. Exclusionary criteria were not speaking or understanding English, having medical or physical problems that prevented AVG game play (eg, epilepsy, using orthopedic devices), or morbid obesity (BMI percentile ≥ 99). Special attention was given to recruiting African American and Hispanic children, the racial and ethnic groups linked to higher rates of obesity [ 11 ].

The Institutional Review Boards of Northwestern University and the Baylor College of Medicine approved the research protocols. Children were recruited from mostly lower-income public schools in Chicago and a participant database in Houston. Parents provided written informed consent and children provided written informed assent.

Intervention: Narrative Development and Format

Prior research has used both quantitative and qualitative methods (surveys and cognitive interviews) to explore child preferences for the type of narrative genres (eg, adventure, fable, mystery, comedy) and story plots. A total of 4 plots were developed to presage the selected AVG, Swordplay: Showdown (Nintendo Co, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan), by a professional media production company. Swordplay: Showdown requires players to wave a remote game controller as a sword to knock out enemies coming at them in different environments (eg, bridge, mountain, ruins). Because the essential movement was to wield a sword, “sword fighting” became the theme of the 4 narratives. An earlier formative observational study suggested that children playing this game were more likely to engage in trunk movement instead of just moving their arms or wrists.

A total of 20 children were recruited from the Chicago metro area. Of the 4 narrative plots, The Door was the children’s preferred story line. The Door tells the story of an ordinary child mysteriously absorbed into a strange world full of cartoon stickmen carrying swords. Results of cutscene testing and development are reported elsewhere [ 56 ]. To ensure the narrative would appeal to a diverse audience, character race and ethnic background as well as the plot and background cues were made racially and ethnically ambiguous [ 57 - 59 ].

The selected plot was fully developed and entitled The Door . The Door included information about the health benefits of physical activity, delivered in a narrative format through character dialogue. To ensure narrative was an optimal message format for health information delivery, a nonnarrative cutscene of comparable character and background setting containing the same type of information about the health benefits of physical activity was produced as a control condition. In the narrative version, when stickmen started to attack the player, they explained the benefits of physical activity and encouraged the player to stay physically active. In the nonnarrative version, stickmen communicated to the player the same information. More details about the conditions can be found elsewhere [ 60 ].

Another 20 children from the Houston metro area were recruited to evaluate the narrative and nonnarrative cutscenes. Results indicated that children preferred the narrative cutscene over the nonnarrative cutscene [ 60 ]. The narrative version of The Door was burned onto a digital video disc (DVD) for use in the study.

Implementation

A total of 40 children from the Houston metro area were recruited. Of these children, 8 participated in a pilot-testing session and 32 participated in the main study. The research protocol did not change between the pilot testing and main study. Thus, results were combined. Children were brought to the Metabolic Research Unit (MRU) of the Children’s Nutrition Research Center located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. The MRU consisted of a private, semiopen space simulating a modern-day living room with home furniture and household electronics (eg, television) with a separate waiting room attached. Children played the AVG inside the room, while their parents stayed in the waiting room.

After consent and assent and facility orientation, children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (narrative or nonnarrative) with 2 physical activity measurement instruments attached by a trained research associate. Those in the narrative condition first watched The Door (3 minutes in length) on a large LCD (liquid crystal display) television. The research associate then remotely switched the display from the DVD player to a Wii console preloaded with the Swordplay: Showdown AVG. The child was instructed to play the game for as long as he or she desired, up to a maximum playtime of 30 minutes. The research associate exited the room during AVG play to avoid social facilitation and observed the child play from a hidden monitor. The research protocol for those in the nonnarrative condition was identical, except that the children did not view the narrative cutscene before playing the AVG.

Each of the 40 children participating in the AVG play study session received a US $25 gift card.

Children’s BMI was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared [ 61 ]. Children’s height and weight were measured twice by a research associate. A portable stadiometer (Shorr Height Measuring Board, Weigh and Measure, LLC, Olney, MD, USA) was used to measure height to the nearest 0.1 cm. Children’s weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg using a calibrated scale (Seca 813 digital floor scale, Seca GmbH & Co KG, Hamburg, Germany). The mean of the 2 recordings was recorded. A third measurement was taken in the event of a >0.2 cm or >0.2 kg difference between the first 2 measurements; the mean of these 3 measurements was taken. Each child’s age- and sex-specific BMI percentile was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manual [ 61 ].

Traditionally, activity sensors have been worn on the hip or arm areas for physical activity assessment. To measure physical activity during children’s AVG play, a Sensewear Pro Armband [ 62 ] (Sensewear, Jawbone, San Francisco, CA, USA) and ActiGraph GT3X+ triaxial accelerometer [ 63 ] (ActiGraph, ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) were attached to children (Sensewear Pro on their upper arms and ActiGraph on their hips). The devices were synchronized to ensure they recorded similar time intervals. The research associate documented the duration of the children’s AVG play time with a stopwatch. Step data were obtained from both the Sensewear Pro Armband and the ActiGraph accelerometer. Energy expenditure in joules was tracked through the Sensewear Pro Armband.

Social desirability of responses was assessed with the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (Sample item: I never say things I shouldn’t.) [ 64 ]. The questions were collected via a touch-screen tablet.

Statistical Analysis

Independent t tests were performed to detect between-group differences in demographic information and BMI. For physical activity measurement, 2 phases were adopted for inferential statistical comparisons of the between-group difference using 2-sample t tests assuming unequal variances. Step 1 tested for significant differences in demographic (eg, age) and anthropometric (eg, BMI) measures to determine if the randomization process resulted in any biases in group physical characteristics. Step 2 compared play characteristics in terms of play duration, number of steps, and energy expenditure.

Power analysis showed that with 40 participants (20 per randomized sequence) and an alpha of .05, a 2-sided independent t test of the between-group narrative effect had 80% power to detect a large effect size of 0.91 SD units between means of the 2 conditions (narrative vs nonnarrative).

Independent 2-sample t tests and chi-square tests showed no between-group differences regarding demographic and baseline anthropometric measures of height, weight, BMI, BMI percentile, or social desirability. Because there was no group bias in participant height, weight, or demographics, covariance analysis was not conducted.

To test whether the narrative cutscene resulted in a more even distribution of activity over the play period, information entropy was used to analyze the probability distribution of the activity monitor data. Higher entropy indicates that the data are more evenly distributed, whereas lower entropy values indicate that activity was clustered around a narrow activity range.

The demographic information for the 40 children can be found in Table 1 . The children were on average 9.6 years old and were evenly distributed on the basis of sex. They were from diverse backgrounds, with an overrepresentation of African and Hispanic American children (31/40, 78%). All children were overweight or obese (BMI = 27.2, BMI percentile = 94.3). Most parents (31/40, 78%) had attended some college or beyond. Children primarily resided in single-family homes (35/40, 88%) and lived with 2 or more adults in the household (34/40, 85%). When asked how they liked being in this project at the end of game play, all expressed that participating in the project was a positive experience and that they would like to participate in similar projects in the future.

Children’s demographic and weight information (N=40).

a N/A: not applicable.

b BMI: Body mass index.

We found that the Sensewear Pro Armband significantly overestimated physical activity (ie, total energy expenditure was more than 500 kcal for a 20-minute AVG play) and that the step count correlations between the Sensewear and ActiGraph were inconsistent for the steps per 10 seconds ( r =.39) and total steps ( r =.32). Thus, data from Sensewear were discarded for further analysis.

ActiGraph more accurately assessed trunk movement. This is important because many children jumped around when playing with the Wii Remotes [ 65 ]. According to Table 2 , when physical activity was measured with the ActiGraph accelerometer, children in the narrative group had significantly ( P <.05) more steps during AVG play in terms of the average number of steps per 10-second period (mean 3.2, SD 0.7) and overall (mean 523, SD 203) when compared with the nonnarrative group (10-second period: mean 2.7, SD 0.7; overall: mean 366, SD 172).

Children’s physical activity levels during game play (N=40).

a P <.05.

Children in the narrative group had significantly lower entropy (mean 0.77, SD 0.14) than the nonnarrative group (mean 0.88, SD 0.15) according to the ActiGraph measurement ( P =.01 measured by bits of information), that is, the narrative group’s physical activity data were clustered around fewer physical activity levels, indicating more consistent physical activity or play at a steadier pace. The standard deviation and coefficient of variation of the physical activity were not significantly different ( P =.8 and P =.13, respectively). These results indicated that the participants’ activity patterns were not normally distributed. Thus the entropy analysis was warranted as a measure of variability.

Differences in average play duration (narrative: mean 17.6, SD 3.9 vs nonnarrative: mean 16.2, SD 4.1) and total energy expenditure (narrative: mean 566.9, SD 215.3 vs nonnarrative: mean 495.8, SD 190.7) were not statistically significant between the narrative and nonnarrative groups.

Principal Findings

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first feasibility study of the influence of a narrative on physical activity during AVG play among overweight and obese children. Participants were from diverse backgrounds in an urban area and responded well to the project. The narrative was carefully developed with multiple empirical tests to ensure that plot and characters were closely related to the AVG and were positively received by the diverse child participants. Compared with the original nonnarrative AVG, the addition of a 3-minute narrative cutscene at the beginning of the game play session increased physical activity in children’s AVG play, as evidenced by increased average number of steps per 10 seconds and the total step counts. Our findings suggest that the participants in the narrative group were more physically active during game play and more effectively engaging their bodies in swordplay movements than those in the nonnarrative group, who played the original version of the AVG without a narrative cutscene. These findings provide preliminary evidence that an engaging narrative may influence child physical activity during AVG game play.

Children are imaginative beings who could be positively influenced by a make-believe world when a compelling narrative has been developed to meet their developmental, emotional, and recreational needs [ 66 ]. To respond to their needs, the research group conducted extensive formative work to ensure children were involved in narrative development, that character and plot design were child-friendly, and that the narrative was appealing. Thus, when a narrative cutscene corresponds to the original AVG and is engaging, children could be motivated to mentally incorporate the narrative into their active play. Future studies should investigate psychobehavioral mechanisms behind such an effect with the goal of maximizing narrative’s impact.

There are several limitations to this study. The scale of this study was small, with a small sample of children playing a single AVG session using multiple measurement devices attached to their body after watching just a 3-minute narrative cutscene in a research laboratory. Because of the feasibility nature of the study, the sample of 40 in this study was initially powered to detect a large difference; future studies should be powered to detect smaller differences. Measurement device placements and the laboratory setting may have caused participants to shorten their natural AVG play time, which could have reduced our ability to detect differences in energy expenditure and AVG play motivation between the conditions. Other studies have found similar unreliable measurement results by Sensewear Armbands among overweight and obese children [ 67 , 68 ], possibly because children tend to have a higher body temperature than adults and that changes in skin temperature are central to Sensewear Armbands’ energy expenditure calculation. These results suggested that measurement devices should be coordinated to accommodate specific physical activity measurement scenarios and should be able to accurately track physical activity among children. Having heard the story once, the attractiveness of the story may decrease for children who would like to play the game a second time. This may suggest branching narratives or randomized multiple plotlines. In addition, performance-based narrative development may motivate children to repeat AVG game play. Future studies should try measuring participants’ physical activity level in a more natural setting for elongated and multiple repeated study sessions and for increased frequency of each play session.

This is the first feasibility study to systematically vary and test the effect of narrative on children’s physical activity during AVG play. Narrative increased physical activity during AVG game play among overweight and obese children as evidenced by more steps per 10-second period and total steps overall. Future research is needed to identify the underlying mechanisms through which this occurs.

Acknowledgments

Leia Butler, Leopoldo Castillo, Robert Dolezal, Sakina Kazmi, and Kimberlyn Shirrels helped with data collection in the narrative development stage. This project was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (1R21CA158917-01A1), “The Narrative Impact of Active Video Games on Physical Activity,” and federal funds from the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service under Cooperative Agreement No. 58-6250-0-008.

Abbreviations

Conflicts of Interest: No financial interests were reported from the authors except RB, who is president of Archimage, Inc, the company that created the narrative cutscene for the project.

The future is digital -- right?

The physical format faces headwinds, but will its demise be slower than we expect?

Did you get a physical game in a box for Christmas? Or better still, a new console? When it came to the new consoles you had two choices with either system: do you opt for the cheaper disc-less version, or the more expensive one that comes with an optical drive?

For years we have heard that the future is an all-digital world where physical media is dying. With that in mind, you would think the obvious choice is opt for the cheaper console -- after all, why spend more money unnecessarily? That message has not filtered through to most UK gamers, who tended to buy the more expensive disc-based console. According to ISFE's retail tracking Games Sales Data (GSD), over 75% of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S combined sales were for the disc-based console.

What happened to the all-digital future we keep on reading about? This essay will explore why, in the video game industry, consumer behaviour has clouded the direction of choice.

With the growing popularity of digital games, DLC and microtransactions, it feels as if the physical video game does not quite belong in this new digital world. Data from GSD reveals some ominous signs: FIFA 21 launched in early October in the UK, and by the end of its first week 69% of the games were downloaded when measured by sales value. If this is a secular trend it is hardly surprising when Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, concluded that the PlayStation 5 digital version will help accelerate digital-only games to account for 80% share of global game sales , compared to just 20% for physical games in 2025.

With the growing popularity of digital games, DLC and microtransactions, it feels as if the physical video game does not quite belong in this new world

Then there is subscriptions and streaming. In the last several years subscription has taken off with services like Xbox Game Pass, which has a membership heading towards the 20 million mark, if it hasn't already passed that threshold. With Stadia and Luna, Google and Amazon have both jumped on to the streaming bandwagon. Research firm Omdia has predicted cloud gaming revenues are poised to rise by 188% to $4 billion in 2021, before reaching $12 billion by 2025.

Faster internet speeds are another benefit. According to Limelight Networks , a content delivery network service, 87% of gamers globally find the process of downloading video games frustrating, with download times being the top bugbear. However, this will change in time as faster speeds neutralize download frustrations.

In sum, those who prefer physical games may feel increasingly squeezed by both digital and streaming gamers.

Let's get physical

The second quarter of 2020 is instructive of how the shift from physical to digital games globally coincided with the high street shutting down due to government rules to manage the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Sony, only 41% of Sony's PlayStation games in the second quarter were sold in the physical format , down from 55% in the same quarter in 2019. This only helped to consolidate PlayStation's revenue from digital sources -- including downloaded software, add-ons, and networking services -- which reached 77% of all global game revenue. GSD data for the UK shows a similar trend. Across the first three quarters of this year, physical game sales only accounted for 25% of sold units and 32% of sales value (among the 18 major publishers who share digital data with ISFE).

All of this looks ominous for physical games, but this is not the complete picture. A lot of downloaded games are back-catalogue titles, and when it comes to looking at data for new games, especially for the first two weeks of sales, the story changes -- physical game sales accounted for 41% of sold units and 41% of sales value.

The holiday quarter of Q4 is even more productive for physical games. Last year, physical game sales in Q4 2019 accounted for 57% of sold units and 60% of sales value. Given the surge in digital downloads over the last several years it could be argued that the physical format is holding up well, and it appears that some gamers are determined to buy their favourite games in the physical format . The fact that so many console purchases were for the disc-based system is evidence that gamers want to have the option to buy physical format games, even if more gamers are gravitating to digital downloads.

An optical illusion?

The much-vaunted solid-state drive (SSD) is said to transform how games will be delivered on the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony: faster load times when booting up from standby; bigger open worlds in light of more effective system memory; more bandwidth to reduce texture pop-in; and an ability to just install a game's multiplayer mode or immediately enter into a specific part of a game. Sony claims that its new consoles will "revolutionize the game experience for users" -- but users first need to access the game experience in the first place, and therein lies a problem.

When Sony CFO Hiro Totoki noted that Sony's new console will have a negative impact on earnings, it seemed to be an admission that each unit will sell at a loss. It may take Sony three years to break even on the hardware, losing as much as $170 per unit, according to the Financial Times newspaper . When the two console giants decided how to compete on price, they both worked out what compromises had to be made. Hard-drive capacity appears to be a sacrificial lamb in helping to keep hardware costs down.

The new consoles have usable hard drives of less than one terabyte: the PlayStation 5 has 667 gigabytes of usable space, and the Xbox Series S has 364 gigabytes. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with all its patches, comes in over 200 gigabytes, and even smaller games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last of Us Part 2 require 100 gigabytes in space. With a handful of AAA games on their consoles, gamers will have to start seeking out external hard drive solutions, such as the Xbox Series X drive card for $220 -- a pricey addition.

A lot of downloaded games are back-catalogue titles, and when it comes to looking at data for new games the story changes

Large games thus pose an issue of inconvenience. Those who do not opt for an external hard-drive solution, either out of choice or expense, will have to manage their library of games in the most efficient way. The fact is no matter how fast internet speeds get, they cannot beat the time it takes to pop in a disc and install a game from physical media.

There is also the advantage that these consoles are multimedia devices. As prices continue to fall for 4K televisions, gamers will be encouraged to upgrade -- not only to play games in 4K, but to have the flexibility of owning a multimedia console device, enabling the playback of UHD 4K Blu-ray discs, which in turn encourages investing in film libraries.

Last but not least, there are choices and perceptions of what a physical game means and how to use it, such as borrowing, selling, gifting, building a library that you can physically see, and having some control over ownership. That argument was well and truly won back in 2013 when Microsoft completely misread the consumer market with the unveiling of the Xbox One, and its online requirements. Gamers did not want that then and they most likely do not want that today, even if reality is cajoling them to have some sort of digital presence for almost all games.

Creature comforts

When the portable and digital-only PSP Go launched in 2009 Sony considered a program where gamers could trade in their Universal Media Discs from the original PSP. Unfortunately the Go flopped, partly due to a lack of features, and was replaced by the more successful PlayStation Vita.

Nevertheless, this laid the foundation for how someone with older games could be persuaded to upgrade their console, and Microsoft seems ready to take up the gauntlet. Its Smart Delivery service offers free upgrades to first-party games and any third-parties that opt-in going back to the original Xbox -- whether physical or digital games, and even on a PC.

This still won't be enough for some physical format aficionados. There are real concerns regarding game conservation, because if a digital-only game is delisted from an online store, for all intents and purposes that game is gone forever.

Digital game distributer Fanatical found in a survey in early 2020 that collectors owned an average of 931 games. These people are dedicated, and one lucrative area for collectors, according to The New York Times newspaper, is factory-sealed video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System -- such as Nintendo's "black box" series, which features almost a dozen variations of the standard black packaging for Super Mario Bros. Nintendo has shown us that limited editions can even come in the digital format with the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but this concept has its shortcomings -- there is no resale value, and it cannot be enjoyed with others. The question then arises: how important is sharing in this all-digital world we are marching into?

One way to look at the social aspect of video games is through the growing "sharing economy." According to PYMNTS, a payment news platform, the number of US adults participating in the sharing economy may reach 86.5 million in 2021 , hitting $335 billion in revenue by 2025. The purpose of the sharing economy, or the "rental economy" with a more business-to-consumer slant, is to provide goods or services to users globally -- a company like Airbnb, for example.

Millennials encapsulate this move to more socially conscious decisions, with their penchant for travelling light and consuming less, despite having adequate spending power. For example, they will typically reduce their long-term financial commitments, such as using Uber instead of owning a car. This social trend seems to be a perfect reason to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass or another game subscription service, and shun buying a physical game. That is what Microsoft could be banking on with the cheaper format of the Xbox Series S.

Pricing power

One element where physical can still be relevant is in the resale market. Although the pool of pre-owned games will continue to fall as gamers buy greater amounts of digital content, the expense of buying new games could take its toll for many, especially during these uncertain economic times. Take-Two Interactive announced NBA 2K21 for PS5 and XboX Series X|S will have a price tag of $69.99, up by $10 on the previous generation of consoles. A few months later, during its PlayStation 5 showcase, Sony announced Demon's Souls and Destruction All Stars will also be sold for $69.99.

For some gamers, that $70 price tag could only be viable if a new game can retain its value after purchase and be resold

The industry defended these rising prices, particularly for AAA games. IDG president and CEO Yoshio Osaki referred to game pricing remaining flat for the last 15 years, whereas TV and movie prices have increased sharply, while production costs have gone up by 300% in some cases and development cycles can last up to six years. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick concurred , adding: "We deliver a much, much bigger game for $60 or $70 than we delivered for $60 ten years ago. It's a complete, incredibly robust experience even if you never spend another penny after your initial purchase."

Meanwhile, the contrasting strategies of Microsoft and Sony are striking. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan doubts the sustainability of a cheap-as-chips subscription-heavy model that Microsoft has gone for with its deflationary Game Pass. Microsoft contends it does not focus on console sale units but, instead, is betting on capturing an increasing number of players into its ecosystem, allowing it the opportunity to promote other parts of its business.

Sony, with its strong offering of first-party games, is indicative of an industry at the top of its game and brimming with confidence, so much so it can introduce higher prices in the middle of a pandemic. For some gamers, however, that $70 price tag could only be viable if a new game can retain its value after purchase and be resold -- something that is not possible if bought digitally.

Winds of change

It is a curious that some games cost more digitally are than their physical counterparts . A clue as to why might be traditional retailers competing fiercely for business with the likes of Amazon, which is able to sell physical games at a loss if it means recruiting new people to its Prime program to sell them other, profitable products. In contrast, buying a console means having access to only the PlayStation Network (PSN), Xbox Live or the Nintendo eShop platform -- akin to Apple's lucrative App Store walled garden. Discount-hungry digital gamers must wait until publishers decide to run a sales campaign and then pray their wished-for game is on discount.

Even PC gamers have a better deal, with a plethora of digital stores selling digital keys. Discounts can be generous as well. For example, Steam runs seasonal sales offering discounts of up to 90%, and this is largely because other digital stores for the PC are offering deals as well. For the console market, this structural anomaly will continue to be a modest tailwind for physical games.

Delays in game production is a headwind for the industry, though. Xbox's flagship Halo Infinite has been delayed until later this year, and it was not an isolated example. Cyberpunk 2077's release was postponed multiple times -- in hindsight, maybe more delays were needed -- and if game-fixing patches are getting bigger and bigger it almost makes the need for a physical disc a bit of a joke. Although the market is not there yet, we could see a possible future of digital-only releases (similar to how free-to-pay games are distributed) if publishers do not want to delay getting their games to market longer than necessary. If the decline in physical sales continues, outside the holiday season of Q4, there could come a time when publishers will eye that strategy if the demand is there.

There is another countervailing force which will make the convenience of digital downloading more appealing in the current environment. Changing consumer behaviour during lockdown is putting intense pressure on the retail industry. Even though consumers are avoiding stores and choosing to shop online instead, it does not mean they will get their products as quickly as expected. The pre-order disruption with the new consoles is a case in point -- even if Ampere Analysis, an analytics firm, still thinks nine million of these new consoles will be sold globally by the end of 2020 . According to Retail Economics, a consultancy, most UK retailers are not equipped for a 50% share of online sales, nor for the possible 15% spike in sales over the festive period. One of the issues is that supply chains are operating in slower, socially distanced warehouses. Another is delivery constraints, so much so that some delivery companies have imposed parcel limits on retailers.

The pandemic will pass, and high street shops will reopen, but its legacy will reverberate for years to come. In times of uncertainty, familiar brands often do well as people seek comfort in what they know. The Q4 period is the cash cow for the physical games market, making up over 40% of physical sales for the year. Given the pandemic and the surge in downloaded content during 2020, that trend will have been tested.

Sam escaped an early career in finance and now combines his passion for video games and analytical experience to provide consultancy services. Damian is a market analyst with over 15 years experience, including 12 years at Microsoft Corp. He joined Sam as a consultant in 2020 to provide insights on how the macro environment is impacting the video game industry.

If you are interested in getting to know more about GSD and B2Boost and how they can help you with video game analytics, please send an email to [email protected].

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Essay on Physical Games vs Online Games

Essay – physical games vs online games.

Physical Games vs Online Games Essay: Games or sports are significant options for our leisure time and entertainment. It makes our mood cheerful by bringing a spontaneous spirit in mind. But the choices and preferences for gaming is not same for all. In the era of technological advancement, children can be found engrossed in mobile phones, computers playing online games. Due to excessive pressure of academics, they cannot go to fields with friends for enjoying some outdoor games like cricket, football, basketball etc. at the same time smartphones have become so common in every household that children spend a great amount of time playing online games. The online games are designed in such a way to captivate and engage young minds of children. Children also pay major attention to online games over physical games. As a result, they almost forget to go out and enjoy with friends. Not only that, they get several health problems like eyesight issue, hearing issue, back pain etc. for excessive use of online games. In this essay, students will get broader picture about both physical games and online games including its effectiveness in our life.

Importance of Games:

Games and sports are inevitable part of our living in several ways since earlier times. Spending time to play with friends after school was part of regular routine for every children. Lie was simple, worry free, lack of tension and loads of worries when children used to spend time with their friends. Now, they are getting used to live in closed building within suffocated environment. They do not have time to play with friends or just meeting friends. School, computer class, art class, other extracurricular activities have captured the whole day of a child’s life. So, they have found mobile phones as their only rescue option. To make children capable for the completion we often forget the real meanings of life, what they actually require at tender age and throw them into immense pressure and tension. So, it is time to be aware about the needs of children provide them needed support in every situation.

Pros of physical games:

Physical games means outdoor games which is the healthiest option of all. Outdoor games are ideal options for physical growth, gaining muscular strength and maintaining physical fitness among children. Besides that children become involved in friend groups, learn to make new friends, develop good communication and other metal qualities by playing with friend group. Children develop a sense of self-confidence through physical games when they analyse their strengths and friends admire their sporty attitude. With time children become capable to face and overcome the obstacles in their life for moving forward. Outdoor games is effective option of relaxing activity. Not only children but also working professionals who are engaged into corporate jobs with tedious work need to relax their body and mind through physical games. They will surely feel relaxed after spending some time in any form of outdoor games.

Cons of online games:

With the arising of online games several health issues have also become increased. The most disgusting result of online games is the arising rate of obesity among children. Children often opt for unhealthy food in home while playing online games. They become so lost into online games that they do not care the amount of food or time of eating. Online games are also coming one after another for attracting children with their captivating graphics and rewards. As a result, children cannot come out of the loop of online games. Their normal eyesight becomes weak, even they start hearing less. Children do not have to scope of interacting with their friends in online games. So, they do not get chance to enhance their social skills in online games.

Conclusion:

Both online games and physical games have their own advantages, limitations and disadvantages. So, it is up to us how wise we can be before choosing the right time and option for any game. We should focus on our overall health and growth for playing any game. If we realise that any game can cause harm for our mental and physical well-being then we should stop that game immediately no matter how captivating it is. We have to choose ourselves over everything and when it is time to take the right decisions we have to come out of comfort zone and take action.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Video Games — The Benefits and Negative Effects of Video Games

The Benefits and Negative Effects of Video Games

• Categories: Video Games

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Published: Feb 7, 2024

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Introduction, benefits of video games, negative effects of video games, video games and education, video games and violence.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Video games and board games: Effects of playing practice on cognition

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

• Léa Martinez, 
• Manuel Gimenes, 
• Eric Lambert

• Published: March 27, 2023
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654
• Reader Comments

The worldwide popularity of playing practices has led to a growing research interest in games’ impact on behavior and cognition. Many studies have already reported the benefits of both video games and board games for cognitive functions. However, these studies have mainly defined the term players according to a minimum play time or in connection to a specific game genre. No study has confronted the cognitive implications of video games and board games in the same statistical model. Thus, it remains unclear whether the cognitive benefits of play are due to play time or game type. To address this issue, in this study, we conducted an online experiment in which 496 participants completed six cognitive tests and a playing practice questionnaire. We examined the between the participants’ overall video game and board game play times and cognitive abilities. The results demonstrated significant relations between overall play time and all cognitive functions. Importantly, video games significantly predicted mental flexibility, planning, visual working memory, visuospatial processing, fluid intelligence, and verbal working memory performance, while board games were not found to predict any cognitive performance. These findings suggest that video games affect cognitive functions in specific ways compared to board games. We encourage further investigation to consider players’ individual differences through their play time and the specific features of the games they play.

Citation: Martinez L, Gimenes M, Lambert E (2023) Video games and board games: Effects of playing practice on cognition. PLoS ONE 18(3): e0283654. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654

Editor: Stefano Triberti, University of Milan, ITALY

Received: September 28, 2022; Accepted: March 13, 2023; Published: March 27, 2023

Copyright: © 2023 Martinez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: Data are available in an Open Science Framework repository, which can be accessed at: https://osf.io/bfv97/ .

Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the ANRT https://www.anrt.asso.fr/fr/cifre-35654 and the Asmodee Company [Bourse CIFRE 2020/0536] to Léa Martinez. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Boasting global markets of over US$150 billion for video games [ 1 ] and over US$7 billion for board games [ 2 ], the game industry represents a major entertainment market. Indeed, the video and board game industries offer a wide range of games that are usable in various domains. The growing popularity of games markets has led to an increasing amount of research on how game practice affects human behavior and cognitive functions. A common method of carrying out such research is to compare players’ and nonplayers’ abilities. Therefore, recent studies have mainly shown that players demonstrate better cognitive performance than non-players do [ 3 , 4 ]. Until now, players have generally been defined according to an overall minimum play time or to a minimum game genre-specific play time. However, player profiles are numerous and represent a wide diversity of playing practices. Moreover, a primary limitation of such research involves the lack of consideration of variability in the players’ play time and the type of game they play. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the cognitive benefits of play are due to overall play time or to specific game types.

Play time–based definition of players

Video games’ benefits for cognitive functions have already been widely demonstrated, with a main effect on executive functions [ 3 ]. Many studies have shown that video gamers outperform non-gamers in terms of attention, visuospatial, working memory, and mental flexibility performances [ 5 – 7 ]. For example, one study considered visual working memory skills and found that participants who played video games for more than 5 hours per week outperformed participants who played video games for less than 5 hours per week in connection to these skills [ 8 ]. Similarly, video game training has been shown to improve attention, visuospatial, and working memory skills [ 9 – 11 ]. For example, playing Call of Duty for 28 hours significantly improved visual working memory performance [ 9 ]. Therefore, recent literature widely supports the beneficial effect of video gaming on cognitive and executive abilities. However, these findings are mainly based on the opposition between gamers and non-gamers as a way to compare the cognitive performance of the two groups. In this way, a first limitation to fully understanding the relationship between play and cognitive functions is the failure to consider individual differences within the gamer group [ 12 ], such as variability in gamers’ overall play time.

Most studies have focused on video gamers and defined them according to their amount of play time in the previous months (e.g., Wong & Chang, (2018) [ 13 ] defined participants who played video games for more than 4 hours a week over the past 6 months as video gamers). However, a consensus has not been reached on the amount of play time defining a video gamer. In their literature review on video games and cognitive enhancement, Choi et al. (2020) [ 3 ] listed 10 studies in which video gamers were defined based on the number of hours spent playing video games per week. In the various studies, participants were considered video gamers if they played for more than 2 hours to 15 hours per week, whereas non-gamers were defined as playing less than 1 hour to 8 hours per week. Therefore, the current way of defining gamers into two groups (i.e., gamers and non-gamers) without considering the variability of their gaming experience represents a bias. Only a few studies have focused on the effect of video gaming on cognitive functions according to specific gamers’ expertise and their play time. These studies mostly examined electronic sports (e-sports) gamers’ cognitive abilities. The term e-sports refers to the individual and collective practice of engaging in video game competitions [ 14 ]. E-sports gamers are mostly considered expert gamers, and they are sometimes professional gamers. Since e-sports gamers report higher play times than casual gamers do [ 5 ], focusing on these gamers allows the effects of intensive video game practice on cognitive functions to be studied. Professional e-sports gamers usually outperform nonprofessional, casual gamers on cognitive tests, such as visuospatial processing, visuospatial memory, and attention tests [ 5 , 15 ]. For example, professional e-sports gamers who play more than 20 hours a week have shown better visuospatial processing, visuospatial memory, and attention performance compared with casual video gamers who play more than 5 hours per week [ 5 ]. The same results have been found when comparing professional and nonprofessional e-sports gamers. Professional e-sports gamers who play about 35 hours a week have been found to outperform nonprofessional e-sports gamers who play about 20 hours a week on a simple visual reaction test [ 15 ]. Thus, whether professional or not, it seems that the more time gamers spend playing video games, the higher their cognitive performance becomes. However, the comparison between e-sports gamers and amateur gamers leads to a confounding variable. Indeed, e-sports corresponds to a specific game practice based on specific video game genres and on competition only. Thus, there is a need to confirm that play time affects the cognitive performance of amateur players. Recent studies overcame the gamer/non-gamer dichotomy by using ordinal variables [ 16 ] or continuous variables [ 17 ] to account for gaming time. Kowal et al. (2018) [ 16 ] categorized participants into five video game time groups (i.e., 0, 1–7, 8–15, 16–22, and 23+ hours per week) and compared the groups’ inhibition and mental flexibility skills. The findings showed that the group with the highest video game time had the lowest overall reaction times to the Stroop test and the lowest non-switching and switching reaction times to the Trail Making Test. However, it remains unclear whether play time, taken as a continuous variable, underlies cognitive performance. Waris et al. (2019) [ 17 ] assessed the relations between time spent playing video games per week and working memory skills. The authors found strong evidence for positive linear relations between weekly video game time and visual working memory and updating skills. However, no significant relation was found considering verbal working memory skills. Therefore, it remains to be confirmed whether play time, taken as a continuous variable, is a significant predictor of overall cognitive abilities.

Game type–based definition of players

In addition to the dichotomous definition of players, a second limitation that restricts a full understanding of the potential relationship between play and cognitive functions is the lack of consideration of playing practice diversity. Numerous studies have highlighted the great potential of action video games to improve cognitive abilities. Action video games can be defined as video games with time pressure, requiring switching between distributed and focused attention and preventing full task automatization [ 18 ]. Bediou et al.’s (2018) [ 19 ] meta-analysis showed that playing action video games robustly improves attention and visuospatial cognition. However, any video game genre (e.g., traditional, simulation, strategy, action, or fantasy video games) may also have the potential to improve cognitive performance [ 3 ]. For example, one study found that players’ visuospatial skills significantly improved after playing the strategy game Portal 2 for 8 hours [ 11 ].

Furthermore, few studies have focused on the effects of non-digital games, such as board games, on cognitive functions. However, a clear-cut distinction exists between video games and board games, as they are defined by unique game features that do not apply equally to both types of games. Inherently, video games correspond to numeric leisure, while board games are mainly analog games. Even though some digitized board games that fully reflect their analog versions exist, they represent only the minority of board games and practices. Moreover, video games are mainly played alone, while board games are played in groups. There is a current trend in which online video game players are playing these games because they allow for interactions between gamers, but these are remote interactions, while board games mostly imply physical and social interactions between the players. In addition, video games are mostly defined by real-time dynamics. Gamers are most often required to make real-time decisions, which are led by the pace of the game. They provide a diversity of actions and environments in a single game, training strategy adaptation skills [ 20 ]. Rather, board games are defined by their requirement for social interactions. They allow for the training of specific strategies and actions in a given game, which mainly depend on players’ interactions.

A new research field on board games and cognitive functions recently emerged [ 21 ], but the number of studies in this field remains limited. These studies have mostly focused on the effects of traditional board games’ effects on the cognitive and executive abilities of the elderly and children’s cognitive and executive abilities [ 22 , 23 ]. Traditional board games correspond to abstract strategy games (e.g., chess, checkers, game of Go). Some training programs using this kind of game have been found to enhance working memory, attention, and global executive abilities [ 4 ]. Chess practice is positively related to fluid intelligence, short-term memory [ 24 ] and decision making performance [ 25 ], whereas game of Go practice enhances working memory performance [ 26 ]. Playing traditional board games has been shown to be related to a neural reorganization of brain areas associated with attentional control, working memory, and problem solving [ 27 , 28 ]. Similarly, playing modern board games also seems to improve cognitive and executive abilities.

Compared with traditional board games, modern board games correspond to newer games that offer a wide range of game mechanics (e.g., Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Carcassonne). Playing modern board games has been shown to be related to logical thinking [ 29 ], improved fluid intelligence [ 30 ], and improved verbal working memory [ 31 ]. Moreover, modern board games seem to enhance social abilities, including verbal, relationship, and emotional skills [ 32 ]. Although the number of studies on board games and cognitive functions remains limited, board gaming appears to affect cognitive abilities differently compared with video gaming. Board gaming seems to enhance fluid intelligence, verbal working memory, and social performance, whereas video gaming improves attention, visuospatial, working memory, and mental flexibility performance. Therefore, recent literature widely supports the beneficial effects of play on cognitive functions, but the nature of the relationship between game-specific practice and cognitive abilities still needs to be clarified. To our knowledge, no study has examined the cognitive implications of video games and board games in the same model; instead, until now, all studies have examined video gamers’ and board gamers’ cognitive abilities independently. However, the time spent playing video games and board games may be positively related. Players tend to play both game types proportionally, which leads to confounding variables. It remains unclear whether the benefits of play are due to specific game practices (i.e., video gaming and board gaming) or to overall playing practice, regardless of game type. Therefore, further investigations are needed to study the specific cognitive contributions of video games and board games concurrently in the same model.

Considering the recent literature on games and cognitive functions, the remaining question is whether the benefits of play on cognitive functions are due to the overall play time or to specific game types. To address this original question, we conducted an online experiment in which we aimed to overcome the dichotomous categorization of players. To do this, we examine the association between overall and game-specific play times and cognitive functions, considering play times as continuous variables and comparing video game and board game contributions in the same statistical model. More precisely, we compare the relationships between cognitive abilities and overall play time (i.e., the time spent playing video games and board games), the time spent playing video games and the time spent playing board games. Considering the recent literature on play and cognitive functions, we expected a significant relation between overall play time and overall cognitive performance [ 16 ], but we expected differentiated relations between game-specific play times and specific cognitive measures [ 3 , 4 ].

Materials and methods

The experiment was approved by the General Data Protection Regulation service of University XXX (declaration no. 202186).

Participants

Four hundred ninety-six French participants (268 women, mean age = 28.08 years) were recruited among undergraduate students, gaming associations, and social networks. All participants gave their written informed consent to participate and received either financial compensation (£8.5) or student course credit to complete their course unit. Individuals who played video games for 0–40 hours per week (M = 7.72, SD = 8.69) and board games 0–30 hours per week (M = 2.37, SD = 3.54), with an overall play time in the range of 0–48 hours per week (M = 10.09, SD = 10.00), were recruited ( Fig 1 ).

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

Note. Each binwidth = 1 hour.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654.g001

Regarding their main leisure activity, 24.2% of the participants reported video games, 4.03% board games, and 71.8% another leisure activity. Considering video gamers only–participants who played video games at least 1 hour per week– 72.2% reported their preferred video games as action video games (e.g., first-person shooter or multiplayer online battle arena). In addition, 27.8% reported non-action video games (e.g., strategy games and management games) as their preferred game. We noted that the most played video games were Leagues of Legends, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart. For board gamers only–participants who played board games at least 1 hour per week– 71.3% reported their preferred board games as casual board games (e.g., party games and quiz games), and 28.7% reported expert board games (e.g., abstract games and role play games) as their preferred games. We noted that the most frequently played board games were Uno, Monopoly, and chess. Only 12.9% of the participants played digitized board games (–considered board games in this study) at least once a week, and it is important to note that only 11 participants played chess online.

Cognitive tests

Fluid intelligence..

Raven’s matrices SPM38 [ 33 ], series D and E, were computerized to measure fluid intelligence. The exact same series were used by Bartolucci et al. (2019) [ 30 ] to assess the effects of board games on fluid intelligence. Similarly, Raven’s matrices APM were used by James et al. (2011) [ 34 ] to assess the effects of video games on fluid intelligence. In this test, participants were presented with a picture composed of eight figures linked by a logical pattern and a missing figure. The task was to find the missing figure that could logically complete the picture among the eight suggested options. The test consisted of 24 experimental trials with increasing difficulty. The number of correct answers was scored.

Mental flexibility.

The test from Experiment 1 in Monsell et al., 2003 [ 35 ] was adapted to assess mental flexibility skills. The exact same task was used by Green et al. (2012) [ 36 ] to study action video gamers’ mental flexibility skills. In this test, participants were presented with four types of stimuli (blue squares, red squares, blue circles, or red circles). The task was to classify each stimulus according to its shape (square or circle) or its color (blue or red). The stimuli were displayed successively on a background composed of eight parts, defined by eight equally spaced circle radii. The horizontal radii of the background were thickened to indicate the location of the task switch. Above the horizontal radii, participants classified the stimuli as circle or square (shape condition), whereas under the horizontal radii, participants classified the stimulus as red or blue (color condition). Therefore, the task to be performed was cued by location on the screen, changing every four trials. In the shape condition, participants used the left middle or index finger to press the “Q” key or the “S” key on a computer keyboard to give their answer. In the color condition, they used their right index or middle finger to press the “L” key or the “M” key. As soon as a participant responded by pressing a key, the next stimulus was presented counterclockwise in the next locus.

The test was composed of 32 training trials and 128 experimental trials. The trials in which the instruction changed (i.e., first trials above and below the horizontal radii) corresponded to the switching condition, whereas the trials in which the instruction remained the same corresponded to the non-switching condition. Thus, the switching condition represented 25% of the trials. Accuracy (i.e., proportion of correct answers) and reaction time were recorded in both switching and non-switching conditions. The differences between the accuracy and the reaction times in both switching and non-switching conditions were then computed.

A computerized version of the Tower of London test [ 37 , 38 ] was used to assess planning skills. Boot et al. (2008) [ 39 ] used the same test to examine the relationship between video gaming and planning skills. In this test, participants were presented with a board with three pegs and three colored balls. The balls could be moved by clicking on the pegs and applying the following rules: No more than three balls could be placed on the biggest peg, no more than two balls on the middle peg, and no more than one ball on the smallest peg. The task was to reproduce a specific arrangement of the balls, which was presented at the top right-hand corner of the screen, with the smallest possible number of moves and within 60 seconds. The task included a training trial and 12 experimental trials. The number of correctly reproduced arrangements was scored.

Visual working memory.

A computerized version of the Corsi block-tapping task was used to measure visual working memory skills [ 40 ]. A similar version of the task was used by Hazarika and Dasgupta (2020) [ 41 ] to examine the neural correlates of action video gaming in visual working memory tasks. Participants were presented with nine dark blue squares, of which some randomly flashed in bright orange, in a specific order. In the forward condition, participants were required to reproduce the sequence by clicking on the same blocks in the same order, whereas in the backward condition, they were required to reproduce the sequence in reverse order. Both conditions included two training trials and two experimental trials for each sequence length, ranging from two to nine flashing blocks in the forward condition and from two to eight flashing blocks in the backward condition. Participants were informed that the sequence length would increase gradually. When they failed both trials of the same sequence length, the condition ended. The span (i.e., the longest sequence correctly reproduced) was then scored.

Verbal working memory.

The shortened version of the operation span task was used to assess verbal working memory skills [ 42 ]. A similar task was used to assess the relations between action and real-time strategy gaming and verbal working memory skills [ 43 ]. In this test, participants were required to remember letter sequences, and as a distractor task, to judge whether arithmetic operations were correct. After each operation-letter sequence, participants were asked to recall the letters in the correct order. The test was composed of two training trials and six experimental trials (two trials for each letter sequence length, ranging from four to six letters). An absolute score (i.e., the number of letter sequences correctly recalled) was recorded.

Visuospatial processing.

Peltier and Becker’s (2016) [ 44 ] visual search task was adapted to assess visuospatial processing skills. A similar task was used in Hubert-Wallander (2011) [ 45 ], assessing the visuospatial skills of action video gamers. During this test, participants were required to determine whether the figure included the letter “T” among a set of distractors (letter “L”). Participants were asked to press the “M” key or the “Q” key on a computer keyboard to give their answers. A fixation cross was displayed for 500 ms before each trial. The letters were randomly rotated from their upright positions by 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, or 315°. The task included two training trials and 24 experimental trials (4 trials– 2 target absent, 2 target present trials–for each set size– 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, or 35 letters). The number of correct answers and the reaction time were recorded.

Player profiles

Participants’ play times were assessed using two self-reported questions: “How often do you play video/board games?” and “On average, how many hours do you play video/board games per week?” The given responses ranged on a 6-point Likert-type scale from “Never” to “Several times a day” to the first question, and responses were given in hours to the second question. The answer to the first question was used to control the answer to the second question (e.g., participants who answered “Never” to the first question and did not answer “0 hours” to the second were excluded).

Participants’ favorite video and board game genres were recorded using the alternative choice question “Choose your favorite video/board game genre." Responses were chosen from a list of common video game genres (e.g., first-person shooters, multiplayer online battle arenas, and puzzle games) and common board game genres (e.g., party games, abstract games, and quiz games). The most played games were also recorded through the open-ended question "What video game have you played the most in the last 6 months?"

The participants were all tested online from October 2021 to March 2022. They first completed the Raven matrices, Monsell, Tower of London, Corsi block-tapping, operation span, and visual search tasks, and then completed the gaming experience and demographics questionnaire, which lasted approximately 45 minutes. Because the study was conducted online, quality controls were applied to the data. Participants’ time spent on each cognitive task, responses to attention check questions between each test, and feedback reported at the end of the study were assessed. Thus, any participants who completed the study in less than 20 minutes, those who reported being distracted, those who had any cognitive disorders, or those who engaged in drug use were excluded.

Statistical analyses were performed using R [ 46 ]. For all cognitive tests, outlier reaction times to correct responses were detected and removed for each participant using three median absolute deviations around the median reaction time [ 47 ]. Outliers were also detected based on the visualization of the frequency distributions of correct responses. This was done using histograms [ 48 ].

For all statistical tests, we used an alpha level of .05. We conducted regression modeling to examine how participants’ overall play time and game-specific play times (i.e., time spent playing video games vs. time spent playing board games) were related to cognitive performance. Because no theory suggests that the relationship between play time and cognitive functioning is strictly linear, we decided to compute generalized additive models (GAMs) [ 49 ]. GAMs capture the non-linear aspects of and the variations in a relation based on flexible, smoothing splines. These splines correspond to the sum of multiple basis functions, each multiplied by a coefficient to fit the data and create the overall shape of the relation. We used the mgcv package in R to compute the GAMs. First, we tested the relation between all cognitive scores and overall play time. Second, we computed multivariate GAMs to test the relations between all the cognitive scores and game-specific play times and to determine the specific predictors of cognitive performance.

The assessed cognitive functions have been shown to be affected by aging (for a review, see Harada et al., 2013 [ 50 ]) and education level (for a review, see Lövdén et al., 2020 [ 51 ]). Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 59 years, and their highest degrees ranged from none to a doctoral degree. Thus, we decided to control for participant age and education level. All predictor variables (i.e., time spent playing video games and time spent playing board games) and control variables (i.e., age and education level) were entered into smoothing splines in the multivariate GAMs.

Relation between overall play time and cognitive performance

GAMs were computed to assess the relation between all the cognitive measures and overall play time. The estimated degrees of freedom (edf), the p-values, and the coefficients of determination (R 2 ) are reported in Table 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654.t001

The overall play time was significantly related to the number of correct responses in the Raven matrices test, the number of correctly reproduced arrangements in the Tower of London test, the forward span in the Corsi block-tapping task, and the number of letter sequences correctly recalled in the operation span task. In addition, the overall play time was significantly and linearly related to the difference between the non-switching and switching reaction times in the Monsell task, the backward span in the Corsi block-tapping task, and the number of correct responses and the reaction time in the visual search task.

Relation between game-specific play time and cognitive performance

Multivariate GAMs were performed to test whether the time spent playing video games and the time spent playing board games significantly predicted cognitive measures. The time spent playing board games was found to be significantly related to age (edf = 3.865, p < .001) and education level (edf = 4.366, p = .004). Considering these significant relations and the literature on cognitive aging and education, it was necessary to control for participant age and education level. In Model 1, only age and education level were entered into the analysis. In Model 2, all predictor variables (i.e., time spent playing video games, time spent playing board games, age, and education level) were entered into the regression equations simultaneously. These analyses provided an estimate of the additional variance explained by play times when controlling for age and education level. The models’ coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and predictors’ estimated degree of freedom (edf) are reported in Table 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654.t002

As expected, age was found to be a significant predictor of all assessed cognitive functions. Education level was found to be a significant predictor of all cognitive performance, except mental flexibility. Controlling for age and education level, the time spent playing video games significantly predicted the number of correct responses in the Raven matrices test, the difference between switching and non-switching reaction times in the Monsell task, the number of correctly reproduced rearrangements in the Tower of London task, the forward and backward spans in the Corsi block-tapping task, the number of letter sequences correctly recalled in the operation span task, and the reaction times in the visual search task (see Fig 2 ).

Note. Plots with 95% intervals.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654.g002

More specifically, mental flexibility and visual working memory skills were found to be linearly related to the time spent playing video games. The more the participants played, the lower their switching cost and the higher their backward visual span (see Fig 2B and 2E ). Similarly, fluid intelligence skills were found to increase, along with video game time, especially after 10 hours of gaming per week (see Fig 2A ). Planning skills and verbal span were also found to increase with video game time, but this positive relation reached a limit between 10 and 20 hours of video gaming per week (see Fig 2C and 2F ). However, visuospatial processing speed was found to increase (i.e., lower reaction times) as video game time increased, reaching a limit around 20 hours of gaming per week and then decreasing in more intensive gamers (see Fig 2G ).

Playing practice specifically explained 5.7% of the variance in the visual forward span and 3.6% in the visual backward span, 2.8% of the variance in planning, 2.7% in mental flexibility, 2.2% in visuospatial processing skills, 2% in fluid intelligence, and 1.7% in verbal working memory. However, controlling for age and education level, the time spent playing board games was not related to any cognitive measures.

Given the wide popularity and cognitive benefits of video and board games, the current study aimed to elucidate the relationship between playing practices and cognitive abilities. Until now, players were mainly defined according to a minimum play time and a specific game type, which is not representative of real playing practices. Therefore, we overcame the dichotomous definition of players by examining whether the benefits of play were explained by the overall play time or specific playing activities. To accomplish this, we assessed the relationships between the participants’ overall and game-specific play times and six main cognitive abilities. Our results demonstrated significant relationships between overall play time and cognitive performance and revealed the important implications of video game practice time in cognitive functions.

The GAMs revealed that overall play time was related to all the assessed cognitive performances. In line with our hypothesis, the overall play time predicted fluid intelligence, mental flexibility, planning, visual and verbal working memory, and visuospatial performance. We noted positive non-linear relations between play time and planning skills, verbal span, and forward visual span, as well as positive linear relations between play time and backward visual span and visuospatial processing skills. Regarding reaction times, we noted negative linear relations between play time and mental flexibility and visuospatial processing speed. Therefore, our results showed positive relations between overall play time and both accuracy and efficiency.

Considering mental flexibility, we found only a negative linear relation between the overall play time and the difference between the non-switching and switching reaction times. The more the participants played, the higher their efficiency became, but their accuracy did not show a similar increase. This is in accordance with Dye et al.’s (2009) [ 52 ] findings showing that gamers responded faster to several switching tasks without losing accuracy. Overall, our findings are in line with the recent literature on the cognitive benefits of play [ 3 , 4 ]. Most importantly, we showed a positive relationship between play time and cognitive performance.

Using GAMs allowed for the consideration of the individual diversity of play time (e.g., 0–48 hours per week in our sample). Indeed, the dichotomous categorization of players based on minimum play time often fails to capture the current diversity of playing practices. Moreover, on a theoretical level, a consensus has not yet been reached on the minimum play time required for someone to be defined as a player. In recent studies, players have not had equal play time, and non-players are sometimes casual players, playing up to 8 hours per week [ 3 ]. Therefore, our findings showed the importance of considering play time as a continuous variable to determine the benefits of play on cognitive abilities. We confirmed the relationship between play and cognitive functions, and most importantly, we demonstrated the not necessarily linear nature of this relationship.

The implications of game-specific play times for cognitive performance were detailed via multivariate GAMs. The analyses showed that age was a significant predictor of all assessed cognitive functions, and education level was a significant predictor of all cognitive measures except mental flexibility. These results are consistent with numerous studies showing that cognitive functions are affected by age [ 50 ] and education level [ 51 ]. Comparing this model with age and education level as predictors and a model with age, education level, time spent playing video games, and time spent playing board games as predictors, playing practice was found to significantly explain 1.7% to 5.7% of the variance in different cognitive performance.

Video game practice time was found to uniquely predict all assessed cognitive abilities. In line with recent literature, video game practice was related to mental flexibility, visuospatial processing, and visual working memory skills [ 6 , 18 ]. The time spent playing video games was negatively and linearly related to the difference between non-switching and switching reaction times in the mental flexibility task. Thus, video game practice time positively predicted the limited cost of task switching on players’ efficiency. However, the time spent playing video games was non-linearly related to visual search task reaction times. Playing video games predicted higher efficiency in visuospatial processing tasks but not necessarily higher accuracy, only for gamers playing up to 20 hours a week. This is in line with the literature showing that gamers respond faster to visuospatial tasks without losing accuracy [ 53 ]. However, this relation seems to reverse when playing video games more than 25 hours a week. In addition, the time spent playing video games was positively related to the visual forward and backward spans. Interestingly, the analyses also revealed that the time spent playing video games predicted fluid intelligence, planning and verbal working memory skills.

Few studies exist on the relationship between video gaming and fluid intelligence, planning and verbal working memory [ 10 , 54 ]. However, recent literature has shown that board gamers demonstrate higher fluid intelligence [ 30 ], planning [ 55 ] and verbal working memory performance [ 31 ]. Indeed, we found that the time spent playing board games was significantly related with fluid intelligence (edf = .2.283, p = .002) and verbal working memory skills (edf = 3.720, p = .020). However, after controlling for age, education level, and video game practice time, the associations between board gaming and fluid intelligence and verbal span were no more significant in GAM analyses. Thus, by comparing the cognitive contributions of video games and board games in the same statistical model, something that has not been done in previous studies, our results highlight the specific relationship between video gaming and fluid intelligence and verbal working memory skills.

The unique implications of video game practice in cognitive functions, even after controlling for age, education level, and board game practice time, could be explained by unique game features. Indeed, compared with board games, video games imply real-time dynamics, such as real-time decision making, which have a great potential to enhance cognitive abilities. Playing video games often leads to a high level of arousal. Gamers are mainly required to maintain and manipulate information from multiple sources and to make rapid decisions. They also need to use their attention skills in a flexible manner by switching between distributed and focused attention. These features could help develop attention and mental flexibility skills [ 20 , 56 ]. Moreover, video games offer various environments, avoiding full task automatization and fostering new strategies and learning [ 20 ]. Gamers can also take advantage of increasing difficulty levels that are adapted to their skills, and they can gather immediate informative feedback, which allows them to adapt their behavior and strategies. Finally, video games are intrinsically rewarding and fun, and these characteristics have been shown to yield cognitive enhancement [ 57 ]. Further investigations are now required to define which game features particularly explain the cognitive benefits of video games.

A current issue has to do with the structural similarities existing between games’ mechanisms and cognitive tests. Some authors highlighted that the relationship between gaming and cognitive abilities may only demonstrate the training of specific behavioral responses to stimuli that are shared between games and cognitive tasks (e.g., the requirement for rapid responses to a first-person shooter game and reaction times to a go/no-go task) [ 3 , 58 ]. However, some studies showed that video gaming can enhance other cognitive skills and activities involving these cognitive functions. Thus, interpreting the relationship between video gaming and cognitive functions based on structural similarities only is challenging. For example, children’s reading speed and accuracy significantly increased after playing Rayman Raving Rabbids action mini games, which could be explained by the significant enhancement of their visuospatial and phonological processing skills [ 59 , 60 ]. Similarly, playing Unreal Tournament 2004 and Angry Birds significantly enhanced undergraduates’ verbal working memory and mental rotation skills, which could explain the significant improvement in their geometry performance [ 61 ]. Therefore, the benefits of video gaming on cognitive abilities cannot be attributed solely to structural similarities between the games and the cognitive tasks.

Board game practice time was not found to predict any of the assessed cognitive abilities. These findings did not confirm our hypothesis of differential relationships between game-specific play times and cognitive abilities. The significant relationship between board game practice time and cognitive measures was no longer significant when age and education were controlled. Indeed, board game practice time was significantly related to age and education level. More educated participants and those aged 30 to 40 years spent more time playing board games. Thus, board game practice seems to represent a specific category of the population, capturing age and education level. Therefore, it is difficult to confirm the specific effect of board games on cognitive functions [ 4 ]. The already demonstrated effects in the literature may be due solely to the participants’ age and education. Therefore, an interventional study is needed to determine whether cognitive benefits related to board games exist and how much practice time per week would be needed to achieve this effect. These studies could be conducted with younger participants to control for age and education effects.

Our analyses did not reveal a concomitant implication of video games and board games in terms of cognitive performance. Thus, the common features of games, such as that they are rewarding and fun experiences, do not seem to be sufficient to explain cognitive performance. Once again, these findings highlight the importance of identifying the unique game features involved in the association between play and cognitive functions. Further studies will need to consider game specific features and play times to fully understand the cognitive benefits of play.

Limitations and perspectives for future research

Although the current study offers novel findings on the association between play time, game type, and cognitive functions, some limitations must be noted. As a first limitation, the participants completed the study online, which allowed a large sample to be recruited. Although the data were checked, and any incomplete data were excluded, participants’ engagement and motivation can be questioned. Recent studies have noted that online participants are not necessarily inattentive during the tasks, but they are more likely to be distracted (e.g., in using their mobile phones, talking to another person in the room, etc.) [ 62 ]. Thus, a recommendation for ensuring online participants’ motivation and engagement is to provide informative feedback about their performance [ 63 ]; we did this for each task, but it may not have been sufficient.

The second limitation lies in the concerns regarding whether bias existed in the self-reported measures of play time. Some studies have shown that players tend to under-report their time spent playing video games [ 64 ] and to over-report their genre-by-genre gaming time [ 65 ]. To our knowledge, no similar study has assessed bias in the measures of time spent playing board games. Thus, there is currently no way to know whether video game and board game times are biased in the same way. A solution to ensure that play time is accurately measured is to use online measures. In video games, this could correspond to the play time recorded in video games’ servers [ 64 ]. A similar measure could be implemented for board games using diary-based reports or timed play sessions [ 17 ].

A third limitation is the use of a dichotomous game-type approach. Although we considered play time as a continuous variable, playing practice was still defined according to a game-type dichotomy (i.e., video games vs. board games). This approach allowed us to compute cognitive predictors while controlling for game-specific play times and gave first results on the comparison of video and board games’ cognitive implications. However, future studies will be needed to build on our findings according to game subtypes (e.g., action games, strategy games, etc.) and obtain evidence on the game-specific features mediating cognitive enhancement. Finally, given the correlational nature of our analyses, we demonstrated the existence of linear and non-linear relations between overall and game-specific play times and cognitive performance. However, our results cannot account for the causality of the cognitive benefits of play. Thus, future training studies will be necessary to determine the causal relations between play and cognitive abilities. As discussed above, these studies will have to implement training based on different play times and different game features to specify the effects of play on cognitive functions.

Given the global popularity of playing practices and the concerns about intensive gamers’ health, it is important to examine the implications of play time and game type on cognitive functions. Our findings are in line with the recent literature showing that playing is beneficial for cognitive functions; moreover, the findings demonstrate that play time predicts players’ cognitive performance. It seems that video games affect cognitive performance more than board games do, which has never been demonstrated in previous studies. The unique features of this main game type surely explain its specific relationship with cognitive functions. Video games seem to have a greater potential for overall cognitive enhancement because they involve processing various types of information and adapting strategies dynamically and in real time. Future studies on play and cognitive functions will need to account for individual differences among players by considering their play times and the specific features of the games they play.

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