Understanding Video Game Play and Mental Health

尽管它们很受欢迎，但科学对电子游戏及其对我们心理健康的影响的了解有限。这种有限的理解是先前研究方法的几个局限性的直接结果：低数据质量，不具代表性的样本，缺乏透明度。总之，这些限制导致研究缺乏原则性的方法来研究电子游戏：描述行为（即游戏），预测行为，测试行为本身的预测。根据这一建议，我们制定了这样一个原则性的研究方案，以解决这些限制。具体来说，我们的目标是生成一个权威的数据集，为我们提供对电子游戏和心理健康的准确理解。我们将在全国范围内对活跃电子游戏玩家的心理健康、个性和动机进行调查，并结合电子游戏行为的客观数据。我们将从与我们建立了工作关系的行业合作伙伴（任天堂、索尼、微软）那里获得这些行为数据。这种将调查数据与行为数据相结合的做法，需要学术界与历来不愿分享数据的电子游戏行业之间展开前所未有的合作。我们将招募代表英国人口的7000名活跃的成年玩家的一个大样本。这些参与者将完成一项关于心理健康、幸福感、动机、个性和人口因素的半小时调查。为了将参与者的调查数据与他们玩电子游戏的行为联系起来，调查将引导参与者进入一个网站，在那里他们选择他们使用的所有游戏服务，并同意将他们的游戏数据捐赠给研究。然后，我们的行业合作伙伴的系统会记录同意和匿名标识符，然后与调查数据一起记录。这个工作流程允许我们的团队查询合作伙伴的数据库，以获取行为电子游戏数据的匿名标识符。所产生的数据集代表了一种独特的资源，更重要的是，它是最终获得对电子游戏行为的准确理解的独特机会。游戏产业会记录人们在游戏中的行为（游戏邦注：例如，玩家玩游戏的时间，他们在游戏中的表现）。将这些数据与有代表性的样本结合起来，我们就可以进行原则性研究计划的每一步：描述电子游戏的玩法，预测它，测试电子游戏是否能预测心理健康。总之，这些步骤构成了电子游戏付费和心理健康科学的基础。我们不仅能够知道人们玩什么游戏的时间和时间；我们还可以检查玩家的类型（游戏邦注：例如，具有特定动机和个性的子群体）。此外，我们还可以测试哪些特征能让我们准确预测玩家喜欢哪种类型的游戏，他们玩了多长时间等等。最后，我们将最终知道哪些类型的游戏与心理健康有关。达到这些目标后，我们才能全面理解电子游戏。这种理解是非常必要的：许多福利机构和政府机构需要我们提供的证据来监管游戏。与此同时，学术界和公众利益相关者一直在要求行业与独立研究人员分享他们的数据。通过我们的项目，我们将为这种合作设定标准：道德、透明和独立。作为第一家与游戏行业进行如此大规模合作的公司，我们的目标是以身作则。我们不仅会产生第一个关于电子游戏和心理健康的权威数据集；我们将公开分享这些数据集。这个数据集是全世界科学家的宝贵资源。此外，将我们的发现传达给政策制定者将最终为他们提供一个坚实的证据基础，并为如何与行业合作伙伴合作提供一个例子。

Despite their popularity, science has a limited understanding of video games and their effects on our mental health. This limited understanding is a direct result of several limitations of the method of previous research: low data quality, unrepresentative samples, and a lack of transparency. Together, such limitations have resulted in research that lacks a principled approach to the study of video games: describing the behaviour (i.e., gaming), predicting the behaviour, testing what the behaviour itself predicts. With this proposal, we develop such a principled research programme that addresses these limitations. Specifically, we aim to generate an authoritative data set to provide us with an accurate understanding of video game play and mental health. We will combine a large, nationally representative survey of active video game players' mental health, personality, and motivations with objective data of behaviour in video games. We will obtain these behavioural data from industry partners that we have established working relations with (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft).This combination of survey data with behavioural data requires a new, first-of-its kind collaboration between academics and a video games industry that has been historically reluctant to share data. We will recruit a large sample of 7,000 active adult players representative of the UK population. These participants will complete a half-hour survey on mental health, well-being, motivations, personality, and demographic factors. To link participant survey data with their video game play behaviours, the survey will direct participants to a website where they select all game services they use and consent to donate their play data to the study. The systems of our industry partners then record the consent and an anonymous identifier, which is then recorded with the survey data. This workflow allows our team to query the data bases of our partners for those anonymous identifiers for behavioural video game data.The resulting data set represents a unique resource and, more importantly, a unique opportunity to finally obtain an accurate understanding of video game behaviour. The games industry records what people do in their games (e.g., how long someone played a game, how good they were in the game). Combining these data with a representative sample allows us to conduct each step of a principled research programme: describing video game play, predicting it, and testing whether video game play predicts mental health. Together, these steps form a much needed foundation for a science of video game pay and mental health. Not only will we be able to tell what games people play when and for how long; we can also examine what types of players there are (e.g., subgroups with certain motivations and personalities). Moreover, we can test what characteristics allow us an accurate prediction of what genres a player engages with, how long they play for, etc. Last, we will finally know what types of play are related to mental health.Meeting these objectives will finally allow a comprehensive understanding of video games. This understanding is sorely needed: Many welfare agencies and government bodies need evidence of the kind we produce to potentially regulate gaming. At the same time, both academics and public stakeholders have been asking for industry to share their data with independent researchers. With our project, we will set the standard for such collaborations: ethical, transparent, and independent. Being the first to collaborate with the games industry on such a scale, we aim to lead by example. Not only will we produce the first authoritative data set on video games and mental health; we will share these data set publicly. This data set is a valuable resource for scientists all around the world. Further, communicating our findings to policymakers will finally provide them with a firm evidence base and an example of how to engage with industry partners.