The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Epidemiology

Background:

• COVID-19 containment policies, including lockdowns, raised concerns about potential negative side effects on behavior.
• Previous studies suggested increased video gaming during lockdowns, but relied on self-reported data, which is prone to bias.
• The actual impact of global lockdowns on video gaming behavior remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if specific COVID-19 lockdown policies led to significant increases in individual video gaming duration.
• To analyze the relationship between various containment and closure policies and gaming behavior.

Main Methods:

• Utilized over 251 billion hours of raw gameplay telemetry data from 184 countries.
• Employed a multilevel model to assess the impact of 8 containment and closure policies on in-game time.
• Examined policy effects on overall playtime and the number of unique users.

Main Results:

• No lockdown policy significantly explained increased playtime per individual gamer.
• School closures were associated with a modest increase in total national playtime (r²=0.048).
• This increase in total playtime was driven by a rise in the number of unique players, not by extended gaming sessions per player (r²<0.001).

Conclusions:

• Contradicts previous self-report studies suggesting significant increases in heavy gaming during pandemics.
• Found no evidence that COVID-19 lockdown policies led to increased playtime per gamer.
• Recommends further research before incorporating disordered gaming into pandemic preparedness public health policies.