Effect of Online Gaming on Positive and Negative Affect and Psychological Wellbeing

Ugyal T. Lama Yolmo¹

Yolmo, U. T. L. (2021). Effect of Online Gaming on Positive and Negative Affect and Psychological Wellbeing. InterViews: An Interdisciplinary Journal in Social Sciences, 8(1), pp. 69-78. https://doi.org/10.36061/IV.8.1.21.69.78

Abstract¹

India is ranked 5th globally in game downloads on Q2 2016 and is touted to reach the $1 billion mark by 2021. Though there is scant research in this significantly growing field of human behavior, the existing research indicates that addiction to gaming has more negative consequences than positive. Given the growing market of this field and its impact on human beings, especially the youth, online gaming is a topic that demands serious research. The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of online gaming, with a specific focus on the game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), on the psychological wellbeing of Indian adolescents and young adults. For this purpose, 102 participants (mean age=20) were asked to complete a questionnaire online. Findings from the study reflected a positive correlation between playing PUBG and positive experience (p<.05) and negative experience (p<.01), and a negative correlation between playing PUBG and psychological wellbeing (p<.01). Owing to the popularity of PUBG, the study provides significant insights into the effect of PUBG on the psychological wellbeing of young adults and adolescents. It reveals that playing PUBG has simultaneous positive and negative effects, which means that it has detrimental as well as beneficial effects. At the same time, excessive engagement of PUBG leads to negative psychological impact.

Keywords: online gaming, positive and negative affect, psychological wellbeing, PUBG

¹Ugyal Tshering Lama Yolmo is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Mass Communication, Sikkim University (India). He is currently engaged in researching the effect of social media on the political awareness and attitude of the electorates. His areas of research interest are political communication, social media, and media psychology. Correspondence regarding this article must be directed to: ugyal.lama@gmail.com