Featured Topic: Online gaming

Featured Topic: Online gaming

The market for online games has expanded alongside the greater accessibility that portable smart devices afford (Wu & Andrizal, 2021). While gaming has traditionally been framed as an entertainment activity, it is now being incorporated into areas including education (e.g., climate change learning; Wang & Zhang, 2026) and health (e.g., sports simulation games; Yang & Jin, 2024). Accordingly, motives for playing online games are becoming more varied.

So, what draws people to online gaming? Jeng and Teng (2008) found that personality traits were strong predictors of online game-playing motivation. High levels of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were found to promote players’ interest in discovery, role-playing, escapism, teamwork, and advancement in gaming contexts, while high neuroticism was linked with lower teamwork motivation. Meanwhile, Huang et al. (2015) reported that adolescents’ recreational motivation, recreational gratification, peer relationships, and caring significantly predicted their usage intensity of online games. When these conditions were not met, players showed a lower intention to continue playing.

Addiction is a common concern raised by those in favor of regulated use of online media, with studies reporting poor sleep quality (Yu & Zhang, 2023), impaired peer relationships (Jiang, 2018), and increased aggression (Lee et al., 2019) as consequences of overuse. However, the motive for use may also impact this outcome. Wang and Chu (2007) divided passion for online gaming into two dimensions: harmonious and obsessive. While obsessive passion was linked with negative outcomes, including addiction to online gaming, harmonious passion did not show a significant correlation with addiction. Chiang and Lin (2010) examined state and trait forms of playfulness in the context of psychological needs fulfilment during online gaming. They found that in-game (state) playfulness was a stronger indicator of players’ immediate experience of gaming than was the playfulness trait, and that autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs predicted state playfulness.

For those seeking to reduce their recreational usage of online games, Jiang (2018) reported peers’ negative attitude toward online gaming and perception of alternatives as significant predictors of quitting gaming. Yang and Jin (2024) found that gratification of enjoyment needs was a stronger predictor of continued play intention than was fulfilment of achievement needs. The results of these studies have broad-ranging applications, from developing ways to engage users in learning and exercise activities, to informing the design of interventions to regulate game play among those showing symptoms of addiction.

Other papers in our archives and scheduled for forthcoming publication compare the influence of different personality types on the perceived value of online games, and examine leisure satisfaction in the context of online gaming. Keen to continue tracking the evolving research trends in this area from a behavioral and social psychology perspective? Sign up for a personal subscription to SBP to gain access to several thousand papers spanning the fields of social, behavioral, and developmental psychology.

Perceived value and willingness to consume in online mobile games – Boyuan Wu and Kwan Andrizal, 2021, 49(5), Article e10193.

Filial piety promotes online climate change video game playing among Chinese youth – Yilin Wang and Heng Zhang, 2026, 54(3), Article e15544.

Determinants of players’ stickiness in online sports simulation games: Evidence from China – Yan Yang and Shan Jin, 2024, 52(8), Article e13396.

Personality and motivations for playing online games –  Shih-Ping Jeng and Ching-I Teng, 2008, 36(8), 1053–1060.

Motivations and gratification in an online game: Relationships among players' self-esteem, self-concept, and interpersonal relationships – Chiao-Ling Huang, Shu Ching Yang, and An-Sing Chen, 2015, 43(2), 193–204.

College students’ social media addiction and sleep problems: Chain mediating effects of fear of missing out and nocturnal social media use – Tingrong Yu and Gen Zhang, 2023, 51(6), Article e12176.

Off the hook: Exploring reasons for quitting playing online games in China – Qiaolei Jiang, 2018, 46(12), 2097–2112.

Disruptive behaviors in online games: Effects of moral positioning, competitive motivation, and aggression in “League of Legends” – Sung Je Lee, Eui Jun Jeong, and Joon Hyun Jeon, 2019, 47(2), Article e7570.

Harmonious passion and obsessive passion in playing online games – Chih-Chien Wang and Yi-Shiu Chu, 2007, 35(7), 997–1006.

Early adolescent players’ playfulness and psychological needs in online games – Yu-Tzu Chiang and Sunny S. S. J. Lin, 2010, 38(5), 627–636.