PowerWash simulator was a smash hit in 2022, introducing players to a task they didn't know they'd love to do. A new study found a link between job simulator gaming and better mental health in those who played for as little as fifteen minutes.
While many AAA games tout their immersive experiences funded by multimillion-dollar investments, PowerWash simulator created just that at a fraction of the cost. The real attraction lies in the mundanity of the gameplay, finally cleaning that hard-to-reach area or changing soaps to get rid of stubborn dirt; each achievement felt as satisfying as killing a game's final boss. There's definitely a zen quality to the playing PowerWash simulatorand, as reported by Gamesindustry.biz, this aspect is one of those that a study aimed to explore.
Study shows that eliminating digital filth was time well spent
Commissioned in 2022, Oxford University's Internet Institute and Futurlabs collaborated to find out whether any of these zen qualities of gaming translated into an appreciable difference in players' mental health. The study analyzed data from 8,695 players across 39 countries, including the US, UK, Germany and Canada. The participatory study was hosted in the game's Research Edition, where basic telemetry data such as game progress and activity was collected, as well as researcher-prepared questionnaires to assess player well-being and its correlation with time spent playing. .
Two years later, the results were recently published in Games: Research and Practice Journal, and the results indicate the following PowerWash simulator being an excellent tool for de-stressing and improving mood. The study found that 72% of gamers were more likely to experience a positive change or improvement in mood, drawn from a total of 162,235 “gaming mood reports.” Players also reported consistently higher moods when playing for as long as 15 minutes. The researchers said this positivity is “comparable to changes observed in other leisure activities such as reading, shopping or listening to music.”
These results are fantastic and are just a starting point for a conversation about how gaming, a historically maligned medium, can be used to improve player well-being. However, there is still a long way to go; as lead author Assistant Professor Matti Vuorre states, “Currently, short-term changes in the mood of video game players are poorly understood. Gameplay research often relies on artificial stimuli, with games created or modified by academic researchers typically played in a laboratory environment rather than a natural context. Instead, we wanted to know how real gameplay in natural settings could predict players' moods quickly.” Further studies will be needed to see if video games have any place in treatment, but in the meantime, gamers can solve the world's problems by cleaning up Shrekin the game's latest DLC.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz