Blog Posts

Open Play is one of the largest studies ever conducted on how video games affect mental health — and one of the most transparent. We tracked 3,600 players’ real gameplay behavior across Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Xbox for up to 43 months, paired with 23,000 survey responses measuring wellbeing, motivation, cognition, and mental health over 12 weeks.

I often get questions from students or other interested parties about how games affect mental health. I don’t have time to answer every inquiry, and many of the questions are similar, so I’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

This idea is too simple for no one else to have had it, so smarter people have probably tried and hit a wall. If you know of relevant endeavors/people to point me to, I’d be very grateful!

Notes from far too long spent googling around for tips on customizing this Wowchemy site

Some reflections and strategies for spending less time doing, and more time learning—or at least doing both at the same time.

An attempt to understand why I continue to regularly use a platform whose negative effects on my mental health are obvious to me

A layperson-friendly summary of a recent interview study about negative experiences in games, player expectations, and (dis)engagement.

Some observations about the familial social circles academics form, inspired by the wonderful Dorothy Bishop Festschrift.

Ramblings on a mental battle occasioned by ambition in academia.

Some thoughts about a tension I’ve noticed in finding my research direction.