COVID-19 Mitigations and Effects on Playtime
How did the inital COVID-19 pandemic influence playtime?
With the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments took steps to try to prevent the spread of the virus. This included limiting gatherings and closing many public spaces to varying degrees. Among concerns about impacts on well-being were questions about potential influences on video game playtime. How much did these mitigation efforts influence heavy gaming?
Did Lockdowns Change How We Play?
Many assumptions about mitigations have focused on people possibly using video games to supplement social areas of life that were limited due to pandemic responses. Despite assumptions, however, varying levels and degrees of closure did not have major impacts on playtime per game per player.
School closures had some influence on the number of people playing and total playtime, but did not relate to more time played per player on average. Additionally, when a territory closed its borders or limited people’s movement within the territory, players tended to spend more time playing, but the trends were small and the effects were not as pronounced as many expected them to be.
So What Does This Mean?
Although concerns about influences on heavy or problematic gaming are common and many had fears that this would be promoted by lockdown mitigations, social closures did not have the impact on playtime that was suspected or feared. This provides an important step toward better understanding some of the mechanisms behind heavy play.
