The Psychology of Video Games

Examining the intersection of psychology and video games

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Podcast 82 – Therapy with Dungeons & Dragons

How some therapists are using games like Dungeons & Dragons for therapy and how it’s different (and the same) from the game you play.

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Podcast

Podcast 81 – The Psychology of Digital Sales

In this episode, I talk about some of the psychology behind sales, especially digital sales that have no physical items or storefronts involved.

Podcast

Podcast 80 – The State of Esports Research

Could we develop a training regime for esports teams? My guest expert and I discuss the state of research on esports psychology.

Articles

Using Social Proof to Battle Toxic Behavior

How can we use one classic finding in the persuasion literature to combat toxic behavior in games?

Podcast

Podcast 79 – Video Game Nostalgia

I share a lecture I recently gave on the psychology behind video games and nostalgia, that bittersweet remembrance of times past.

Using VR Games as Pain Management

Why video games are a great solution for the difficult problem of pain management.

November 2, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 78 – Critical Role, D&D, and Transformative Play

What kinds of transformative experiences can watching Critical Role or actually playing Dungeons & Dragons create?

October 17, 2022 in Podcast.

How to Give Your Dungeon Master Feedback Like a Pro

How do you best give feedback to a Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master about how to improve their game?

October 3, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 77 – The Psychology of Fandom

Why are fans so ready to get in fights over their preferred game properties or gaming consoles?

September 16, 2022 in Podcast.

Using Games to Develop Empathy

What if a video game could help nurses and doctors to be more empathetic with their patients?

September 1, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 76 – Virtual Reality in Therapy

Could a commercial VR game you’re playing be used for therapy? What to know about VR therapy.

August 15, 2022 in Podcast.

How to Disguise Lousy Luck as an Absolute Win

Ever played a tabletop role-playing game with “story dice”? Here’s some of the simple psychology behind why they’re so much fun.

August 4, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 75 – Cheating in Games

What’s the psychology behind when and why people cheat and what can we apply from that research to cheating in video games?

July 17, 2022 in Podcast.

Watching Eyes and Listening Ears in Valorant

Riot’s AI is listening to your voice chat. Will it curb toxic behavior?

July 1, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 74 – 1.5-Sided Parasocial Relationships

Twitch is changing how we think about parasocial relationships. Is it only one-sided when there’s audience interaction?

June 17, 2022 in Podcast.

Level Drain and Loss Aversion in D&D

How has one particular quirk of psychology shaped the design of Dungeons & Dragons across editions?

June 1, 2022 in Articles.
podcast 73

Podcast 73 – Toxic Behavior In Games

What’s some of the psychology behind players’ turning toxic once they’re online?

May 16, 2022 in Podcast.

Morally Disengaged Murder Hobos

How do Dungeons & Dragons players justify bad behavior? And how can a DM use the same tricks to make really bad and really believable villains?

May 2, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 72: Esports Medicine

My guest and I discuss how physicians can specialize in caring for the mental and physical health of professional gamers.

April 15, 2022 in Podcast.

How Some Games Keep You Playing

How games like Guardians of the Galaxy and Gears of War try to keep you from quitting when you end a level.

April 1, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 71: The Psychology of Video Game Engagement

Why will people invest their whole time, vigor, and attention to some games and not others?

March 15, 2022 in Podcast.

Fluency in Dragon

Why you shouldn’t always randomly generate names from a table for the dragons or characters in your D&D game.

March 1, 2022 in Articles.

Podcast 70: Memes and Memetic Communication

Memes are a lot more sophisticated and complicated than you might assume. This episode unpacks the idea of memes and how we use them.

February 15, 2022 in Podcast.

Making Monsters of the Multiverse More Collectible

How Wizards of the Coast could have leaned into the psychology of collecting to sell more Monsters of the Multiverse

February 1, 2022 in Articles.

Psychology of Games in 2022

Here’s what’s coming to the site and podcast in 2022!

January 30, 2022 in Site Announcements.

NFTs and Psychological History

Ubisoft is experimenting with using NFTs to make in-game items unique. But they’re getting the psychology wrong.

January 11, 2022 in Articles.
Podcast 69

Podcast 69: Game Transfer Phenomena

Ever seen or heard something from a video game while you weren’t playing? We talk about these “game transfer phenomena” and their implications.

July 1, 2021 in Podcast.

Podcast 68: Fan Conventions

My guest expert and I talk about the psychology behind geek fandom conventions, how people behave at cons, and how Covid has changed them.

May 3, 2021 in Podcast.

Podcast 67: Esports Performance Consulting

How can psychologists help esports athletes improve, stay healthy, and thrive?

March 5, 2021 in Podcast.

Podcast 66: Procedural Rhetoric in Games

When games have a message, do players respond?

January 10, 2021 in Podcast.

Podcast 65: Psychology and Final Fantasy

I have a full house of guests this episode, talking about a new book about psychology and Final Fantasy.

December 3, 2020 in Podcast.

Podcast 64: How Can Games Make Us Happy?

What does the research say about how video games can help us be more positive and happy?

November 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Podcast 63: Loss Aversion and Game Design

How game designers avoid –or deliberately use– the psychological phenomenon of loss aversion

September 1, 2020 in Podcast.

My new Book on Psychology and Games is Out!

My new book explains why your workplace should look more like a video game. And it’s out now!

August 29, 2020 in Plugs.

Podcast 62: The Psychology of Trolling

What does research say about why people troll in video games?

August 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Podcast 61: Twitch Donations

Why do people donate to Twitch streamers? What kinds of relationships do streamers and viewers have?

July 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Podcast 60: Take This (dot org)

My guest expert and I talk about supporting those who play and work in gaming communities.

June 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Deep Rock Habits vs. Rewards

Are rewards the same as incentives in game design?

May 17, 2020 in Articles.

Podcast 59: What is a Games Researcher?

I and my guest expert, a psychology Ph.D. and researcher at Riot Games, talk about using psychology to make better games.

May 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Good Old Scarce Games

How one online games marketplace is hoping to sell you more by offering less.

April 18, 2020 in Articles.

Podcast 58: Economics and Online Games

How one guild leveraged a basic understanding of economics to dominate other MMO players.

April 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Podcast 57: Mental Models in League of Legends

How do the mental models of League of Legends experts differ from other players? And what does it matter?

March 1, 2020 in Podcast.

Video: The Psychology of Video Game Engagement

A lecture I gave on what makes for an engaging game.

February 16, 2020 in Videos.
Podcast 56 image

Podcast 56: RPG Therapy

How one non-profit is using RPGs to teach skills, help people, and enhance therapy.

February 2, 2020 in Podcast.

The Perils of In-Game Currency

The psychology behind how we spend in-game currency.

January 16, 2020 in Articles.

Podcast 55: The Psychology of Level Design

How do level designers look to psychology for helping players can navigate, move through, and make sense of their virtual worlds?

January 4, 2020 in Podcast.

Why Do People Collect Virtual Items?

Virtual items by nature lack many of the things that make physical items so collectible. Here’s how game developers and publishers make virtual things more collectible.

December 20, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 54: Effects of Sexualization in Games

Guest experts discuss their “adversarial collaboration” to measure (or not) the effects of sexualized avatars.

December 1, 2019 in Podcast.

Patently Worrisome In-Game Offers

How far can customizing offers for in-game purchases go before they seem unfair?

November 15, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 53: The Qualities of Online Relationships (Rebroadcast)

Are friendships and other relationships formed in online games substitutes for offline relationships? Are they better?

November 1, 2019 in Podcast.

Loading: When We’re Willing to Wait

When might you be more willing to wait for a loading or matchmaking screen to finish?

October 14, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 52: Being Indistractable

Psychology of Games Summer Book Club concludes with Nir Eyal, author of newly released Indistractible.

October 2, 2019 in Podcast.

Marvel Games and Spatial Presence

What is it about Marvel super hero games that is really effective at making us feel transported to another world?

September 25, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 51: Lost in a Good Game

Psychology of Games Summer Book Club begins with an interview with Dr. Pete Etchells, author of the newly released Lost in a Good Game.

September 7, 2019 in Podcast.

What the Heck are Surprise Mechanics?

EAs says loot boxes are just beloved “surprise mechanics.” In a way, this is true. In a more relevant way, it is not.

August 26, 2019 in Articles.

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