The Psychology of Video Games

Examining the intersection of psychology and video games

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How Much Screen Time Is Bad for Kids?

How much screen time is good and/or bad for the psychological well-being of kids?

August 11, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 50: Moral Choices in Games vs. Other Media

My guests and I discuss how moral choices in games differ from other media and some of our favorite and most compelling choices from games.

August 4, 2019 in Podcast.

Come See Me at PAX West 2019!

I’ll be on a panel talking about how I turned my passion for psychology and games into …all this. *gestures broadly at website*

August 2, 2019 in Plugs.

Shared Mental Models Win Games

Shared mental models, a concept borrowed from psychology, help explain why some teams dominate in multiplayer games.

July 28, 2019 in Articles.

The Psychology Of Fortnite’s Battle Pass

Three simple psychological principles that help get players to pay for the Fortnite Battle Pass.

July 14, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 49: Empathy in Video Games

How do psychologists study empathy and how can it best be used in games?

July 4, 2019 in Podcast.

Podcast 48: Loot Boxes, Part 2

The full interviews behind my recent episode on psychology and loot boxes.

June 19, 2019 in Podcast.

Five Recent Con Panels on the Psychology of Games

Watch five recent convention panels about psychology and video games

May 17, 2019 in Videos.

Podcast 47: Loot Boxes and Gambling

Should loot boxes be considered a form of gambling? Is there a relationship between loot box spending and gambling?

May 9, 2019 in Podcast.

New Audio Book, Plus How to Appear in My Next Book

The audio book of Getting Gamers is out, plus how you can appear in my next book

May 4, 2019 in Plugs.

Are MOBA Players Smarter Than You?

What link have researchers found between intelligence and how well you play MOBAs?

April 16, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 46: Collecting Virtual Items in Games

How do game developers make virtual items as collectible as physical objects?

April 1, 2019 in Podcast.

Podcast 45: The Psychology of The Legend of Zelda

I talk with several authors of the new book, The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series

March 5, 2019 in Podcast.

Apex Fish in a Small Pond

The “Squad Eliminated” screen in Apex Legends and the psychology of comparisons.

February 18, 2019 in Articles.

Getting Gamers: Now in Paperback

My book, “Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games” is now available in paperback.

February 11, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 44: Gamification and Video Games as Employment Tests

Why does gamification work, or not work? Can a game be used to screen job applicants?

February 4, 2019 in Podcast.

How Video Games Do Feedback Well (and Poorly)

How games provide feedback …and how they’re lacking.

January 14, 2019 in Articles.

Podcast 43: Dungeons, Dragons, & Psychology

My guest and I talk about the application of Dungeons & Dragons to psychology –and vice versa.

January 1, 2019 in Podcast.

You Screwed Up: The Value of Errors in Game Tutorials

Should game tutorials hold players’ hands or encourage them to fail?

December 16, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 42: Tracking Our Mobile Game Affinities

A Product Manager from King discusses how he measures players’ affinities for different kinds of mobile games and what developers can do with that information.

December 3, 2018 in Podcast.

Podcast 41: How Video Games Prepare You For Success

My guest and I explore how video games teach and reinforce skills psychologists have found to be important for success in work and life.

November 1, 2018 in Podcast.

Podcast 40: Our Avatar Relationships

What kinds of relationships do people form with their video game avatars, and why?

October 2, 2018 in Podcast.

Nudging Moral Choices in Games

How game developers might use a bit of psychology to better structure moral choices.

September 18, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 39: Thirty Questions About the Psychology & Games

You say “What 30 things should researchers study about psychology and games!” I say “Listen to this episode of the podcast!” Woo!

September 1, 2018 in Podcast.

The Focusing Illusion and Overwatch

The same wrinkle in our thinking that explains the optimism of people paralyzed in car accidents explains why it’s so frustrating when people don’t play map objectives in video games.

August 20, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 38: Mental Health Professionals and Video Games

What do therapists need to know about the new video game addiction standards and other topics related to their patients’ favorite games?

August 6, 2018 in Podcast.

Come See Me at PAX West!

I’m going to PAX West August 31 – September 3rd! I’ll be on panels about gaming disorders and moral choices in games! You should say hello!

July 20, 2018 in Plugs, Site Announcements.

Fortnite’s Success Is Due to Random Chance

Part of why Fortnite is so popular is the way it uses random rewards –and I don’t mean just loot drops.

July 16, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 37: Cognitive Psychology and User Experience

How basic psychological phenomena impact (or should impact) game design and user experience.

July 2, 2018 in Podcast.

Boosting the Credibility of Steam’s Discovery Queue …With Psychology!

We make new opinions more readily than we change existing ones. How can recommendation engines take advantage of this?

June 1, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 36: Psychology, Escape Rooms, and VR

How can the psychology behind escape room design be applied to the design and play of video games and virtual reality? Or vice versa?

May 2, 2018 in Podcast.

The Pleasure Paradox of Big Buffs

How obscuring players’ understanding of what’s going on might actually help them enjoy it more.

April 10, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 35: Player Empathy and Drivers of Game Preference

I talk to veteran game designer Jason Vandenberghe, who has turned to psychology and personality theory to understand and empathize with what kinds of experiences gamers want.

March 18, 2018 in Podcast.

Podcast 34: Game Design Education and Psychology 101

Why universities and other institutions offering degrees in the gaming industry are having students take Psychology 101.

February 16, 2018 in Podcast.

Tess Teaches Psychology and Destiny 2

Three lessons about the psychology of in-game purchases, illustrated by Destiny 2’s Tess Everis.

February 2, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 33: Using Games to Develop Mental Skills

How cognitively demanding games can be a big help with developing certain mental and social skills, especially for kids with special needs.

January 16, 2018 in Podcast.

Using Psychology and Loot Boxes to Destroy Video Games: A Fun and Practical Guide

Today’s special guest contributor tells us how to use psychology to make loot boxes truly evil.

January 1, 2018 in Articles.

Podcast 32: Twelve More Months of the Psychology of Games Posts

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …TWELVE AUDIO ARTICLES!

December 18, 2017 in Podcast.

Using Psychology to Design Leveling Systems

In which we apply some lessons from the psychology behind combining losses and gains to leveling up in video games.

December 4, 2017 in Articles.

Podcast 31: Harassment in Video Games

In this episode my guest expert and I discuss what psychology has to say about online harassment in games: what causes it, what predicts it, and how we might be able to curb it.

November 14, 2017 in Podcast.

Don’t Do Your Best: Goal Setting and Horizon:Zero Dawn

Horizon: Zero Dawn’s hunting challenges make good use of goal setting psychology, but here’s how they could do a little better.

October 1, 2017 in Articles.

Podcast 30: Gaming Addiction

Is it possible to be addicted to video games? How well are scientists doing at finding out?

September 16, 2017 in Podcast.

Synchronization and Unifying Players

How a few seconds with one trick from social psychology may help players get along better.

September 4, 2017 in Articles.

Why Do People Play Jobs?

Why do people play games that simulate jobs, even their own jobs that they spend hours doing every day?

August 13, 2017 in Articles.

Podcast 29: Morality and Moral Choices in Video Games

How morality and moral choices affect game design and how we play.

July 17, 2017 in Podcast.

Compared to Other Heroes of the Storm…

Here’s little psychological trick Heroes of the Storm uses to make us feel better about our performance after a match…

June 27, 2017 in Articles.

Podcast 28: How We See Our In-Game Avatars

How avatars can affect our attitudes towards games –and life outside of games.

June 20, 2017 in Podcast.

Why We Love to Hate Negative Reviews

How one bit of negative information in a game review or forum post can color our entire perception of a game.

June 2, 2017 in Articles.

Podcast 27: Collecting Things in Video Games

Why do people collect things in video games, and how can game designers make it more enjoyable and worthwhile?

May 16, 2017 in Podcast.

Carrying the Responsibility Bias for the Team

A cognitive bias helps explain why some people insist that they carry the whole team in online competitive games.

May 1, 2017 in Articles.

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