Scientists find that a simple video game about the job of a janitor can quickly improve your mood 20:21

British scientists from Oxford University examined the effect of video games on human emotions. They found that virtual entertainment with simple gameplay can quickly lift one’s morale, even if players have to solve trivial problems in the real world. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine ACM Games.

Experts focused on the game PowerWash Simulator (PWS) – a simulator of the work of a cleaning service. In it, the player controls a janitor armed with a pressure washer gun. During the passage of levels, players must clean the surfaces of various objects from contamination: trucks, skate parks, attractions, etc.

The study involved 8,695 players of the research version of PWS who participated in 67,328 gaming sessions. During this time, they submitted 162,320 reports about the mood of the game. All participants were adults and the average age was 27.

The results showed that the average gaming session lasted approximately 40 minutes, providing data for a typical player’s five gaming sessions. On average, players’ mood improved slightly once they started playing. The average improvement on a visual analog scale from 0 to 1 was 0.034. 72% of participants reported some type of improvement in their mood.

When researchers examined changes in mood during a gaming session, they found that observed increases in mood typically occurred early on, usually within the first 15 minutes of play. After that, the mood remained generally stable for the remainder of the session.

“We found strong evidence of small positive changes in mood throughout the gaming session. Our findings encourage further investigation of the mechanisms that determine who experiences greater mood effects from video games, possibly involving both psychological factors and gaming behavior.”

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