The investigation of social gaming based on individual social factors is not a new area of scholarly interest (e.g., Kowert et al., 2014 Kowert and Oldmeadow, 2015 Kaye et al., 2017 for a recent and comprehensive overview see Kaye, 2021), but the subject has gained considerable importance during the pandemic, as social distancing measures may exacerbate loneliness and social isolation. Further studies indicated that playing video games causally improves players’ moods and promotes relaxation (e.g., Russoniello et al., 2009 Bowman and Tamborini, 2015 Greitemeyer et al., 2019 Pine et al., 2020) and may reduce loneliness ( Colder Carras et al., 2017). Indeed, research has suggested that playing video games is significantly associated with mental health and wellbeing (e.g., Jones et al., 2014 Johannes et al., 2021). Video game industry partners launched the initiative #PlayApartTogether (e.g., Johnston et al., 2020), which encouraged the use of video games for socializing to promote social distancing initiatives and to help counteract the potential negative side effects of social distancing, such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness, that people may experience during the current pandemic from the decrease in socialization ( APA, 2020 WHO, 2020). To reduce the transmission of COVID-19, numerous countries imposed severe measures, such as “lockdowns” that closed commercial, cultural, and social venues and stay-at-home mandates, to facilitate social distancing (e.g., Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, 2020). In 2020 the world was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which disrupted our everyday lives. The results enrich the current knowledge on video gaming and its link to social wellbeing and provide a more nuanced picture than simplistic investigations of screen time. The findings are discussed with respect to methodological limitations, effect sizes, and sample characteristics. The use of social gaming in times of social distancing seems to play a small but significant factor in perceived loneliness compared to other demographical data. Specifically, gamers with a higher social motive for gaming perceived less loneliness, but gamers with a dominant escape motive demonstrated a positive link to perceived loneliness. Detailed analysis revealed a negative association between perceived loneliness and increased social forms of video gaming. Results indicated a small positive correlation between general gaming frequency and perceived loneliness. To examine this issue further, the present online survey investigated social gaming during the pandemic and its association to perceived loneliness within a German-speaking sample. Playing social video games may offer a way to continue to socialize while adhering to social distancing measures. However, these vital safety measures have the potential to impair mental health or wellbeing, for instance, from increased perceived loneliness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries implemented social distancing measures to contain virus transmission.
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