Computer games,Recovery, and Work: A Diary Study

Prof.dr. Arnold B. BakkerErasmus University Rotterdam, NL

www.arnoldbakker.com

Computer Games

• Prevalence• Every day, millions of users interact, collaborate, and form

relationships with each other through avatars in online

environments (Yee, 2006)

• MMOPRGs • Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games

Computer Games

• Games enable fictional roles

• Opportunities for recovery from

work-related effort?

• Psychological detachment

• Relaxation

• Mastery

• Control

Recovery

Fritz & Sonnentag (2007)

• Basic need satisfaction

• Escape from reality

Recovery

• Physiological arousal

• Use of same energetic resources

Or Effortfull?

May depend on type of gameMay depend on type of game

• Competitive, “Killers”• Franken & Brown (1995): Motivated to put forth effort, which

costs energy

• Cooperative, “Socializers”• Cole & Griffiths (2007): MMORPGs as highly socially interactive

environments providing opportunity to create strong friendships

• Glomb et al. (2011): Feeling good by doing good

Game Types

Game length has a negative impact on (a) recovery, (b) vitality, (c) cognitive liveliness, and (d) flow when the game is competitive (vs. cooperative)

Hypotheses

Energyin the morning

Flowduring the day

Gamingin the evening

Game Type

• Diary study• 41 employees / gamers• 5 days, 3 times per day• Mean age: 27 years (SD = 5)• Various occupations• Most participants were male

Method

• Game length and type •Recovery (Sonnentag)• “Because of the activities I have done

yesterday in my leisure time, I feel recovered”

•Vitality (Shirom)• “I feel I have physical strength”

Measures

• Cognitive liveliness• “ I feel I can think rapidly”

• Flow (Bakker, 2008)• “Today, I was totally immersed in my work”• “Today, I felt cheerful when I was working”• “Today, I got my motivation from the work itself,

and not from the reward for it”

Measures

Energyin the morning

Flowduring the day

Gamingin the evening

Game Type

+

+

-

Conclusions

• Competitive games cost energy; • CGs have negative impact on work-related flow• Cooperative games flow• Games can offer opportunities for recovery; competitive games do not.

Thanks!

www.arnoldbakker.com