Abstract
The video game industry is extremely successful, with its annual revenue surpassing the film and music industries combined. Globally, nearly 3 billion people play video games (VGs) with most being adult casual video game players (VGPs). Despite this, little research has investigated adult VGPs, the amount of time they spend playing VGs, and this duration’s relationship with physical activity (PA). PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between weekly VG play and leisure time PA (LTPA) duration in adult VGPs. METHODS: 221 participants (153 males, 68 females) completed an online questionnaire evaluating their demographic and health history information and their daily and weekly VG play and PA behaviors (in hours and minutes). RESULTS: An ordinal logistic regression (OLR) was run to model the relationship between weekly LTPA quartile membership and weekly VG play duration categories (minimal, low, moderate, high, and excessive). The OLR model between these two variables showed a non-statistically significant improvement in fit compared to the null model, χ2(4, N=220) = 7.09, p = .13. When the independent variables of race, VGP level (casual or professional), occupation type (sedentary, active, or unknown), and the interaction between race and weekly VG play duration category were added to the model, there was a statistically significant improvement in model fit, χ2(25, N=220) = 195.71, p = < .05. McFadden pseudo-R2 indicated the prediction of LTPA quartile membership was improved by approximately 38%. Pearson Goodness-of-Fit test was non-significant (χ2 = 111.57, p = .92). There was a statistically significant reduction of 1.20 in the log-odds of being in a higher quartile of weekly LTPA for participants who were casual VGPs (N=193) compared to those who were professional VGPs (N=27), meaning casual VGPs were 3.33 times more likely to fall in lower quartiles of weekly LTPA compared to professional VGPs. CONCLUSION: Consistent with existing literature, casual VGPs are more likely to fall in lower quartiles of weekly LTPA by a unit decrease of 1.20. This indicates that casual VGPs are more likely to develop physical chronic health conditions compared due to lack of PA compared to professionals. Due to this increased risk, further research on PA, sedentary behavior, and physical health in adult casual VG playing populations should be conducted. Finally, these results emphasize the need to develop and implement PA interventions and sedentary behavior guidelines, especially for casual adult VGPs.
Recommended Citation
Scoggins, Haylei; Porter, Ryan R.; and Braun-Trocchio, Robyn
(2025)
"Exploring the Connection Between Gameplay and Physical Activity in Adult Video Game Players,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2:
Iss.
17, Article 115.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss17/115