Video Gaming Habits, Motives, and Its Objective and Perceived Impacts on Psychological Well-Being and Social Relationships Among Egyptian College Students

Introduction

Video games refer to interactive media in which "players cannot passively surrender to a game’s storyline" (Granic et al., 2014). Under this theme are various video games with different goals, genres, playing methods, required devices, levels of complexity, and social interaction (Granic et al., 2014). Video gaming or playing video games is a trendy entertainment, with two billion players worldwide, significantly impacting individuals and societies(Von Der Heiden et al., 2019). 

During the last few years, video gaming has experienced remarkable growth and diversification across the globe, enhanced by advancements in technology and widespread access to internet connectivity (Ostinelli et al., 2021). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this rapid growth; a study by Clement (2021) provided an estimated 39% increase in time spent on gaming globally. The study also demonstrated that the time increase was prominently in the genres of “fighting,” “multiplayer online battle arena,” and “battle royale,” with a percentage of 30%, 26%, and 24%, respectively.  Furthermore, the evidence that the gaming market has experienced significant growth during the COVID-19 pandemic is substantiated by a study conducted by the Statista Research Department (2021), which revealed a remarkable 42% increase in video game expenditure. Likewise, a recent survey conducted by Gough (2022) demonstrated that the eSports market has generated an estimated 1.28 billion dollars globally and is projected to reach 2.89 billion dollars by 2025.

The Middle East has yet to be immune to this global trend. With its burgeoning population and increasing digital infrastructure, the Middle East was expected to witness a surge in video gaming participation among its young residents (Statista, 2023). A “Research and Markets” report on the Middle Eastern gaming market in 2023 revealed an expected compound annual growth rate of 13.88% from 2022-2027 (Statista, 2023). Despite that, studies investigating the nature and the prevalence of video gaming in the Middle East and specifically in  Egypt have offered little insight into the prevalence and nature of gaming behavior and its impacts on the players’ quality of life and mental health.

The most recent related comprehensive data among Middle Eastern countries was collected between 2014 and 2018 by (Northwestern University in Qatar, 2018). The sample was based on over 7000 interviews across seven Middle Eastern countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE. Collected from a population of 18 years or older, conducted with Pan Arab Research Center under the Harris Poll.  Data collection revealed that men often engage with video games more than women; typically, the youngest individuals play video games more than older individuals. Most countries except Egypt and Jordan play games on the phone (37% Egypt, 38% Jordan, 49% Lebanon, 53% Tunisia, 53% Qatar, 81% KSA, 86% UAE). In terms of average hours spent gaming, Middle Eastern countries average between 10 to 12 hours a week of gaming. However, there is a significant amount of variation between countries; for instance, Egyptians spend the least amount of time gaming (8 hours), while Lebanese spend the most time (17 hours) (Dennis et al., 2015).

In Egypt, a study examined excessive video gaming behavior among Egyptians. Elnahas (2018) focused on assessing the impact of internet addiction on students at Ain Shams University in Egypt. The study included participants with a mean age of 19.6 years (±1.6 SD), most female individuals (55.9%). The findings revealed that only 3.4% of the participants exhibited severe dependence on video gaming, while 41.5% and 40.7% showed mild and moderate dependence, respectively. Approximately a quarter of the sample reported experiencing problematic gaming, with 9.3% identified as disordered gamers and 15.9% as risky gamers, while the remaining participants were categorized as average gamers. Additionally, the study found a weak negative correlation between age and internet gaming addiction (Elnahas et al., 2018).

Excessive gaming habits may interfere with important life domains, such as academic performance, occupational functioning, and relationships, leading to a diminished quality of life (Pallavicini et al., 2018). In a study by Saquib et al. (2017), the researchers sought to understand the potential impact of video gaming on various risky behaviors prevalent among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. They found a positive correlation between video gaming and substance abuse, smoking, physical fighting, and extended screen time.

Egypt, one of the most overpopulated countries in the region, presents a crucial opportunity for investigating the pervasiveness of video gaming and its association with quality of life and well-being. Despite previous research offering valuable insights into the prevalence of video gaming and internet video gaming addiction among the Egyptian populace, the present study endeavors to provide up-to-date information on the prevalence of video gaming, gaming habits, motivations for gaming, and players' satisfaction. Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and technological advancements, it is expected that the prevalence of video gaming/internet gaming disorder among college-level Egyptian students will have escalated during the last few years. It is expected that there will be notable differences in socio-demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, academic level, and preferred language, between students who play video games (VG) and those who do not play video games (NVG).   Additionally, we hypothesized that playing video games would have a negative impact on players’ quality of life, including psychological well-being and social relations of participants. We expected this impact- if present- to be moderated by gender.

Methods

Study Design, Procedures, and Participants

Study design. We have conducted an exploratory survey study to gather a plethora of data regarding video game usage and trends among college-level Egyptian students. In terms of recruitment, we have utilized snowball sampling. An online link with the study questionnaires was shared on several social media platforms, including Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp student groups at The British University in Egypt, Badr University in Cairo, and Banha University. Also, participants were recommended to share the link further with other college students interested in participating. 

Participants. Participants were excluded if they had alcohol or drug abuse, past drug dependence, a current or past central nervous system disease or condition, a mental/medical condition or disease with likely significant central nervous system effects, a physical problem that would render study measures difficult or impossible to administer or interpret (e.g., blindness, hearing impairment, paralysis in upper extremities, etc.). All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. The exclusion criteria items were placed at the start of the administered survey.

Data Collection Measures 

A bilingual (Arabic and English) survey was designed and administered online using “SurveyMonkey.” It consisted of 2 sections. The first section was represented in Arabic and English. At the onset of the assessment, participants were presented with a comprehensive form containing a detailed description that underscored the significance of maintaining confidentiality, anonymity, and transparency throughout the study. Subsequently, participants were asked to consent by acknowledging and agreeing to the form's contents before starting the study. After obtaining consent from the participants, a series of confirmatory questions related to the inclusion and exclusion criteria were presented. Once the participants passed these inquiries, they were asked to respond to demographic questions. After this section, participants were given the choice to proceed in English or Arabic.

The second section was presented in Arabic or English and consisted of three parts. The first part included a validated version of the WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF), a standard quality-of-life questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization. It comprises 26 items in four domains: psychological well-being, social relationships, physical health, and the environment. Each item is scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. Each domain was scored with values from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better QoL (World Health Organization, 1996). This questionnaire has been translated into Arabic and validated for use in Arabic-speaking populations (Ohaeri & Awadalla, 2009).

In the following segment of this section, a series of 24 general questions were administered to explore the habits, motivations, and satisfaction of individuals who participate in video games. This section began by inquiring whether the participant is presently involved in playing video games. The participants were allowed to continue if the response was affirmative.

Pilot Study

A pilot study was carried out at the British University in Egypt, involving 25 students. The participants were provided with the survey through a shared link and were instructed to respond to all the questions. Notably, no changes were required based on the participants’ feedback.

Analyses Approach

• Confirmatory analyses: Quantitative variables with normal distribution were described by mean and standard deviation. Categorical variables were described using frequencies and percentages. Then, we cross-tabulated responses from different questions to examine relationships between variables to identify any patterns or associations between specific categories across different questions (table1).
• Socio-demographic data- between-group analyses (VG vs. NVG), Chi-square and independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine whether there are significant differences between the VG and the NVG groups in the sociodemographic characteristics (table 1).

After examining the WHOQoL-BREF scores in each domain and within each group of participants (VG vs. NVG) for normality (Shapiro tests) and homogeneity (Leven’s tests), independent t-tests were employed to examine the differences between VG and NVG (table 3).

• Within VG group analyses, Descriptive analyses were conducted to evaluate VG responses to the 24 questions related to their gaming habits, motives, perceived impacts on social/personal lives, and players’ satisfaction with playing video games (table 2).
• Two regression models were used to test the impact of group (VG, NVG) and gender (males vs. females) on WHOQoL-BREF psychological well-being and social relationships domains (table 4).

Results

The current study sample consisted of 134 participants. The age range of participants was between 18 and 25 years (M=20.414, SD=1.91), with 69.4 % being female.

Between Groups Analyses.

 56 participants disclosed their engagement in playing video games, accounting for 41.8 % of the total sample. Chi-square independent tests were employed to examine groups’ differences across the sociodynamic characteristics.  Playing video games was linked significantly to gender. While gender distribution within the VG group was 28 female to 28 male participants. It was 13 to 65 male-to-female participants within the NVG group (X² (1,134) = 17.06, p = .000). This finding shows that video gaming is more popular among males (65%) than females (24%). On the other hand, the relations between the other socio-demographic variables and video gaming were not significant (p > .05). The other socio-demographic characteristics of each group (VG vs. NVG) are represented in Table 1, showing no group differences.

The participants' quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the WHOQoL-BREF comprising 26 items. Items 1 and 2 are general questions, while the rest are categorized into four domains: physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, and environmental QoL. The scores range from 0 to 100 for each domain, with higher scores indicating a better quality of life. Subsequently, the Shapiro-Wilk test was employed to check the normality assumption in each domain within each group of participants (VG, NVG). The results were insignificant across all domains for both groups (p> .05) except for the social relationship domain within the NVG group, where the data was positively skewed (p =.002).  While insignificant, Leven’s tests indicated homogeneity between groups in all domains.

A series of independent t-tests were used to examine the differences between VG and NVG groups in each QoL domain. The results were not significant for all domains. VG group wasn’t significantly different from the NVG group in any of the WHOQoL domains – Table 2.

Within VG Group Analyses

Video Gaming Habits. Across all VG group participants, most of the participants (74%) reported that they play less than 7 hours per week. 60% reported that they play for less than an hour continuously. 47% started gaming more than 8 years ago. 49% play both online and offline games. Mobile phones are the most common device among players. 93% of the players use their smartphones for playing, 47% also use their laptops, and only 34 % use PlayStations. 97.4 of players playing at home – Table 3.

Motives to play video games. 98% of participants reported that they play for entertainment, followed by 43% play to escape stressors, 38% to connect with others, 32% to escape reality, and 30% reported that they play to satisfy a craving – Table 3.

Perceived Impacts on players’ personal/social lives. Interestingly, about 69% of the players think that playing video games positively impacts their personal life, while only 38% think it negatively impacts their personal life (X (1, 94) =8.37, p=0.004). In contrast, 49 % of the players believe that video gaming positively impacts their social life, versus 42% believe it negatively impacts their social life (X (1, 94) = 0.38, p=0.53). That finding indicates that most of the VG group think video gaming positively impacts their personal life, while that was not the case for the social life, where participants responded similarly to the negative and the positive impacts – Table 4.

Players' satisfaction and quitting attempts. Interestingly, only 8.5% of the VG group were satisfied with playing video games; 30% were neither satisfied nor not, and 62% were dissatisfied. Despite of that, only 35% of VG group reported that they tried to quit playing video games – Table 4.

Groups by Gender Analyses.

Two multiple regression models were used to test the impact of group (VG, NVG) and gender (males vs. females) on the psychological well-being and social relationships domains of WHOQoL-BREF. The findings revealed a significant main effect of groups on the psychological well-being scores (β = 8.03, t (130) = 2.01, p = .046). The NVG group showed higher scores compared to the VG group participants. In contrast, the interaction between gender and group was not significant (β = -4.55, t (130) = -0.64, p = .53). The whole model was not significant, F-statistic (F (3, 130) = 1.957, p = .1236, R² = 0.021)- Table 5. 

On the other hand, there was no significant gender main effect (β= .298, t (130) = 0.051, p= .96), group main effect (β = 2.60, t (130) = 0.53, p= .597), or group by gender interaction effect (β= -3.63, t (130) = -0.413, p= .68) on the social relationship domain. The whole model was not significant (F (3, 130) = 0.1687, p = .917, R² = 0.02); see Table 5.

            The interpretation of those findings was complicated because of the significant clustering of female participants in the NVG group, necessitating division into male and female subgroups. We conducted further simple linear analyses to examine the video gaming effects separately within male and female subgroups (Figure 1) . It was revealed that female players had lower psychological well-being compared to female non-players [t (91) =-2,19, p=.03, b=-8.03], which was not the case among male participants [t (39) =-0.50, p=.62, b=-3.47]. Regarding the domain of social relationships, the analyses showed no differences between players and non-players in both female [t (91) =-0.57, p=0.56, b=-2.60]and male participants [t (39) =0.12, p=.90, b=1.03]- Table 5.

Discussion

The current study focused on the prevalence of video gaming behavior among college-level Egyptian students. About 41.8 % of the current study participants reported usually playing video games.  This prevalence is relatively higher when compared to that reported in earlier studies. It was reported to be (29%) in 2014 and (21%) in 2018. This increase in the prevalence of video gaming among Egyptians can be attributed to different factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the increased accessibility of mobile devices, and the advancements in mobile technology and gaming.

Consistent with previous research (Dennis et al., 2015), male students reported playing video games more frequently than female students; 65% of males compared to 25% of females. Most of the players (74%) play less than 7 hours a week, and 59% play less than one hour continuously. Although player participants reported that they play mainly for entertainment, about half of the players reported playing also to escape stressors/reality. This finding is consistent with previous findings that revealed emotional escaping to be one of the most robust motivations for playing video games and to be related to gaming disorder (Bäcklund et al., 2022)

 In addition, we examined how playing video games would impact players’ psychological well-being and the social relations of the participants. Similarly and replicating previous findings (Eslami et al., 2013), the current study revealed no significant impact on VG players’ social relations compared to the NVG group. On the other hand, the findings revealed that the VG group significantly showed decreased psychological well-being compared to the NVG group. These findings are consistent with the findings of previous studies in other populations that concluded excessive gaming habits were associated with diminished quality of life (Pallavicini et al., 2018).

Although those findings were consistent with previous studies findings, it did not align with the players’ perception of the impacts of playing video games on their personal and psychological lives. Most of the players reported more positive impacts than negative impacts of playing video games in their personal lives.  It was also found that half of the VG group played video games to escape stressors and reality. After analyzing the results, it was found that although players perceived video games as a form of stress relief, it was negatively associated with their psychological well-being.

More analyses revealed that the significant impact of playing video games on psychological well-being is mainly happened among female players.  After conducting simple linear regression analyses with subgroups for gender, it was found that playing video games had a significant impact on the psychological well-being of female players. Playing video games within the female group was associated with decreased levels of psychological well-being. In contrast, playing video games in the male group didn’t affect their psychological well-being.

In conclusion, The present study offered a comprehensive understanding of video gaming habits, motivations and satisfaction among students in Egypt. It has provided detailed insights into the gaming behavior. We support previous findings on the negative impact of video gaming on players' psychological well-being, with a particular impact on female players. On contrast, players’ perception of the video gaming impacts on their lives was altered. Most of the players perceived more positive impacts of video gaming on their personal lives than negative impacts. This finding explains how playing video games can transition from an entertaining behavior to an addictive one when negative impacts are not perceived by players.

The present study has some limitations. Given that we employed an online survey, we had limited information regarding the response timing, accuracy, motivation, social distractions, and etc.  Also, we conducted a snowballing prevalence study. The study Vg and NVG groups showed different distributions of gender-matching video gaming prevalence among college-level students in Egypt. More studies are important to investigate video gaming behavior within players’ female and male subgroups.