​Online Gaming during the COVID-19 Pandemic

​ - Nidhi Tiwari
Introduction:
Online gaming has gained a robust foothold within the Indian show business . With a projected user base
of quite 628 million gamers, this provides an entire new boost to the gaming ecosystem within the Indian
economy. India recorded about 365 million online gamers in the financial year 2020. This number was
estimated to succeed in 510 million by the financial year 2022. Overall, India ranked the highest in terms
of the growth in online game downloads on app stores with a growth rate of 165% between 2016 and
2018.
Ranging from simple games on phones to immersive multiplayer experiences on console and PC titles,
the country has taken to gaming with great enthusiasm setting the stage for India to clock in major profits.
The combination of the demographic dividend, access to affordable smartphones, increased internet
penetration and increase in disposable income in India has proven to be conducive to the gaming industry.
The onset of the pandemic has proven to be fruitful for this industry as people had more time on their
hands. In a time when most industries are facing losses, the gaming industry continues to flourish.

MY PROJECT:
As gaming consumption has increased in the last few months, I wanted to examine the ways in
which online games have helped students of age group 16-20 during the global pandemic. This
report aims at identifying what online games youngsters play the most, and the effects they have
had on the students during the lockdown.

Research question​- How have online games helped students of age group 16-20 in the
COVID-19 global pandemic?

Thesis statement-​ COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the world due to which students’
mental health was highly affected. The pandemic has not only distanced people physically, but
also resulted in massive increase in lifestyle diseases having depressive and anxious symptoms
in students indicating a sense of loneliness. This research paper will argue that online games
have helped students of age group 16-20 keep a healthy mental state, learn with fun, and stay in
touch with friends during these tough times.

SUB-CLAIMS:
I will now begin discussing my sub-claims, justifications and pieces of evidence in support of
the main thesis statement.

1. Survey- I conducted a survey for the students in APU and other colleges in Delhi who
are actively involved in gaming on a regular basis. There were 8 simple questions, out of
which 7 were MCQs and 1 short answer type question, all related to online gaming,
views students have about them and how they feel they were affected by such games
during the lockdown. I received 75 responses in total.

Here are some of the questions and results from the survey:

Graph 2.1- Online games played by respondents

Among Us was the most popular online game in the pandemic, as the above survey
results show. In the game, which is usually played between 4-10 players, ‘crewmates’
find themselves stuck on a defunct spaceship and have to complete tasks to fix it. Out of
these crewmates, one or two are actually ‘imposters’ who are meant to sabotage the
completion of the tasks and ‘kill’ their crewmates. The crewmates who first complete
tasks or figure out who the imposter is, win. It is very similar to the simple old game
Mafia, but virtual, and potentially much more elaborate.

Even though the basic premise of the game may not seem like much, the hype
surrounding the game has spread like wildfire. A report in ​The Verge​ indicates that
Among Us was downloaded about 100 million times in recent months.

The game is not only engaging for the students by serving as a platform for social
interaction, but also offers plenty of new features that successfully justify its popularity.
While playing, one has the option of chatting live with their fellow players to figure out
who the imposter is, which is an uncommon feature and makes the game more
interesting and lively. This game can also be compared with the childhood offline games
people used to play which included searching for a spy and solving some sort of mystery
related to it. It can also be called a reminiscent of the famous, classic board games such
as Detective and Monopoly where the basic principle was the same.
Graph 2.2- Impact of isolated environment on game time of people

Graph 2.3 Impact of online gaming on normal behaviour

 It is evident from the chart 2.3 that the player count ​and the time spent on online gaming
has drastically increased during the lockdown.

WinZo Games, an Indian-based gaming company, have reported 3 times more user
engagement and 30% higher traffic in online mobile gaming. Around 35% higher usage
has been observed in multiplayer modes as compared to single-user modes.

Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZo Games told ET Digital, “It is mostly the
multiplayer games such as Carrom, Ludo and Royal Battle that have seen a spike in
users since the lockdown, where people appear to be playing more with their friends
and family.”

2. Impact of COVID-19 on mental health of children and students

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) virtually affected all countries. Uncertain about
the health risk and an accelerating loss will contribute to widespread emotional distress
and an increased risk of psychiatric disorders shortly. Anxiety, posttraumatic and
depression disorders are expected during and aftermath of the pandemic. Some groups,
like children, have more susceptibility to having future consequences in a psychological
state. New supportive strategies have appeared during this pandemic, but there is no
measure of its effectiveness. Some groups seem to be more susceptible to the
psychological state burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore the mitigation
actions should prioritize them. The school's role appears to be revalued by society. This
review seems to select good targets to prioritize mitigation actions getting to spare
children not only from the severe cases of COVID-19 but also to assist them to deal with
the psychological state burden of the pandemics.
Physical exercise has been reduced or suppressed. The presence of parents and
children's involvement in home activities helps in the child's routine and autonomy.
However, isolation may impose more significant contact between parents and children,
consisting of opportunities for play and friction. All homes are not safe places, and some
children might even be exposed to varied types of abuses. This sets the foundation of
this research as it creates a lacuna which can be filled only by some source of
entertainment at homes. Online games can aid in this context by serving an excellent
platform for children for social interaction and playful activities.

3. Benefits of playing online games:

With the arrival of pandemic and a stop at normal life in the form of lockdown, video
game traffic increased by 75% in a month only. We saw giant companies like Sony
being unable to meet the demand, with Animals Crossing: New Horizons selling almost
14 million copies. In this game, people spend hours simulating life on islands with
talking creatures. Researchers from University of Oxford collected data, working with
the game developers about this game and ‘Plants vs Zombies’ game to study its effect
on mental health. It was found people mostly overestimated the time they are playing
for. The researchers found that the people who played for longer hours reported feeling
better than the ones who barely played. It came into light that the game provided them a
sense of freedom and competence and improved their sense and well-being. Being
unable to meet friends in person, getting to play with them online gave a feeling of
social connection and is also a mood booster. In a survey of 900 people in 45 countries,
who play online multiplayer role playing games, it was found that approximately three
quarters of the players reported making good friends while playing games.

4. Case study- Animal Crossing: New Horizons

With the emerging outbreak of a novel coronavirus, many kinds of video games came in
the market that successfully got everyone’s attention. One such popular video game was
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a life simulation video game which is the fifth main
series title in the Animal Crossing series that led us to explore the psychology behind
video games. It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch,
released on March 20, 2020 in all regions. It is a kind of game in which the player is
supposed to assume the role of a customizable character who moves to a deserted island
in order to build and expand their home by granting a loan, interacting with other animal
characters and several other activities. The game proceeds in an open ended manner and
develops into a community of anthropomorphic animals. Players can also have a social
interaction with each other online, which is one of the most attractive parts of the game.
Khan reportedly stated in The New York Times that the success of the game has been
partially attributed to its release during the COVID-19 pandemic, when players are
already looking for a sense of escapism in their self quarantine at home.

5. Breaking the stereotypes and involvement of women in online gaming:

Online gaming has always appeared to the public with a relatively negative image.
However, experts have been talking about how we need to shed the stereotypical image
of gamers as isolated loners playing for hours on end in a dank basement and how
connectivity stands out during the pandemic. Isabela Granic, professor of developmental
psychopathology at Radboud University in the Netherlands, spoke in regard to online
gaming while addressing the students saying that it's all about social interaction and how
online games have been checking a lot of those social needs in this time of isolation.
Research also shows that video games can be good for kids’ mental development. For
example, German researchers have found out that those who play ​super mario 64 f​ or 30
minutes a day for two months regularly had increased grey matter in the brain- where
the cell bodies for the brain’s nerve cells are situated. There was also a rise in number of
women players in online gaming during lockdown. At the end of a hectic day, nothing
can get rid of stress as efficiently as the exciting online games for both men and women.
Gaming’s proficiency to help prevent lifestyle diseases like anxiety is further helping
increase its popularity among masses. Indian men play action/adventure (71%) mostly
and first-persons shooter (63%) games on their smartphones. The ‘Call of Duty Mobile’
or 'COD: Mobile' and the ‘Garena Free Fire’ are popular first-person shooter games.
Among women, the most popular type is puzzles (65%), followed by multiplayer
gamers (56%).
Conclusion:

Online games have their own positives and negatives. However, ​more often than not, their
negative side is over glorified in the minds of people. Many policymakers don’t share the
positive aspect at all. During the lockdown, the people lying in the age group 17-23 tended to be
more susceptible to peer pressure and influence of social media. Gaming is a way of escapism
for students and working professionals from their daily college and work life respectively. As
people were confined at home, during the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19, people had
more free time in hand and played games as a coping mechanism. The average number of
gaming hours before COVID-19 was 1.66 hours, which increased to 3.27 hours during
COVID-19 which could be because people had a lot of time in hand for themselves.

Gaming is no longer a solo sport, in fact in these times of isolation during COVID-19, it is one
of the best avenues to connect and socialize with family, friends, and other video game players.
Games like Among Us and Animal Crossing: New Horizons have some special key features
hence resulting in rise in player count. As there were a number of advantages of playing online
games, the number of female-participation also increased during the lockdown.

Hence, online games may have their own disadvantages, it can’t negate the fact that they did
prove to be a boon for students’ mental health throughout the period of COVID-19 lockdown. If
one strikes a balance between the physical activities and online gaming, it can help a lot since
it's been proven that some online games can result in numerous cognitive benefits for the online
gamers and can impact one’s basic mental processes like attention, memory and perception
positively.

Bibliography

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3. Sean Gregory, (2020, April 22), Video Games Benefit Quarantined Kids in COVID-19
Pandemic: Time
https://time.com/5825214/video-games-screen-time-parenting-coronavirus/

4. Lin Zhu, (2020, Sept 09), The psychology behind video games during COVID-19
pandemic: A case study of Animal Crossing: New Horizons
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8. The Hans India, (2020, July 13), Rise in women players in online games during
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