Exploring soccer video games as a channel to promote well-being and soccer appreciation among North American adults

ABSTRACTBased on online surveys and MANCOVA, this study explores soccer video games as a potential channel for promoting well-being and soccer appreciation by testing how playing soccer (1) via video games, (2) physically, (3) in both forms, or (4) in none of the forms are associated with soccer appreciation (enjoyment/involvement), physical health (moderate-/vigorous-intensity activity, sedentary behaviour), and mental health (happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem). The findings indicated that soccer video games (1) are positively associated with mental health, particularly in the hedonic aspect; (2) are insignificantly linked to physical health; and (3) may be effective for increasing enjoyment (at a level similar to physical play) and involvement of the sport. Also, (4) the synergistic effect of blending the virtual and physical forms of play were supported for soccer enjoyment/involvement. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1. Conway, “Starting at ‘start’: An exploration of the nondiegetic in soccer video games”.2. ECA, “Esports – Curse of blessing for football clubs?”; FIFA, “The vision 2020–2023”; Newzoo, “Global games market report 2021”.3. Anderson et al., “Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behaviour in Eastern and Western countries”; Weaver et al., “Health-risk correlates of video-game playing among adults”.4. Adachi and Willoughby, “From the couch to the sports field”; Jenny et al., “Learning a sport through video gaming”.5. Lou, “Design of English multimedia teaching system based on diversification theory”; Mayer, “Computer games in education”.6. Hayes and Silberman, “Incorporating video games into physical education”; Jenny and Schary, “Exploring the effectiveness of learning American Football through playing the video game Madden NFL”.7. Lemmens et al., “Psychosocial causes and consequences of pathological gaming”; Ferguson, “A meta-analytic review of positive and negative effects of violent video games”.8. Adachi and Willoughby, “The link between playing video games and positive youth outcomes”.9. Koezuka et al., “The relationship between sedentary activities and physical inactivity among adolescents”; Kowert et al., “Psychosocial causes and consequences of online video game play”.10. Adachi and Willoughby, “From the couch to the sports field”; Adachi and Willoughby, “The link between playing video games and positive youth outcomes”.11. Przybylski et al., “A motivational model of video game engagement”.12. Mayer, “Computer games in education”.13. Lucas and Sherry, “Sex differences in video game play”; Przybylski et al., “A motivational model of video game engagement”.14. Przybylski et al., “A motivational model of video game engagement”.15. Mayer, “Computer games in education”.16. Lou, “Design of English multimedia teaching system based on diversification theory”.17. Trail and James, “Sport consumer behaviour”.18. Conway, “An analysis of the users of sports video games”.19. Markovits and Green, “FIFA, the video game: a major vehicle for soccer’s popularization in the United States”.20. Price et al., “Learning to play soccer: Lessons on meta-cognition from video game design”.21. Adachi and Willoughby, “From the couch to the sports field”; Adachi and Willoughby, “Does playing sports video games predict increased involvement in real-life sports over several years among older adolescents and emerging adults?”.22. Jenny and Schary, “Exploring the effectiveness of learning American Football through playing the video game Madden NFL”; Jenny et al., “Learning a sport through video gaming”.23. Kim and Ross, “An exploration of motives in sport video gaming”.24. Markovits and Green, “FIFA, the video game: a major vehicle for soccer’s popularization in the United States”; Reeves, “Why People Play Video Games”.25. Hayes and Silberman, “Incorporating video games into physical education”; Price et al., “Learning to play soccer: Lessons on meta-cognition from video game design”.26. Trail and James, “Sport consumer behaviour”.27. Jenny and Schary, “Exploring the effectiveness of learning American Football through playing the video game Madden NFL”; Jenny et al., “Learning a sport through video gaming”.28. Adachi and Willoughby, “From the couch to the sports field”; Adachi and Willoughby, “Does playing sports video games predict increased involvement in real-life sports over several years among older adolescents and emerging adults?”.29. ESA, “2021 essential facts about the video game industry”; FIFA, “The vision 2020–2023”.30. Newzoo, “Top 10 countries/markets by game revenue”.31. ESA, “2021 essential facts about the video game industry”.32. SFIA, “Soccer participation in the United States”.33. Bradburn, “The structure of psychological well-being”.34. Diener et al., “The satisfaction with life scale”.35. Ryan and Deci, “On happiness and human potentials”.36. WHO, “Global physical activity questionnaire”.37. Mullen et al., “Measuring enjoyment of physical activity in older adults”.38. Zaichkowsky, “Measuring the involvement construct”.39. WHO, “Addictive behaviours: Gaming disorder”.40. Podsakoff, MacKenzie and Podsakoff, “Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it”.41. Fornell and Larker, “Structural equation modelling and regression”; Kline, “Principles and practice of structural equation modelling”; Tabachnick and Fidell, “Using multivariate statistics”.42. Hayes and Silberman, “Incorporating video games into physical education”; Price et al., “Learning to play soccer: Lessons on meta-cognition from video game design”.43. Anderson and Carnagey, “Causal effects of violent sports video games on aggression”.44. Adachi and Willoughby, “From the couch to the sports field”; Anderson and Carnagey, “Causal effects of violent sports video games on aggression”.45. Ryan and Deci, “On happiness and human potentials”.46. Lemmens et al., “Psychosocial causes and consequences of pathological gaming”.47. Kim and Trail, “Constraints and motivators”.48. Holder, Coleman and Sehn, “The contribution of active and passive leisure to children’s well-being”.49. Price et al., “Learning to play soccer: Lessons on meta-cognition from video game design”; Przybylski et al., “A motivational model of video game engagement”.50. Trail and James, “Sport consumer behaviour”.51. Hayes and Silberman, “Incorporating video games into physical education”.52. Diener, Lucas and Oishi, “Subjective well-being”.53. Conway’,If it’s in the game, it’s in the game: An analysis of the football digital game and its players’.54. Csikszentmihalyi, “Finding flow”; Kimiecik and Stein, “Examining flow experiences in sport contexts”; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, “Flow theory and research”.55. Anderson et al., “Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behaviour in Eastern and Western countries”.56. Halbrook, O’Donnell and Msetfi, “A review of the positive effects of video games on well-being”; Longman, Connor and Obst, “The effect of social support derived from World of Warcraft on negative psychological symptoms”.57. Ryan and Deci, “On happiness and human potentials”.58. Gee, “Good video games and good learning”.59. ECA, “Esports – Curse of blessing for football clubs?”.60. Parrish, C., & Nauright, J. (2014). Soccer around the world: a cultural guide to the world’s favourite sport. ABC-CLIO.61. Kim and Trail, “Constraints and motivators”.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the CUSE Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant (Syracuse University) and the FIFA Research Scholarship (CIES).