Ill Health and Grief Fuel Gaming, while Lethargy Slows It: Playtime–Wellbeing Confounds from the Player Perspective

Time spent playing video games (playtime) is not strongly correlated with wellbeing. However, quantitative studies often overlook “third variables” that confound the relationship between gaming and wellbeing—risking masked true effects or spurious associations. In this qualitative template analysis of 987 free text responses from 393 adult players, we document 17 varied confounders that participants themselves believe shape both their gaming and wellbeing, mapped to five domains: physical health, grief and domestic disruptions, work/school pressures, social relationships, and other leisure. Some confounders like stress and grief led to increased gaming and lower wellbeing, whereas others (such as intensified caretaking duties) reduced both gaming and wellbeing. Confounders were sometimes perceived as having contradictory or moderated impacts (e.g., mild illness increasing gaming as a distraction, but severe illness reducing it). We offer specific measurement recommendations, guiding comprehensive covariate inclusion to better isolate gaming’s complex causal effects.