{"id":203236,"date":"2025-01-07T06:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T12:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/open-world-games-affordance-of-cognitive-escapism-relaxation-and-mental-well-being-among-postgraduate-students-mixed-methods-study"},"modified":"2025-01-07T06:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T12:12:11","slug":"open-world-games-affordance-of-cognitive-escapism-relaxation-and-mental-well-being-among-postgraduate-students-mixed-methods-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/open-world-games-affordance-of-cognitive-escapism-relaxation-and-mental-well-being-among-postgraduate-students-mixed-methods-study","title":{"rendered":"Open-World Games\u2019 Affordance of Cognitive Escapism, Relaxation, and Mental Well-Being Among Postgraduate Students: Mixed Methods Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/open-world-games-affordance-of-cognitive-escapism-relaxation-and-mental-well-being-among-postgraduate-students-mixed-methods-study.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Background: Open-world games, characterized by their expansive and interactive environments, may offer unique cognitive escapism opportunities, potentially leading to relaxation and enhanced well-being. These games, such as \u201cThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild\u201d and \u201cThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,\u201d allow players to experience a sense of freedom and autonomy, which can reduce stress and improve mental health. While previous research has examined the general impact of video games on mental well-being, specific studies on the effects of open-world games among postgraduate students are limited.<\/p>\n<p>Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationships between cognitive escapism provided by open-world games and their effects on relaxation and well-being. The goal was to understand how the immersive nature of these games contributes to stress reduction and overall mental health improvement among postgraduate students.<\/p>\n<p>Methods: A mixed methods approach was used, which involved in-depth exploratory qualitative interviews and a survey of 609 players of popular open-world games. Quantitative data were collected using standardized questionnaires to measure open-world games\u2019 affordance of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and well-being. Qualitative data were obtained through 32 in-depth interviews that explored players\u2019 experiences and perceptions of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and mental well-being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background: Open-world games, characterized by their expansive and interactive environments, may offer unique cognitive escapism opportunities, potentially leading to relaxation and enhanced well-being. These games, such as \u201cThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild\u201d and \u201cThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,\u201d allow players to experience a sense of freedom and autonomy, which [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1509,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}