Video gameplay, personality and academic performance

The relationship between video gameplay, video game genre preference, personality, and GPA was investigated in an online correlational study with university students. In addition to administering self-report measures of GPA and personality, we asked three different questions regarding styles of video gameplay. The first asked the average time spent playing video games per week (habitual players), the second asked the total time spent playing favorite video games (selective players), and the third asked the number of different video games played in a year (diverse players). Students who were medium in selective player style (spent 11–50 h) had significantly higher GPAs than students low on selective player style (spent 0–10 h). Students high on habitual playing style (7 or more hours a week) showed significantly lower levels of Conscientiousness compared to students low on habitual playing style (0–1 h a week). Students who were high on the diverse style (i.e., 7 or more games played a year) showed significantly higher Openness scores than students low on the diverse style (0–3 games a year). Finally, several notable relations were found between video game genre preference, GPA, and personality. Results are discussed in terms of the positive implications of video gameplay on academic performance.

► The relationship between video gameplay, personality, and GPA was investigated.
► Three styles of video gameplay were investigated.
► Selective player style was positively related to GPA.
► Habitual playing style was negatively related to Conscientiousness.
► Diverse playing style was positively related to Openness.