[ti:Do Video Games Improve Well-Being?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Oxford University researchers say a new study [00:04.64]marks a rare example of collaboration [00:08.76]between academics and the video game industry. [00:13.52]Lack of information from game makers [00:17.04]has long been an issue for scientists [00:20.60]hoping to better understand player behaviors. [00:25.08]The new study, which looked at how video games affect mental health, [00:31.36]is unusual because it used information [00:35.52]provided by the video game makers themselves. [00:39.96]It comes at a time when video game sales have increased. [00:45.28]Many people are staying at home because of the coronavirus health crisis. [00:51.20]And in many countries, public health officials have set limits on public life. [00:58.72]The paper, released by the Oxford Internet Institute, [01:03.92]is based on questions presented to people who played two video games. [01:10.20]Those games were Plants vs Zombies: [01:14.40]Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. [01:20.64]The study used data provided by the game makers [01:25.12]Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America. [01:29.24]It showed how much time the people in the study spent playing the games. [01:35.60]Earlier research used estimates from the players themselves. [01:41.72]The researchers said they found the actual amount of time spent playing [01:47.40]was a small but positive factor in people's well-being [01:52.36]- the state of being happy, healthy, or successful. [01:57.24]The paper said the level of enjoyment that players get from a game [02:02.60]could be more important for their mental health than playing time. [02:08.72]The paper has not yet been peer reviewed. [02:12.48]Peer review is a process by which a study is examined [02:17.72]by a group of experts in the same field. [02:21.68]The study results could raise questions about ideas [02:26.64]that gaming causes aggression or addiction. [02:30.56]"Our findings show video games aren't necessarily bad for your health," [02:36.80]said Andrew Przybylski, the institute's director of research. [02:42.96]"In fact, play can be an activity that relates positively to people's mental health [02:50.24]– and regulating video games could withhold those benefits from players." [02:56.64]Regulate means to make rules or laws that control people or things. [03:02.68]Joseph Hilgard is an assistant professor of social psychology [03:08.92]at Illinois State University. [03:12.00]He noted some limitations in the study. [03:15.96]He suggested that the data does not directly show [03:20.32]that video games have an effect on well-being. [03:24.56]Instead, Hilgard described the data as "correlational," [03:30.24]which suggests that two or more things change or happen together. [03:36.84]Paul Croarkin of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota [03:40.84]said he had "lingering questions" about the study. [03:45.00]Croarkin has studied video games and children. [03:49.20]He said the self-reporting nature of the study was a weakness. [03:54.48]But he added that the researchers presented their findings in a balanced way. [04:00.24]For the study, the researchers questioned 2,756 people [04:07.36]who played the game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. [04:11.96]They also questioned 518 players [04:16.12]of Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. [04:21.52]All the players were asked to complete a questionnaire on their experiences. [04:27.40]Their answers were matched up [04:30.32]against playing time recorded by the video game companies. [04:36.40]Andrew Przybylski suggested that researchers need [04:40.72]to work more with the video game industry [04:44.32]"to study how games impact a wider, and more diverse, [04:48.92]sample of players over time." [04:51.36]He added, "We'll need more and better data to get [04:55.92]to the heart of the effects of games, for good or ill, on mental health." [05:03.24]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM