Overview
- Published in JMIR Serious Games, the study by Winze Tam, Congcong Hou, and Andreas Benedikt Eisingerich examined Super Mario Bros. and Yoshi titles.
- Researchers used a mixed-methods design with 41 student interviews followed by a survey of 336 students to test proposed relationships.
- Statistical modeling showed that happiness fully mediated the association between game-evoked wonder and lower burnout risk.
- Participants described these nonviolent, familiar games as uplifting, low-pressure “digital microenvironments” that offered brief emotional resets.
- The authors caution that the cross-sectional, self-reported, student-only data limit causal claims, and they call for longitudinal, more diverse research while emphasizing moderate, voluntary play.