ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5594-9713
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date
2025
Keywords
video games, nostalgia, well-being, mental health, media psychology, open access
Language
English
Disciplines
Communication Technology and New Media | Other Psychology | Social Psychology
Description/Abstract
For nearly 60 years, video games have arrested the attention of players, inviting us to interact and interface with on-screen content. More than just short-term entertainment experiences, video games are part of a broader cultural milieu—they are the most profitable media entertainment sector (global revenues nearly $400 billion USD in 2023) with more than 3.5 billion players globally (Clement, 2023). Similar to other entertainment media, some video game intellectual properties have transcended generations and, in many cases, grown beyond the medium itself: common cultural touchstones include Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, along with seemingly endless subcultures of devoted fans of specific games and gaming properties (Jenkins, 2006). Unique from other entertainment media, video games present as “digital time machines” that allow players to directly revisit personally relevant and highly familiar worlds from the past in which those worlds remain unchanged (Robinson & Bowman, 2021; Wulf et al., 2018).
Recommended Citation
Bowman, N. D., Wulf, T., King, J., & Hodge, S. (2025) “Take eight bits, and call me in the morning:” Video games, well-being, and the psychology of nostalgia. In F. Alvarez Igarzábal, E. Guardiola, C. Johann, & K. Tillmanns (Eds.) Video Games and Mental Health. Perspectives of Psychology and Game Design. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
Source
submission
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Social Psychology Commons
