Wellbeing, or well-being, is a fairly difficult topic. The Greeks distinguished between two main kinds of wellbeing: hedonic - focused on feeling happy in the now -, and eudaimonic - focused on feeling one has a satisfying life.
Interestingly, when researchers nowadays measure "wellbeing", they often actually only consider aspects of ill-being, such as depression or loneliness (and the absence thereof). Measuring wellbeing is difficult and the concept itself is contested in psychology, because "happiness" or "satisfaction" are rather subjective experiences. A very promising related approach to work around that subjectiveness comes from Self-Determination-Theory. The main (well researched) assumption is that all people have three basic needs - the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. It is important to note that while according this theory all people have these same three needs, people can experience them differently. The degree to which these needs are satisfied or frustrated influences essentially how satisfied a person is with their life, and in this theory is a main motivational driver behind behaviours. Besides this concept being useful for estimating wellbeing, it is especially interesting in the context of computer games, as games might serve as way to satisfy some or all of these needs. The other part of the wellbeing questionnaire is a well-established survey intended to determine a person's wellbeing on a very general scale. More information on and references for the needs scale can be found in Chen, B., et al. (2014). Basic psychological need satisfaction, need frustration, and need strength across four cultures. Motivation and Emotion, 39(2), 216-236. doi:10.1007/s11031-014-9450-1.
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AuthorHi all, my name is Florian. I have played video games most of my life and had the chance to turn my hobby into a study: Thinking about games. Archives
July 2019
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