Report claims Peggle eases depression

By Fred Dutton Published 16 February, 2011

Calls on doctors to prescribe PopCap.

Casual games like Peggle and Bejeweled help ease the symptoms of clinical depression, according to a new study.

The survey, conducted by East Carolina University and underwritten by PopCap Games, followed 59 patients suffering from depression for a month. Some of them played PopCap titles Bejeweled 2, Peggle and Bookworm Adventures for a set amount of time each day, while a 'control' group surfed the National Institute of Mental Health's Web page on depression.

After the study was finished, the test subjects who played games saw symptoms reduce by 57 per cent on average.

The professor in charge of the study, Dr. Carmen Russoniello, noted that subjects suffered no negative side-effects and went on to recommend that the games be prescribed by doctors.

"The results of this study clearly demonstrate the intrinsic value of certain casual games in terms of significant, positive effects on the moods and anxiety levels of people suffering from any level of depression," Russoniello explained.

"Given that only 25 per cent of people who suffer from depression are receiving treatment, it seems prudent to make these low cost, readily accessible casual games video games available to those who need them.

"They should be made available at health clinics, community centers, online 'medical sites' and given out by therapists as a means of intervention."

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Jonny5Alive7 #1 1 year ago

    Surely you could say the same about lots of games compared with reading a website about depression.

  • MasterNameless #2 1 year ago

    If depression was treated with some kind of suppository, then the tagline could read as, "Doctors PopCap in arse".

  • OlMaster #3 1 year ago

    Uh, yes, doing something distracting will be much better for someone with depression than ruminating on the condition by regularly browsing a website on it. If you want to brand that distraction I suppose this study is of some use...

    Also, most depressive episodes go away given time, so over a month at least some of the patients will likely feel better anyway.

  • dirtysteve #4 1 year ago

    'Underwritten by Popcap games' I vaguely remember when university studies had integrity, but only vaguely.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #5 1 year ago

    Peggle helped me a lot when I was quitting my last job and had everything packed because I was just about to move to another country. My PC was the last thing I had to get into the moving truck and having an empty room and knowing you don't get to see your friends whenever you feel like it was quite depressing. Of all the games I had Peggle was the only one I could actually enjoy for more than 5 minutes without feeling a little sad again.

    But I guess everything that keeps you distracted for a bit can be beneficial - it's not exactly rocket science. At least it's an article saying something positive about gaming for a change.

  • RobTheBuilder #6 1 year ago

    That sounds like a very bad control. I would expect these findings to be roughly accurate but I'd want to see the methodology before I believe this set of conclusions.

  • Freek #7 1 year ago

    It clearly states that the people who played the games had their symptoms reduced. Not that they only felt better compared to the people who read the boring site but that they actually felt better in general.
    So it's fair to say the games helped.
    Could probably be any casual game but they choose these for the test.
    Edited by Freek at 16/02/11 @ 20:56

  • arcam #8 1 year ago

    Ah, Dr. Carmen Russoniello.

    The same doctor that found in 2010 that games could help stave off Alzheimer's, choosing examples such as Bejewelled and Peggle.

    And the same doctor that in 2008 found that games can have stress-relieving and other mood lifting effects. I bet you can't guess which games were used for that without clicking the link.

    And yes, Popcap commissioned all these studies. Money well spent when you have a professor saying: "it seems prudent to make these low cost, readily accessible casual games video games available to those who need them.".
    Edited by arcam at 16/02/11 @ 20:58

  • UsernamePending #9 1 year ago

    Thanks arcam! Why does Eurogamer foist such poorly researched articles on us?

    Has that got something to do with PopCap?

  • SG #10 1 year ago

    Seems obvious; it's a compulsive-driven distraction.

    Very short term though. I wish the plethora of as yet unplayed games that I have could drag me back into gaming world whereby making significant progress in a game gave me a good sense of achievement and cheered me up. Why it doesn't is beyond me, I still get excited reading about games, just not playing them. And I do so need a good distraction/cheering up. :(
    Edited by SG at 16/02/11 @ 23:10

  • Gromit #11 1 year ago

    LMAO.

    Oh, it does work.

  • CamoChris #12 1 year ago

    Honestly, I've played Peggle and got extremely pissed off. There's nothing worse than when the ball bounces off a peg and then takes a completely different route than the one you thought it would, usually missing everything else. It makes me feel like a failure :(

  • CelticTerry #13 1 year ago

    Wow if only these games were getting released in some sort of compilation soon

  • randompanda #14 1 year ago

    This article might as well have been sponsored by Popcap.

    Fuck off.

  • RobTheBuilder #15 1 year ago

    @arcam Exactly why I wanted to know the details!

  • Grayvern #16 1 year ago

    All studies are sponsored by someone, that someone is almost always an interested party. Studies often tell organisations things they don't like it's better to commission honest studies and bury or spin them than falsify studies, as the latter is far less likely to generate negative publicity.

    Who commissioned the study is pointless the only thing that really matters is the methodology and whether the study is veracious.
    Edited by Grayvern at 17/02/11 @ 03:49

  • arcam #17 1 year ago

    All studies are sponsored by someone

    No they aren't, there is lots of independent research done all the time, especially at universities. However I agree that being funded by Popcap doesn't invalidate the results. However there are questions raised that can lead to suspicion.

    For example, the conclusion suggests that Peggle and Bejewelled could be prescribed to depressed patients, but draws no conclusions about other similar games. Certainly there are cheaper, even free match-three games that might well have the same effect. We don't know about these because they only studied games from one developer.

    Also, why do Popcap keep commissioning the same person to do these studies? Surely if the results are valid, they would be the same if any professor did the research. It could be seen that whenever the results put Popcap's games in a positive light, Dr Russoniello is rewarded with funding for a new study.

    Being commissioned by Popcap is not enough to dismiss the findings, but taken with the frequency and conclusions of previous studies from the same source, it should be enough to encourage a healthy dose of skepticism :)
    Edited by arcam at 17/02/11 @ 09:59

  • Grayvern #18 1 year ago

    Okay I should have said most. But in terms of Independent studies It's the university sponsoring the researcher. Or the university making the researcher to be seen as contributing in the wider academic world. Outside the universities, Business and the Government funding very few studies exist.

    Also I agree the repeat business is fishy, but frankly nothing is ever value free.

    The biggest problem with the study I can see is not the results or the sponsor but the fact it's a quantitative psychological study, not a qualitative study backed up some qualitative study. Which for my personal preferences devalues the study as it gives the participants no voice.
    Edited by Grayvern at 17/02/11 @ 12:38

  • dirtysteve #19 1 year ago

    @arcam - thanks for the links. Stuff like this sounds trivial, until you realise that these studies are attempts to influence policies which affect everyone.