You teach me and I’ll teach you: The role of social interactions on positivity elicited from playing Pokémon GO

Abstract

Augmented Reality video games such as Pokémon GO have a structure that encourages face-to-face social interactions between players, leading to potentially unique benefits for positivity (positive affect). This study investigated how participants’ social interactions while playing Pokémon GO relate to their positivity after gameplay, crucially, after accounting for other non-social factors typically associated with positivity (participants’ satisfaction with their game accomplishments). Participants were 108 Pokémon GO players, consisting of 54 dyads who signed up for the study together. Dyads were asked to play Pokémon GO together for eight sessions over 2 weeks, and to report on their gameplay experiences and positivity after each session. Multilevel modelling analyses revealed that more positive social interactions with their gameplay partner incrementally predicted participants’ greater positivity post-gameplay. The association between positive social interactions and greater positivity was accentuated for participants who reported more frequent noxious mood states (depressive symptoms) at the start of the study. Findings suggest that above and beyond typical contributions such as achieving game accomplishments, there may be affective benefits for Pokémon GO players from the social interactions they have within the game, especially for those with noxious mood states.