A study in the Journal of Leisure Research examined the effects of playing MMOs on the marriages of 349 couples. The article is behind a stupid paywall, but according to the abstract,
Results indicated lower marital satisfaction related to couples’ MMORPG gaming interactions such as quarrelling about gaming, not retiring to bed at the same time, and addictive gaming behavior. Positive effects of gaming together were also identified.
Interestingly, the biggest cause of conflict wasn’t the amount of time one or another spouse spent playing an MMO, but rather when playing the game interfered with things like a common bed time. According to a press released issued by Brigham Young University announcing the study,
The study revealed it’s not the time spent playing games that caused dissatisfaction, but rather the resulting arguments or disrupted bedtime routines. These issues can cause problems such as poorer marital adjustment, less time spent together in shared activities and less serious conversation, the study reports.
On the positive side, the researchers were surprised to learn that some couples game together.
“We didn’t realize that there was a whole group of couples who game together,” [recreation management professor Neil] Lundberg said. “In those gaming couples where the marital satisfaction was low, the same issues existed. For example, if they argued about gaming and bedtime rituals were interrupted, even though they gamed together, they still had lower marital satisfaction scores.”
Presumably, all of the married couples who game together didn’t realize that there was a whole group of researchers that were completely fucking clueless. I mean, couples play tennis, golf, chess, cards, musical instruments and god knows whatever else together, so of course it would come as a shock that couples play video games together.
Anyway, 76 percent of the married couples who gamed together reported that playing an MMO together had a positive effect on their marriage. That finding led graduate student and study co-author Michelle Ahlstrom to sagely proclaim,
Not all video games are bad.
Ohmigod, really? Now that she’s settled that, perhaps Michelle can move on to studying dime novels, comic books and masturbation so we can definitively resolve the debate over those respective issues.
Personally, playing MMOs with my wife was always fun. The problem is now that she’s switched to Skyrim and its like I never knew her. She’s got these strange men following her around promising to level her skill in Archery — a dirty euphemism if I ever heard one — all the while seeking out the the approval and resources of a pseudo-fascist high fantasy dictator. This is not what I signed up for.
