As developers, we strive to create positive and supportive gaming experiences. It’s important to acknowledge our limitations, however, when it comes to players’ mental health. We are not psychologists, and we cannot control factors like individual well-being, personal circumstances, or inherent vulnerabilities that might influence how players react to certain situations.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways we can support good mental health as an outcome of our games. One aspect of this is emotional regulation.
A Note on Research: While this article draws on extensive internal research conducted at various gaming companies, these findings are often proprietary and cannot be cited. Nonetheless, these observations also resonate with established social research on group dynamics and human behavior. While we acknowledge the limitations of citing internal results and the need for more rigorous research in gaming specifically, we believe these insights offer valuable and credible perspectives on the impact of negativity within gaming communities.
What is emotional regulation?
Emotional regulation is the ability to effectively understand, manage, and respond to your emotions. It equips you to navigate a wide range of feelings in a healthy way, enabling you to better handle challenges, overcome setbacks, and maintain composure in stressful situations when helpful. This ability to regulate is especially valuable in gaming, where players often encounter intense emotions like frustration, excitement, and disappointment.
As developers, there are two broad ways in which we can promote healthy emotional regulation. One is to reduce unnecessary stressors; the other is to support players in taking greater control over their own actions.
The impact of emotional dysregulation
While occasional frustration is a normal part of gaming, negativity left unchecked can fester and harm the entire community. Negative emotions spread rapidly, infecting the social atmosphere of the game and leaving players feeling insecure. This can even breed a culture where aggression becomes the norm, as individuals lash out or mimic negative behaviors to “fit in.” Ultimately, this negativity spoils the enjoyment of the game, driving away players and leaving a lasting stain on the community’s reputation.
Consequences of emotional dysregulation with a player base can include:
- Players struggling with emotional regulation may lash out with verbal attacks, engage in disruptive behavior like rage quitting, or even sabotage their own team. This creates a hostile environment that drives away players and damages the community’s reputation.
- Emotional outbursts make it difficult for others to enjoy the game or engage in positive social interactions. This can lead to avoidance, cliques, and decreased participation, ultimately hindering the community’s growth and longevity.
- In games that rely on cooperation, emotional dysregulation undermines trust, hinders communication and effectiveness, and reduces morale. Players have less fun and are more likely to churn.
- If emotional dysregulation is tolerated or even encouraged, it can become ingrained in the community’s culture. This perpetuates negativity, deters newcomers, and ultimately harms the long-term viability of the community.
Thus, proactively addressing potential frustration is crucial for fostering a healthy and enjoyable gaming environment.
Reducing unnecessary stressors
Video games thrive on curated friction. Overcoming challenges provides a satisfying sense of accomplishment and has been shown to improve resilience and problem-solving skills (see, for example, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character). Nonetheless, it’s important to distinguish between good vs. bad stressors.
Good stress occurs when players willingly take on challenges they believe they can overcome with skill and effort. It might be a tough boss battle that pushes their abilities or a complex puzzle that requires strategic thinking. These challenges, when perceived as surmountable, create a sense of excitement and anticipation rather than dread. This is key to designing an effective mastery curve.
Bad stress stems from issues outside the player’s control. For example:
- Losing progress due to a game malfunction is frustrating, not rewarding.
- Unnecessarily convoluted puzzles, tedious fetch quests, or unclear objectives waste players’ time and lead to frustration.
- Encountering harassment, abuse, or hate speech, or otherwise feeling unsafe.
By minimizing bad stressors and ensuring challenges are fair and rewarding, developers can encourage positive player experiences. This reduces the likelihood of frustration boiling over and players lashing out, leading to a more positive and welcoming community for everyone.
Design guidelines
Taking care to ensure that you are identifying and addressing avoidable stressors can help reduce the chance that players are getting dysregulated in the first place. Ask yourself:
- Is this a rewarding challenge? Can players overcome it with skill, leading to a sense of accomplishment? Or is it an unnecessary frustration stemming from bugs, poor design, or negative player interactions?
- Is the difficulty appropriate? Does the expected skill level align with the player’s progression and the overall learning curve of the game?
- Are expectations managed effectively? Does the game accurately represent its difficulty? Misleading players about the challenges they’ll face can lead to frustration and discouragement.
- How might players interpret another player’s actions? Could they undermine a player’s sense of agency? Feel like inappropriate interference? Cause frustration and resentment over time? Or ultimately ruin the intended experience?
For example, a game marketed as casual but featuring unexpectedly difficult challenges can create a frustrating player experience. Similarly, if the design encourages actions with unforeseen negative consequences for others, it can lead to unintended friction and conflict.
Supporting player self-regulation
While players are ultimately responsible for their own behavior, we can still play a meaningful role in encouraging healthy emotional expression and regulation. Think of it as designing for positive player experiences, where thoughtful design choices encourage emotional regulation and reduce the triggers for negative behavior.
Of course, every game has a unique identity and player base. A challenging “masocore” game, for instance, might intentionally embrace frustration, while a relaxing puzzle game may prioritize a calming experience. The key is to be mindful of how your design choices influence players’ emotional states and help players make informed choices about what works for them.
For example: Instead of directly reducing difficulty, you might clearly communicate the nature of the challenge within the game or menu, empowering players to make informed choices about the experience they seek. Consider placing descriptions of what the difficulty levels mean and how they affect gameplay (e.g., this level increases enemy health by 50%).
By framing difficulty as a choice rather than a judgment of skill, you create a more welcoming and enjoyable experience for everyone. Sometimes even a simple reframing can significantly improve the experience — choosing a playful name like “Impossible” sets expectations with a touch of humor.
Design guidelines
Use these guidelines as a starting point, adapting them to the specific context of your game and tone:
Help players reframe
- Offer in-game prompts that encourage players to reframe challenging situations. For example, a pop up after losing a match may still celebrate other accomplishments or measures of skill.
- Use character dialogue and actions to demonstrate reappraisal techniques. For example, a character might express frustration after a setback but then say, “OK, that didn’t work. Let’s try a different approach!”
- Include tutorials or tips that explicitly teach players how to use reappraisal to manage their emotions in these sorts of situations.
- Design for emotional regulation as an expected outcome of skilled play. In League of Legends, for example, players can honor each other with “Stayed Cool,” emphasizing the importance of emotional regulation on the playing field.
Support a sense of control and agency
- Offer clearly defined objectives and consistent feedback loops to help players understand their progress, fostering a sense of accomplishment and reducing frustration. This reinforces their sense of agency and control within the game.
- Empower players with choices that have a tangible impact on the game’s narrative, world, or outcomes. This allows for self-expression and a deeper sense of ownership over the game experience.
- Provide a range of difficulty options so players can tailor the game’s challenge to their skill level. This prevents overwhelming frustration and allows players of more skill types to feel a sense of mastery and control over their experience.
SDT offers a powerful way to examine player motivations and craft online worlds that foster cooperation, satisfaction, and a thriving player base.
Empower players through expression and connection
- Encourage thoughtful decision-making and strategic planning over impulsive actions. This can help players develop patience and reduce frustration, and have more successful interactions together.
- Provide robust avatar customization options that allow players to express their individuality and explore different facets of their identity. This fosters self-expression and can contribute to a positive sense of self, which increases personal resilience.
- Create a safe and moderated space for in-game communication to allow players to connect, share experiences, and offer mutual support. This can increase a general sense of goodwill in the community.
The Many Dimensions of Well-Being: A Guide to Navigating Trade Offs
How to examine individual flourishing, group dynamics, and the overall health of the community to nurture well-being.
Create healthier environments
- Implement and enforce a code of conduct that promotes respectful interactions and discourages harmful behavior, creating a safer and more positive environment for all players.
- Reward prosocial actions, sportsmanship, and other constructive behaviors. This encourages players to interact positively, support each other, and build healthy habits within the community.
- Organize in-game events and activities that promote collaboration and connection between players. A strong sense of community and belonging contributes significantly to individual well-being and emotional resilience.
A balanced approach to environment, consequences, and encouragement to help developers think strategically about promoting healthy communities.
Incorporate relaxation and reflection
- Integrate serene and aesthetically pleasing environments where players can unwind and de-stress, offering respite from intense gameplay sequences.
- Include optional mini-games that encourage reflection or deep breathing, or just offer a break, to provide players with more options for emotional regulation.
- Counteract the common focus on action and intensity by actively encouraging healthy play patterns and fostering a sense of personal responsibility for managing emotions.
- Provide outlets for emotional release through creative activities like drawing, music composition, writing, or even freeform gameplay. This can be a cathartic experience, preventing emotional buildup.
Biophilic design in games fosters well-being, reduces stress, and enhances creativity.
Leverage narrative and characters
- Crafting narratives and characters that explore a range of emotions and provide opportunities for empathy can help players process their own feelings and develop emotional intelligence.
- Players observe and imitate characters, especially those they admire, learning new behaviors and attitudes (i.e., Social Learning Theory).
- Engaging stories can make players more receptive to the messages conveyed by characters, influencing their beliefs and actions.
- Identifying with characters helps players understand different perspectives and emotions, potentially leading to more prosocial behavior.
- Immersive narratives can “transport” players into the story world, making them less critical and more open to new ideas and behaviors presented by the characters.
Use words wisely to create a space where players connect and thrive.
By understanding how social contagion works, developers can take active steps to foster positive communities and minimize harmful trends.
Additional tips
- Tailor designs to the audience and vibe or they may diminish the perceived legitimacy of your efforts.
- Consider in-game resources like links to mental health support websites, hotlines, and relaxation techniques.
- Offer optional prompts that encourage players to reflect on their emotional state during gameplay.
- Consider accessibility, such as customization options for sensory input. For example, adjustable settings for visual effects, sound, and controls can accommodate players with sensory sensitivities that could lead to emotional dysregulation.
- Create or support dedicated spaces for players to connect and discuss mental health and emotional well-being.
- Temporary restrictions, like feature limitations or short-term bans, can be used to protect the community and encourage emotional regulation. This gives struggling players a chance to de-escalate and re-center themselves before returning to the game.
A word of caution
As with anything that addresses mental health, there is a risk of doing harm in spite of good intentions. This should not discourage you from employing responsible development practices and considering mental health, instead it should motivate you to consult experts who can help ensure your designs are safe and successful.
Assessing impact and adapting strategies
To ensure the effectiveness of your efforts in promoting player well-being, continuous assessment and improvement are essential. Consider the following:
- Gather data and feedback — Continuously monitor community metrics (e.g., player interactions, feature use, sentiment analysis, behavior and communication patterns) and actively solicit player feedback through surveys, forums, and in-game channels. This provides valuable insights into what’s working and what needs adjustment.
- Iterate and adapt — Regularly review your strategies and features based on the data and feedback gathered. Be prepared to adapt your approach, refine features, or introduce new initiatives based on player needs and community trends.
- Share best practices — Collaborate with other community managers and developers. Share your successes, challenges, and learnings to contribute to industry-wide knowledge and raise the bar for promoting player well-being in online games.
For a more in-depth look at metrics for community health and player behavior, see Introduction to Measuring Community Health.
Final thoughts
By thoughtfully considering the impact of our design choices, we can create gaming environments that promote emotional regulation and contribute to a more positive and enjoyable experience for all. While we can’t eliminate negativity, we can certainly cultivate communities where players feel supported, respected, and empowered to manage their emotions effectively. Ultimately, prioritizing emotional well-being in game design not only benefits individual players both in and out of game, but also strengthens the entire gaming community.
Now what?
If you would like to learn more about this topic, please consider the following articles:
A Developer’s Guide to Player Crisis Resources
A curated list of valuable resources and guidance on how to create effective support systems for your players and your team.
Guidelines and resources to help you and your team support players in crisis.
This guide provides essential guidance on how to support players in crisis with compassion and care, even if you’re not a trained crisis responder.
Create support resources that feel authentic, engaging, and relevant to players, increasing the likelihood that they’ll have a positive impact.
References
- Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory.
- Green, M. C. & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.
- Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects.
- Hilt, L. M., Hanson, J. L., & Pollak, S. D. (2011). Emotion dysregulation. Encyclopedia of Adolescence.
- Kelley, N. J. et al. (2018). Reappraisal and suppression emotion-regulation tendencies differentially predict reward-responsivity and psychological well-being.
- Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy: Ruling out individual differences and examining outcomes.
- Safe in Our World. (n.d.) Anger management.
- Slater, M. D. & Rouner, D. (2002). Entertainment-education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of persuasive narratives.
- Tough, P. (2023). How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.
