Does gaming improve your mental health or hinder it?

[LegitHyperbole]

Jumpin said:

I agree it depends on the person, but I think it also depends on the game/genre.

For instance, social games give me a lot of lasting joy when they are local.
But online games shoot my anxiety and depression levels up almost as much as social media and Youtube videos do. Not because of I find them inherently negative, but because I find them to be a colossal waste of time! And the back of my head is just screaming with the thought of “life, health, and money are passing you by you fucking moron!” when I play these. I think this dates back to when I played an online game called Utopia, and StarCraft on the battlenet.
If I want a story, I play RPG or adventures/graphical adventures.
If I want entertainment, I probably play a very cinematic RPG, or an action game.
If I want problem solving, I usually pop open a casual skill-based game (Something like Brain Age, but on mobile, math and word based games, Countdown type stuff), or a puzzle game.
If I want to get the blood flowing with some mild entertainment, a motion-game works wonders, and they tend to be mood elevators.
I haven’t played a multiplayer motion game in some time, but I find those are the best experiences for joy.

It’s kind of why I like games like Witcher 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles X so much, I can get a lot of these things with just one game.

Exact reason why The Witcher 3 is my favourite of all time even aside from the obvious like it having perfectly sized gameplay loops to suit any sized session of gaming from a half hour to a full Sunday or the OST or The vibes. It's that it is all major genres and aspects of games rolled into one and it excels very strongly in most areas and things one would want from a game. While it doesn't do things you would like to see like Skyrim simulation, killable NPCs, a law and order system for thieving it still rises above in so many areas to beat just about any other game and the games that do come close are objectively an effort to play like certain CRPGs and are designed to be slow going, The Witcher 3 goes at whatever pace you choose to go at and if your good enough you can ignore massive chunks of content with no need to level. It's such a masterpiece, so much so that I think it was a fluke much like Clair Obscur E33 recently, talent is involved for sure and there is intent in some of the genuis design but much of what makes them masterpieces had to be a fluke. I fear CDPR won't be able to replicate TW3 and the same with SandFall on a sequel to Expedition 33.