Finished the game and feel empty? Science has confirmed that this feeling of depression exists

Researchers from the SWPS University of Poland and the Academy of Applied Sciences, Stefan Batory, have studied in detail the feeling that accompanies the completion of a long-lasting and compelling video game. Not only did they analyze it, butć created the world’s first scale for measuring “post-game depression” (P-GD), and published their results in the international journal Current Psychology.

What exactly is “post-game” depression

This phenomenon, which has been talked about anecdotally for years, is defined as a feeling of emptiness, sadness and loss that occurs after the end of an extremely immersive and emotionally charged game. To measure it scientifically, psychologists Kamil Janowicz and Piotr Klimczyk developed the “Post-Game Depression Scale” (P-GDS). Through two studies that included 373 players, they identified four key aspects of this experience.

The first and most intense are ruminations related to the game, that is, intrusive and repetitive thoughts about the story, characters or the ending itself. The second is the challenging end of the experience, which describes the emotional difficulties in accepting the fact that the journey has ended. The third aspect is the need to play again, a strong desire to immediately return to the same world to experience the feelings again. The last, and as a rule the least intense, is media anhedonia – a temporary loss of interest in other forms of entertainment such as movies, series or other games, because they seem “shallow” compared to the experience just completed.

Not everyone is equally affected: Why RPG games are the most vulnerable

The study clearly showed that role-playing games (RPGs) are the most susceptible to this phenomenon. The reason lies in the very nature of music, which encourages the creation of deep connections.

– In these games, the players have the greatest influence on the character’s development with their decisions and build the strongest relationships with them. And the more convincing the game world and the closer the relationship with the character, the harder it is to return to reality after the game is over – explained Dr. Janowicz.

However, while RPGs are prominent, the mechanism of emotional investment and parasocial connection also operates beyond the boundaries of žanra. Games like The Last of Us Part II or the Halo series are capable of creating an equally deep sense of attachment and, ultimately, loss, even though they are not technically role-playing games. The key factors are the duration, the possibility of making important decisions and the emotional closeness to the characters, and not exclusively the genre determinant.

The research also revealed an interesting correlation: people who experienced more intense sadness after ending the game also showed a general tendency to think pessimistically. P-GD can therefore also be a consequence of general difficulties in dealing with emotions.

Tuga, a ne clinička diagnosis

Researches emphasize that P-GD is not a clinical diagnosis, but a specific type of grief, similar to the one we feel after breaking up an important relationship or ending a significant life chapter. For many gamers, the virtual world becomes such an important source of emotions that returning to everyday life requires time and psychological tools for adaptation.

These results could be useful in the process of designing games, but they also open a number of questions about the ethical aspects of development and taking into account the welfare of games. Although the study is just the beginning, it confirms what millions of gamers already know. knew: sadness after the end of a favorite game is real, because the worlds we leave were also real in a way that is only important – emotionally.