Social connection through new and improved technology-mediated communication has become a mainstay in an ever-changing society, and innovative extended reality technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), have the potential to advance social connection from face-to-face and 2D interfaces into a lively and interactive 3D virtual environment. Moving beyond existing applications, the development of new multi-user interfaces is expected to accelerate social connection via virtual environments. Even so, the social aspects of multi-user VR games have been overlooked despite the rapidly growing marketing of such products (Uhm et al., 2020).

There is a consensus among social scientists that psychological support from social relationships enhances well-being (Lee et al., 2008; Jose et al., 2012; Pressman et al., 2019). Conversely, lack of social connection is a risk factor for social isolation, depression, and premature mortality (Cacioppo et al., 2010; Matthews et al., 2016). When it comes to new media environments, social relationships are not without their risks. For instance, existing evidence indicates negative use of technology-mediated communication can lead to antisocial behaviors, such as aggression, loneliness, gaming addiction, cyberbullying, and more (Valkenburg et al., 2016; Holt-Lunstad, 2018).

Unlike regular massive multiplayer online games for computers and consoles, a social VR game allows players to interact in a virtual world using a combination of a head-mounted display, audio, and input devices to achieve a higher level of immersion. More specifically, such games require a player to wear a head-mounted device and controllers that track their physical movements and enable them to manipulate their avatar’s motions using their body while viewing and interacting with a fully virtual landscape. Additionally, social VR games give users the experience of meeting other players and communicating with them in virtual environments. The game Rec Room, for example, allows players to meet one another and physically engage in various games (e.g., dodgeball and disc golf) together.

Nevertheless, there remains a paucity of evidence on the interactions between users’ social VR involvement and their psychological aspects. Thus, the purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of several contingent factors in social VR games by modeling the relationships between involvement, well-being, depression, self-esteem, and social connectedness in social VR. Specifically, we used a working definition of social VR as VR content with multi-user functions where users can simultaneously interact with each other in the VR environment. As we applied the literature of involvement to operationalize social VR use, depression was identified as an affective mediator of the influence of involvement on well-being. To capture conditional effects of individual sense of self-worth and closeness/connectedness with others, self-esteem and social connectedness in social VR were measured as moderators.

Descriptive statistics of the variables are reported in Table 1. Measures were deemed normally distributed considering the univariate statistics of the practical data (Cain et al., 2017). Path coefficient and confidence interval estimates of the model are reported in Table 2. Supporting H1, the direct effect of involvement on well-being was significant. All predictors including interaction effects on depression were significant (ps<0.05).

The index of moderated mediation was significant (index=−0.023, 95% CIs from −0.046 to −0.004). The mediation effect of depression was partially supported by conditional indirect effects, indicating that the manner in which self-esteem moderated the indirect effect via depression is a function of social connectedness in social VR and that the manner in which social connectedness in social VR moderates the indirect effect via depression is a function of self-esteem (Hayes, 2018). As reported in Table 3, the indirect effect of social VR involvement via depression only had a negative effect when the user had low self-esteem and low social connectedness in social VR. In contrast, for users with moderate to high self-esteem and social connectedness in social VR, the indirect of involvement via depression did not negatively affect well-being. Taking a more careful look, from the conditional moderated mediation, the disordinal three-way interaction was most significant for the users with high social connectedness in social VR (index=−0.014, 95% CIs from −0.030 to −0.001). In summary, the results indicate that there was a three-way interaction between involvement, social connectedness, and self-esteem, and the moderation of the indirect effect of involvement on well-being (through depression) by social connectedness is affected by self-esteem. While VR involvement indicated a nonsignificant correlation with depression in general, gamers with low levels of social connection and self-esteem should be cautious in VR involvement as higher VR gaming involvement showed a positive influence on depression in this group. The three-way interaction effect is visualized in Figure 2. We discuss the moderated mediations in more detail in the discussion.

In this study, we attempted to examine the impact of social VR involvement on participants’ well-being, going further by identifying depression as a variable that conditionally mediates based upon participants’ level of self-esteem and social connectedness in social VR. The findings of this study confirm and further elucidate the double-edged sword effect of social VR game participation on participants’ well-being by examining moderated mediations between intervening variables. This section offers explanations of the current findings, contributions, and suggestions.

Path estimates revealed that involvement in social VR games can positively affect participants’ well-being, supporting Hypothesis 1, contrary to the findings of many studies in game-related, psychology, and education disciplines (e.g., Groves and Anderson, 2015). Specifically, many scholars reported that excessive involvement in games may lead to game addiction and its harmful psychological and behavioral consequences. Indeed, the World Health Organization recently designated game addiction as a disease, which has resulted in many countries strengthening regulations on games via their respective public policies (World Health Organization, 2018). However, our results contradict this conventional negative interpretation, thus possibly providing important practical and academic implications.

Although no direct link between social VR game involvement and users’ well-being has yet been established in sports management, it is encouraging to compare this finding with those reported in other studies using different contexts. For instance, previous studies reported that involvement in physical activity is connected to social outcomes that enhance quality of life, general life satisfaction, and psychological well-being (Penedo and Dahn, 2005). Other studies also demonstrated that involvement in physical activity can meet social needs and lead to benefits such as social support (Mahan et al., 2015). In this regard, as social games enable participants to bolster social connections by interacting with others in a game environment (Beaton and Funk, 2008; Martončik and Lokša, 2016), social VR games can satisfy human needs (i.e., enhance self-esteem) and motivate socially related activity, which in turn improves the overall quality of people’s social lives (i.e., reduce depression; McClelland, 1988). This is imperative for the well-being of VR gamers, which is characterized by high bivariate correlations between self-esteem, social connectedness, and depression (see Table 1).

While our first result showed that involvement in social VR can have a positive effect on participants’ well-being, our second finding demonstrates that participants’ individual characteristics and the social connectedness can change this relationship. The testing of Hypothesis 2 revealed that the mediation effect of depression was partially supported by conditional indirect effects involving social connectedness in social VR and self-esteem. This result indicates how self-esteem moderates the indirect effect of VR involvement on well-being via depression is a function of social connectedness in social VR and how the moderation effect of social connectedness is a function of self-esteem. Therefore, we can infer that participation in social VR games may not positively affect participants’ well-being in cases when there are interaction effects of self-esteem and social connectedness.

Although prior research clearly indicates that excessive engagement in computer-mediated games is linked to depression, researchers have devoted relatively less attention to identifying the intervening variables that moderate this relationship. Our results have identified self-esteem as a promising moderator between involvement, depression, and well-being. According to previous studies, people highly engaged in a certain activity (e.g., leisure) are more likely to develop greater self-esteem and self-worth because setting and achieving goals positive impacts their ego (Schmidt and Padilla, 2003). In addition, many studies have indicated that low self-esteem is a primary risk factor for depressive disorders (Orth et al., 2008). With this in mind, our result may be explained by the fact that people with higher involvement in social VR games tend to have lower levels of depression due to greater self-esteem.

Similarly, the results of this study suggest that social connectedness in social VR moderates the relationship between involvement, depression, and well-being. Existing studies indicated that social connectedness can expand momentary repertoires of cognition and behavior, which in turn enhance psychological and social well-being (Fredrickson et al., 2015). Furthermore, based on the phase model of psychotherapy, depressive symptoms must be reduced in order for well-being to be enhanced (Howard et al., 1993). We thus propose that the development of both well-being and depression is subject to sequential relationships, with social connectedness laying the foundation for a reduction in the symptoms of maladjustment.

Many studies have investigated self-esteem and psychological well-being. Theoretical work has underscored the key role of self-esteem in well-being (Kernis, 2003). Empirical studies have demonstrated that self-esteem plays a considerable role in predicting psychological well-being (Sedikides et al., 2007). Other findings have likewise indicated that individuals with higher self-esteem benefit from greater psychological well-being (Baumeister et al., 2003). We conclude from these observations that engagement influences depression through the two moderation effects such that high levels of self-esteem and social connectedness in social VR lead to reducing depression and, in turn, enhance well-being.

Our study provides important academic implications. Our study provides academic implications as we here suggest a model of an individual’s psychological response by analyzing the how personal and social factors influence an individual’s overall well-being when deeply involved in an activity. Prior to this study, research has provided contradictory findings of the effects on a user’s mental health due the participation in social VR games. Thus, it was difficult to make an accurate prediction about how users’ personality traits are associated with Social VR game participation, and what the consequences of that participation may be on their mental health. In this study, the evidence of the psychological mechanisms involved with social VR game participation that we have provided has the potential to provide direction for future research. Our study also provides practical implications useful to social VR game participants. This study suggests that social VR games should be avoided by people who are prone to low levels of social contact and those with low self-esteem. Our findings suggest several courses of action for those who work for the healthcare industry. For instance, as the healthcare industry employs VR and AR for therapy purposes, the results of this study will help to develop effective treatment strategies aimed at different patient groups with specific healthcare needs.

This study has limitations in generalizing its results due to several constraints. First, we did not control the types of social VR games analyzed in this study. There are several types of social VR games, and individual psychology may differ depending on whether a particular type of game requires or induces competition. Therefore, in future research, we suggest conducting a direct experiment to unify the types of games or to conduct a study comparing the effects of cooperative and competitive games. Another limitation was that most of our study subjects were male. Expanding on the above limitations, men and women may enjoy playing different types of social VR games and may respond psychologically to them differently. Therefore, we recommend that follow-up studies feature equal participation between males and females or that a study comparing male and female ratios should be conducted to generalize the results. Our results showed that internal consistency reliability for depression was 0.92, which indicates a potential for item redundancy. As the reason for such a high level may be due to the large number of items measuring depression (Tavakol and Dennick, 2011), more insightful results regarding the measurement of depression could be obtained by employing a scale comprising a smaller number of items or that a context-specific scale could be developed that aligns with the context of social VR games.

Although we have presented interesting findings, including those pertaining to social and personal factors, we believe that a more diverse assortment of psychological factors may be involved. For example, we believe that the consideration of additional variables such as motivation to play a game or the stress level induced by participation in it can provide more implications for social VR games. Therefore, we propose, based on our research model, that subsequent studies consider more diverse variables.

VR gaming is growing and evolving. It is becoming more accessible through newly developed platforms (e.g., social VR; metaverse), new methods of acquisition (e.g., online app stores), and technological innovations that provide new ways to interact and experience game content with the gaming community (e.g., watching streamers or e-sports tournaments). Social play in a VR environment is becoming ever more popular, with participants playing together with friends, family, colleagues, and strangers. Scholars have suggested that these social interactions benefit players by satisfying essential needs of belonging and connecting with others. However, others have proposed that such engagement is a diluted and dysfunctional social interaction that negatively affects participants by supplanting richer in-person involvement. Recent research consistently illustrates how neither of these interpretations captures the nuances of the reality of social VR gaming and that the benefit or harm derived from social play is predicated on various factors pertaining to the game, the player(s), and the gaming context.

In this paper, we have elucidated the role of several contingent factors in social VR games by modeling the relationships between involvement, well-being, self-esteem, and social connection. Specifically, our results showed that engagement in social VR games by a socially isolated user with low self-esteem can result in negative effects on their well-being. Nevertheless, while social VR games may result in negative psychological effects in certain conditions, the net positive value of social VR can be maximized when these effects are well-understood and managed. Therefore, we assert that if game developers and managers are familiar with these potential results, social VR games can act as a constructive social medium, and the public can develop a more accurate understanding and positive view of social VR games.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

The open access publishing fees for this article have been furnished by the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge Fund (OAKFund), supported by the University Libraries.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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