Effects of the legend of Zelda: breath of the wild and Studio Ghibli films on young people’s sense of exploration, calm, mastery and skill, purpose and meaning and overall happiness in life: exploratory randomized controlled study
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Arigayota, Annisa
Duffek, Barbara
Hou, Congcong
Eisingerich, Andreas
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background: Young people feel increasingly anxious and sad nowadays. Engaging with works of art and entertainment, such as playing open-world games or watching Studio Ghibli films, can be more than just a pastime. However, the extent to which, if at all, open-world games and feelings of nostalgia affect overall happiness in life remains unclear.
Objective: This study aimed to examine the extent to which open-world games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nostalgia evoked by Studio Ghibli films, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service, affect postgraduate students’ sense of exploration, calm, mastery and skill, purpose and meaning, and, ultimately, happiness in life.
Methods: A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted using a 2 (playing an open-world game vs no open-world game) × 2 (nostalgia vs no nostalgia) between-subject design. Study participants (N=518) were randomly assigned to the study’s 4 conditions and answered a brief questionnaire, examining their sense of exploration, calm, mastery and skill, purpose and meaning, and, ultimately, happiness in life. As part of the study, we conducted univariate analysis and bootstrapping-based moderated mediation analysis with 5000 resamples.
Results: The results showed a significant and positive impact of playing an open-world game on overall life happiness (mean [M]playedgame 4.563, SD 0.072, vs Mnotplayedgame 3.170, SD 0.072; F(1, 517)=117.246, P<.001). Furthermore, the positive impact of open-world games on overall life happiness was significantly enhanced by nostalgia evoked by watching Studio Ghibli films (Mnostalgia 5.45, SD 0.102, vs Mnonostalgia 3.58, SD 0.102; SE 0.144, 95% CI 1.332-1.900; P<.001). Moreover, exploratory moderated mediation with bootstrapped-based analyses and 5000 resamples demonstrated that the effect of playing open-world games on happiness is mediated by a sense of exploration (effect=0.11; SE 0.05, 95% CI 0.04-0.21), sense of calm (effect=0.32; SE 0.09, 95% CI 0.15-0.51), sense of skill and mastery (effect=0.08; SE 0.05, 95% CI 0.01-0.18), and sense of purpose and meaning (effect=0.32; SE 0.14, 95% CI 0.06-0.60).
Conclusions: This study shows that playing an open-world game, such as The The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nostalgia evoked by Studio Ghibli films significantly foster a sense of exploration and calm in life, as well as a feeling of mastery and skill, and purpose and meaning, hence ultimately contributing positively to one’s overall happiness in life.
Trial Registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN14757739; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN14757739
Objective: This study aimed to examine the extent to which open-world games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nostalgia evoked by Studio Ghibli films, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service, affect postgraduate students’ sense of exploration, calm, mastery and skill, purpose and meaning, and, ultimately, happiness in life.
Methods: A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted using a 2 (playing an open-world game vs no open-world game) × 2 (nostalgia vs no nostalgia) between-subject design. Study participants (N=518) were randomly assigned to the study’s 4 conditions and answered a brief questionnaire, examining their sense of exploration, calm, mastery and skill, purpose and meaning, and, ultimately, happiness in life. As part of the study, we conducted univariate analysis and bootstrapping-based moderated mediation analysis with 5000 resamples.
Results: The results showed a significant and positive impact of playing an open-world game on overall life happiness (mean [M]playedgame 4.563, SD 0.072, vs Mnotplayedgame 3.170, SD 0.072; F(1, 517)=117.246, P<.001). Furthermore, the positive impact of open-world games on overall life happiness was significantly enhanced by nostalgia evoked by watching Studio Ghibli films (Mnostalgia 5.45, SD 0.102, vs Mnonostalgia 3.58, SD 0.102; SE 0.144, 95% CI 1.332-1.900; P<.001). Moreover, exploratory moderated mediation with bootstrapped-based analyses and 5000 resamples demonstrated that the effect of playing open-world games on happiness is mediated by a sense of exploration (effect=0.11; SE 0.05, 95% CI 0.04-0.21), sense of calm (effect=0.32; SE 0.09, 95% CI 0.15-0.51), sense of skill and mastery (effect=0.08; SE 0.05, 95% CI 0.01-0.18), and sense of purpose and meaning (effect=0.32; SE 0.14, 95% CI 0.06-0.60).
Conclusions: This study shows that playing an open-world game, such as The The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nostalgia evoked by Studio Ghibli films significantly foster a sense of exploration and calm in life, as well as a feeling of mastery and skill, and purpose and meaning, hence ultimately contributing positively to one’s overall happiness in life.
Trial Registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN14757739; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN14757739
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2025-06-30
Citation
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2025, 13
ISSN
1438-8871
Publisher
JMIR Publications
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Volume
13
Copyright Statement
©Annisa Arigayota, Barbara Duffek, Congcong Hou, Andreas Benedikt Eisingerich. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (https://games.jmir.org), 01.08.2025. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Serious Games, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://games.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
License URL
Identifier
10.2196/76522
Subjects
open-world games
nostalgia
lab experimental study
postgraduate students
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Nintendo
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e76522