Preferences for cooperative, strategic, and story-driven video games are associated with a higher risk of hikikomori (extreme social withdrawal) among Japanese players, offering insights for game-based mental health interventions.
Article URL:
Article Title: Extreme social isolation risk is associated with story-driven, strategic and cooperative-first gameplay preferences
Author Countries: Japan
Funding: This work was supported by Google through a Google Research Scholar award (to Kongmeng Liew). No grant number was assigned. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No authors received salary support from the funder.
Journal
PLOS Mental Health
DOI
10.1371/journal.pmen.0000517
Article Publication Date
29-Jul-2026
COI Statement
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Media Contact
Charlotte Bhaskar
PLOS
Journal
PLOS Mental Health
DOI
10.1371/journal.pmen.0000517
Article Publication Date
29-Jul-2026
COI Statement
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Tags: cooperative gaming and social isolationeffects of cooperative gaming on social engagementgaming habits and social behaviorhikikomori and video game preferencesimpact of story-driven and strategic games on mental healthJapanese gaming culture and social withdrawalmental health risks of narrative-focused gamesrisk factors for extreme social withdrawalsocial isolation among gamerssocial withdrawal risk factors in gamingstrategic gameplay and hikikomori developmentvideo game-based mental health interventions
