From stress to emotional well-being: Exploring how multiplayer online video games foster emotional resilience among Generation Z players

Research on online multiplayer gaming has adopted deficit-based perspectives, overlooking potential psychological benefits. Moreover, existing research has been conducted in Western, individualistic contexts, leaving an important gap in understanding how gaming functions among young adults in South Asian collectivist societies. This study investigates how Generation Z players in Pakistan perceive the emotional, cognitive, and relational impacts of playing online video games. Using an abductive approach informed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Organismic-Integration Theory (OIT), and Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) as sensitizing concepts, we conducted semi-structured focus group discussions with 35 participants (aged 18-26) from May to June 2023. Thematic analysis using NVivo (R1) revealed five central themes: entertainment and enjoyment, socializing in gaming, game progress and achievement, well-being, and harassment and toxic behaviours. Findings show that playing multiplayer online video games is experienced as emotionally ambivalent rather than beneficial or harmful. Participants described online video games as facilitating emotional regulation, providing stress relief, enabling meaningful peer connections, and enhancing cognitive simulations. However, female participants also navigated challenges, including gender-based harassment and toxic interactions. Theoretically, this research extends Self-Determination Theory by demonstrating that online gaming contexts can simultaneously satisfy and frustrate psychological needs depending on social environmental factors. It enriches Uses and Gratifications Theory by specifying the gratifications Generation Z players actively seek. In practice, findings suggest that game developers should design need-satisfying social features while implementing measures to mitigate toxicity; educators should recognize gaming as a legitimate form of well-being-supporting leisure; and mental health professionals should distinguish healthy gaming patterns from problematic ones. • Examines Generation Z gaming experiences in Pakistan, extending insights to broader South Asian contexts • Findings challenge deficit-focused narrative about youth gaming • Gaming’s effect on well-being depends less on activity itself than on the motivational quality of engagement and social context • For Gen Z players, gaming overwhelmingly represents an adaptive, need-satisfying, and socially enriching practice. • Female gamers navigate gender-based harassment and cultural policing