This story is jointly published as part of the Utah College Media Collaborative, a cross-campus project bringing together emerging journalists from Salt Lake Community College, Southern Utah University, the University of Utah, Utah Tech University and Weber State University. The collaborative is a project of the nonprofit Amplify Utah, with support from PBS Utah and POV.

As a closeted high schooler growing up in rural Utah, Colton Bell said he found seeking connection online and embracing his love for gaming were the only ways he could find a sense of belonging while growing up in a community that wouldn’t accept him.

“I had online friendships from the jump because growing up as a gay kid in a small town in Utah was very difficult,” said Bell, a Weber State University alumnus and self-described gamer. “At the end of the day, I couldn’t share, even with my closest friends in high school, that information about myself.”

Bell explained how gaming allowed him to connect with other members of the LGBTQ+ community, bringing him a sense of belonging.

“Having online friends that were just online friends, that I’d potentially never meet, meant that all of a sudden I could be my authentic self with someone in a way I couldn’t be in person,” Bell said. “The difference that made permanently altered my life and permanently alters the lives of other people every day, because it helps you grow more comfortable in your skin.”

Pulling from his own experiences, Bell lamented that finding a sense of belonging can prove to be challenging. For the gamers interviewed for this article, video games and online communities offer a sense of reprieve.

“I think that people who are anti-gaming don’t understand that people have found connections with people they would’ve never met otherwise and met people who have positively changed their lives or shown them new things,” Bell said.

In 2014, Bell made Weber State history as the first pledge to a brand-new fraternity, Psi Phi Psi. According to Zachary Kirst, Psi Phi Psi’s current president, video games and popular media have historically served as a common ground for the fraternity’s brethren.

Kirst said he frequents Discord servers centered around the video game Dark Deception in his free time, and he has found the social dynamics in online communities mirror those of the fraternity he leads.

“The media itself is the foundation for how people get to know each other,” Kirst said. “But that grows into something bigger over time as people keep talking with each other over and over again.”

Kirst said he values forming social bonds in person, but he also is grateful for the connections that he’s been able to cultivate online with people from around the world.

“I still find a lot of value in my online relationships because it doesn’t matter that they are behind a screen,” Kirst said. “They are still human beings that want to connect with you.”

However, both Kirst and Bell agreed that there is risk involved when young people strictly engage in social activities through an online medium.

“Some people who are 100% into thinking that’s the only way to communicate often fall into a hole of not being able to socialize outside those groups,” Bell said. “People can really get stuck sometimes.”

Can gaming pose a risk to mental health?

As gaming grows in popularity among young people, studies have investigated the tie between excessive time playing video games and mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety and stress.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has identified gaming as a potential candidate for addiction.

The DSM’s 2022 edition states that Internet Gaming Disorder is potentially an applicable diagnosis when a person’s gaming habits cause “significant impairment or distress” in other areas of their life. Proposed symptoms revolve around a person’s dependence on video games or inability to stop gaming when it threatens their daily responsibilities.

Aminda O’Hare, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Weber State, explained that video games can be particularly addictive because they create a reward system where the participant doesn’t know when the next rush will come, so they have to keep playing.

“What video games play into is a reinforcement schedule, where you’re anticipating a reward, but you don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen,” O’Hare said. “We’ve learned from animal models that when that’s the reward schedule, it leads to the most repetitive behaviors.”

O’Hare also acknowledged that gaming can be a potential solution to another health issue: loneliness.

O’Hare cited findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a longitudinal study that has tracked the habits of more than 700 participants and their descendants since 1938 to determine what factors lead to a long, happy life. According to the study, one of the best predictors of a long life is the quality of a person’s relationships.

“If some individuals struggle with in-person relationships or they’re just in an environment where the people around them aren’t providing the support they need, then an online social group can certainly fill that void for people,” O’Hare said.

Internet Gaming Disorder needs further study, and research has yet to pin down its exact prevalence among gamers. What current research has found is a link between gaming and social interaction, though it’s not clear whether it is negative, positive or both.

For some, like feminist media critic and content creator Anita Sarkeesian, interactions with online gaming communities have yielded threats of violence and displays of hatred.

After heading an initiative in 2012 that sought to investigate the use of harmful female stereotypes in video games, Sarkeesian was met with an unrelenting campaign of hatred and misogyny.

Sarkeesian, the author of the online video series “Feminist Frequency,” canceled a talk at Utah State University in 2014 after university staff received an email containing credible threats of violence against her and those attending the event.

On the other hand, Weber State’s campus recreation department has begun using video games to encourage positive social interaction. Starting last fall, the university has hosted a student “Mario Kart” tournament as part of the school’s intramural sports program.

Competitive Sports Coordinator Lexi Morrissey said she wants to get students from all walks of life involved with campus recreation.

“Involvement in any organization on campus increases people’s willingness to stick around. It strengthens their sense of community,” Morrissey said. “I want people to feel welcome within campus intramural sports, even if they don’t play something you would consider a traditional sport.”

Morrissey said she plans to continue using video games when organizing intramural sports events at Weber State.

“If someone shows up to one of my events and makes a friend, that’s a success,” Morrissey said.

So, when does gaming become a threat to a young person’s mental health? Some studies have tried to find a link between the time spent gaming among adolescents and worse mental health outcomes.

A 2022 study conducted in China surveyed 1,603 primary and secondary school students and found that the children spent an average of 41.4 minutes a week gaming. The study said that each additional hour spent playing video games increased the risk of anxiety, depression or stress with moderate or worse symptoms.

However, another study in 2022 surveyed 38,935 gamers globally and concluded that more time spent playing video games was unlikely to lead to negative well-being.

Trading cards and community

The intersection between gaming and social interaction can be seen in the world of trading card games, where players gather to compete, mingle and get better at their games of choice.

Connor Albury, a Weber State alum, helps organize a local trading card game tournament at Hill Top TCG in Riverdale. The game played in this tournament is Lorcana, which features fast gameplay and cards themed with Disney artwork depicting fan-favorite characters.

Albury said the community has always welcomed newcomers. “Pop into any local league and there’s almost always going to be people there willing to help you learn and develop,” Albury said.

Albury, who said he started playing Lorcana competitively shortly after its inception in 2023, said one of his favorite aspects of the game is the volume of new players.

Stephen Salmon, an instructor of public speaking and communication law at Weber State, can also be found on Wednesday nights playing Lorcana in Hill Top TCG’s local league.

“This group, and a lot of the groups we play with, are a close-knit community,” said Salmon. “We’ve become friends.”

A Pew Research study in 2024 found that 72% of teens who played video games did so to spend time with others, while 47% said they’ve made friends online through playing video games.

Albury and Salmon agree that they use their time gaming as a temporary escape from reality, and to relieve the stress of everyday life. Playing these games in a social setting has made the experience more enjoyable for them and has created unique opportunities — like the chance to compete in national and international tournaments.

Gamers like Albury and Salmon who choose to embrace the hobby in a positive and healthy way see gaming as a tool to fortify their mental wellness rather than something that stands to ruin it.

“Are there people who go too far? Absolutely,” Salmon said. “But at the end of the day, it’s important to find something you like doing and to be healthy about it. Everything in moderation.”

As an educator, Salmon said red flags that a student is experiencing possible mental health issues related to gaming include repeatedly being absent from class and not turning in assignments.

“It’s really hard to tell they’re experiencing problems unless you’re in their personal life,” Salmon said. “If they’re consistently not leaving their room, not showering for days, or not eating, as family members or friends, that’s where we should be stepping up.”

Opportunities and staying involved

Bell was able to work for Activision Blizzard — the company behind “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty” — while he attended Weber State, managing the company’s outreach efforts to college campuses. He also helped found Weber State’s esports club, which has evolved into an intramural sports team.

“Gaming started as this little hobby that I had barely any access to,” Bell said. “But, it then allowed me to work for one of the biggest video game companies in the world.”

Through gaming, Kirst said he found community among the Psi Phi Psi’s brethren and an opportunity to try his hand at voice acting in Dark Deception fan projects.

“I thought it would be funny if I gave it a try, but I actually ended up doing well and thriving off that experience,” Kirst said. “Although I don’t know if I’m going to continue voice acting heavily, I feel like I’ve gained a new interest and unlocked a new part of myself.”

By involving himself in the Lorcana competitive scene, Albury said he has been able to travel across the country to attend Disney Lorcana Challenges — regional tournaments where 2,000 players compete for the chance to play at the game’s national championships.

Albury, who has placed as high as the top 128 and top 300 in 2,000-player competitions, said being involved on Discord servers adjacent to the game led to him being scouted for a regional team.

“Lorcana has only changed my life for the better. I can’t count on my hands and my toes how many new friends I’ve been able to make because of Lorcana,” Albury said, adding that he’s been featured alongside content creators on their podcasts and has even met the game’s creators during a tournament.

Those interviewed agree that gaming not only helps people form relationships and create communities, but also presents new opportunities.

Non-gamers may not see it that way when they see a loved one spend hours a day gaming. Kirst and Bell agreed that the best strategy for checking in on loved ones who are gamers is to simply ask questions and stay involved in their lives.

“The biggest step we can take is to just talk to people about why they spend so much time playing video games,” Kirst said, adding that people may react to others spending a lot of time playing video games and fear the worst.

“One kid playing six hours of video games might be a bad thing,” Bell said. “It might be hurting them for any number of reasons — but, for another kid, those six hours might be really important.”

Bell said a former coworker at Activision Blizzard worried about her two young sons who were constantly confining themselves to their attic to play “StarCraft II” during odd hours of the night. The coworker initially believed those gaming habits would hurt them in the long run.

The sons, Bell said, pleaded with their mother to let them show her that their hobby wasn’t consuming their lives, and was actually important to them. “They sat her down one day and explained that they are playing with some of the top players in the world [who] live in South Korea, so that was the only time that they could play,” Bell said. “They both went on to become world champions.”

Bell, recalling his time growing up gay in southern Utah, said he can identify with the importance of gaming. He said it felt liberating to explore his LGBTQ+ identity with people like himself online because he didn’t feel free to do so in his everyday life.

“Referencing myself, not being able to speak with people and explore my identity and being ripped away from that might’ve made me incredibly depressed or caused mental health issues,” Bell said, “because I would’ve felt like I was stuck in a world that I couldn’t get out of.”

Sky Mundell reported and wrote this story as a communication student at Weber State University. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.