Survey Says TTRPGs Bring Mental Health, Romance, and Friendship

In a survey of 1,000 TTRPG players in the US, StartPlaying, a tabletop gaming matchup service for professional GMs, found that mental health, romance, and friendships featured highly in the social roles that such games help to facilitate.

With 76% of players saying that TTRPGs have helped them process trauma, 28% indicating that they developed attractions with other players outside the game itself, and 75% crediting games with maintaining their real-life friendships, it seems that roleplaying games have functions beyond those of mere entertainment.

34% of gamers said they had played in a campaign organised for mental health, and the majority find gaming stress-relieving. Indeed, 44% said they played games to relieve stress, 41% said that they did so for mental health support, and 31% to process trauma or for emotional growth (there was, presumably, large overlap between those categories, which is why they add up to more than 100%).

Interestingly, the number of people who met close friends through TTRPGs has been increasing over the decades, with those categorised by the study as 'Boomers' answering that 65% of them made close friends via their hobby, while 78% of 'Gen Z' respondents said the same. Only 5% of people said that RPGs did not help maintain friendships at all.

And when it comes to romance, 44% of respondents dated or are dating (one assumes that includes marriages) somebody they met through gaming.

Of course, this is only a study of TTRPGs, and doesn't necessarily indicate anything special about gaming. We don't know if rock climbers, dog walkers, book clubs, or musicians make more or fewer friends than gamers, or date each other more or less than gamers. It could be that any shared activity has the same effects. Similarly, we don't know if yoga or swimming are more or less helpful when processing trauma than TTRPGs are. Absent that sort of information it's hard to put this study into any kind of context. However, it does present food for thought.

You can check out the full survey results here.

 

[MGibster]

As such, they are inherently more intimate than bowling or cribbage.

You’ve never seen me bowl.



I’m not sure how intimate most RPGs are. Am I playing a Wizard because it says something about my psyche or am I just tired of Barbarians?

As with most social activities, you’re going to learn about the people you interact with and they you. It’s just what we do. If RPGs have the edge I don’t think it’s by much.

 

[Reynard]

You’ve never seen me bowl.



I’m not sure how intimate most RPGs are. Am I playing a Wizard because it says something about my psyche or am I just tired of Barbarians?

As with most social activities, you’re going to learn about the people you interact with and they you. It’s just what we do. If RPGs have the edge I don’t think it’s by much.

Unlike other activities where conversations happen, TTRPGS are a conversation, by there very nature. They are inherently more intimate based on that alone.

 

[Morrus]

Unlike other activities where conversations happen, TTRPGS are a conversation, by there very nature. They are inherently more intimate based on that alone.

I am very much unconvinced that TTRPGs hold a special space in that regard.

Adrenalin is a massive prompter of intimacy and is far more prevalent in sports or dangerous activities. Physical contact is a massive prompter of intimacy and is far more prevalent in sports or dancing. Shared life views are a big prompter of intimacy and are very common in religious or political environments. And I won’t even begin on the effects of being in a band or being involved in a stage production, or just the simple, old-fashioned hotbeds that are pubs, bars, nightclubs. There are so many factors equal or stronger than TTRPGs for such things.

You’d have a hard time convincing me that TTRPGs are a particularly ‘intimate’ activity compared to many others.

 

[Reynard]

I am very much unconvinced that TTRPGs hold a special space in that regard.

Adrenalin is a massive prompter of intimacy and is far more prevalent in sports or dangerous activities. Physical contact is a massive prompter of intimacy and is far more prevalent in sports or dancing. Shared life views are a big prompter of intimacy and are very common in religious or political environments. And I won’t even begin on the effects of being in a band or being involved in a stage production, or just the simple, old-fashioned hotbeds that are pubs, bars, nightclubs. There are so many factors equal or stronger than TTRPGs for such things.

You’d have a hard time convincing me that TTRPGs are a particularly ‘intimate’ activity compared to many others.

It is very clear that folks are responding based on their particular experiences, so I don't want to argue against folks' lived experiences. But my thesis is that for those for whom TTRPGs are important in their lives, the intimacy of experience is a powerful element in their ongoing love of the genre, even if they might not couch it that way (because, frankly, we don't allow people to talk about intimacy outside romantic and sexual relationships in in the West).

 

[Scribe]

It is very clear that folks are responding based on their particular experiences, so I don't want to argue against folks' lived experiences. But my thesis is that for those for whom TTRPGs are important in their lives, the intimacy of experience is a powerful element in their ongoing love of the genre, even if they might not couch it that way (because, frankly, we don't allow people to talk about intimacy outside romantic and sexual relationships in in the West).

Agreed.

I think there is also something to be said for sitting around a table, already an activity that for many is a 'closeness' that is often missing, vs say Rock Climbing, or Lifting, or Beer League (Baseball, Hockey, Soccer).

And the expression of ones thoughts, feelings, motivation in a RPG sense, is wildly different from hugging it out after going 5 rounds in Muay Thai sparring.

 

[SableWyvern]

It is very clear that folks are responding based on their particular experiences, so I don't want to argue against folks' lived experiences. But my thesis is that for those for whom TTRPGs are important in their lives, the intimacy of experience is a powerful element in their ongoing love of the genre, even if they might not couch it that way (because, frankly, we don't allow people to talk about intimacy outside romantic and sexual relationships in in the West).

Your thesis sounds very much like you are, indeed, wanting to argue against folks' lived experiences.

If I may speak for myself, "the intimacy of experience" is absolutely not "a powerful element in my ongoing love of the genre" -- at least, not unless you define "intimacy of experience" broadly enough that it can be applied to pretty much any social activity, in which case there's nothing special about RPGs in this regard.

 

[The Firebird]

If I may speak for myself, "the intimacy of experience" is absolutely not "a powerful element in my ongoing love of the genre" -- at least, not unless you define "intimacy of experience" broadly enough that it can be applied to pretty much any social activity, in which case there's nothing special about RPGs in this regard.

Likewise, it is not a big part for me. To be fair to @Reynard, I do think the act of playing out fantasies can tell you things about a person that wouldn't be obvious with other activities. I feel I have learned new things about certain people because of gaming.

That said, none of my closest friends are gamers and I didn't meet any of them through gaming. And other activities can also teach you a lot about people. Even something as benign as watching and discussing movies will demonstrate someone's values.

I think it depends a lot on the types of games one is playing.