Using substances while playing: Players’ motivations, perceptions, and experiences with psychoactive drugs during recreational gaming
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies September 1, 2026 Arianna Boldi, Kutub Gandhi, Alexandra To et al.
Research on psychoactive substance use during video game play has traditionally adopted a medical lens, focusing on the addictive potential of licit and illicit drugs and their pathological impacts on players. This framing highlights negative outcomes of the co-occurrence between excessive gaming and substance use, leaving the motivations, meanings, and perceptions that players themselves...