Sitting side-by-side or across the world from their teammates, esports players in competitive video gaming train intensively to win. Games like League of Legends, Dota and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are popular worldwide and can draw multimillion-dollar prize pools. The camaraderie and thrill of the games keep players returning, but gaming can also affect their health and well-being.
To better understand how teens conceptualize a “healthy player” and sustain mental well-being in gaming, University of Washington Information School Ph.D. candidate has been working on a series of esports research projects. Along with his advisors and a team of researchers, Cho is using novel approaches, including board game development and co-design strategies, to learn about teens' experiences and develop better models. With more and more young people playing esports and the potential launch of the first Olympic Esports Games in the next several years, this research comes at a pivotal time.
Teens can be a tricky group to study, and there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach for this age group. Anyone who works with or takes care of teenagers can attest to this. Solutions that work for adults may seem , so in the youth-driven world of esports, young players need their own remedies for when they become tilted, or deeply frustrated, during game play. The feeling of being tilted can lead to burnout, negative social dynamics, and mental health difficulties, so the need for an age-specific solution is strong.
Information School research on the topic includes the 2024 paper “” by Cho, Michele Newman, Caroline Pitt, Jason C. Yip and Jin Ha Lee. Building on that work, Cho was the primary author of a paper he presented recently at the Association for Computing Machinery conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Barcelona, known as CHI. CHI is considered the leading international conference on Human-Computer Interaction.
“Presenting this research at the CHI conference was a meaningful experience for me,” said Cho. “It marked an important milestone in this work and an opportunity to share what I have learned from collaborating with teens.
“CHI also reinforced why this research matters: In a time driven by AI and rapid technological advancement, what makes us unique is our ability to understand human emotion and social context,” he continued.
The team learned that physical and mental well-being for gamers is challenged by factors such as extensive screen time, prolonged sitting, late nights playing, repetitive movements and stress over losing, and that team members may struggle to support one another when they haven’t played together before. They wanted to learn how team members and coaches could help, so they worked with teens directly to find solutions. Cho, Yip and Lee wrote a book chapter about , along with fellow researchers, to share what they’ve learned about coaching and team-building.
For their newest project, the team conducted nine participatory design sessions with 34 participants, including adolescent players, coaches and program coordinators. This approach differs from many top-down, adult-centered approaches to understanding and designing games. Daeun Hwang, Ally Lam, Lee and Yip are co-authors on the resulting paper, “.”&˛Ô˛ú˛ő±č;
As part of the at the iSchool, led by Lee and Yip, Cho takes a multifaceted look at the world of esports. The GAMER group explores new ideas and approaches for organizing and providing access to video games and interactive media, understanding user behavior related to video games, and using video games for informal learning.
“We wanted to know how these games are influencing the players in both positive and negative ways, and see what we can do to better support the players,” said Lee, an Information School professor and Cho’s primary advisor.
Strategies for managing the feeling of tilt, including novel approaches such as tabletop games like the TILTED game that Cho designed, can help to solve the issue of tilt for the whole team, rather than taking a limited individualistic approach. The TILTED game involved eight months of co-design sessions.
“Building a game is really hard work,” Lee said. “Johnny was able to do that really well in a limited time, building off of his background in education technology. He was really pivotal in leading the project to the outcome of having the TILTED game.”&˛Ô˛ú˛ő±č;
For teens, Cho and his colleagues found, being “healthy” means winning together. They also found that stressors stem from elements outside the players’ control, highlighting the need for emotional resilience. The study showed that teens favor simple, everyday coping strategies, such as taking breaks, reframing losses, adjusting play environments, and peer encouragement over formal programs. The researchers hope these findings will lead to more youth-centered, culturally relevant mental health strategies in esports.
By co-designing with a variety of age groups, iSchool researchers partner with kids, organizations and communities to better represent the interests of youth in design, games and more. Elementary, middle school and high school-aged youth all participate in co-design projects at the iSchool. Through collaborations with KidsTeam UW, led by Yip, and a partnership with educational research organization foundry10, the GAMER group is able to take an intergenerational approach to co-designing games and interventions. High school students are also represented with the Youth Advisory Board in the Center for Digital Youth that is co-directed by Professors Katie Davis and Alexis Hiniker. Pitt, a postdoctoral scholar who is part of the GAMER group, helped lead a team working with WGBH-TV in Boston that co-designed engineering games with kids, for kids.
“We do a lot of co-designing because we really want to try to see things from their perspective,” Lee said of working with young people. “So much can be learned by having them participate from the beginning. It really reveals things that can be kind of surprising to adults. That is the real benefit of co-designing, and it’s very evident in the esports project,” she said.
By designing with young people, Cho and other iSchool researchers find, rather than for them without their input, researchers, game designers and competition hosts can create a better experience for esports players at every level of the game.