Hundreds of studies have examined the interpersonal effects of video game consumption. This article provides a brief review of the relationship between violent and prosocial, respectively, video gaming and social behavior. Although some studies came to contradicting results, meta-analyses found that violent video game consumption increases aggression and decreases prosocial behavior, whereas prosocial video games have the opposite effects. Some evidence even suggests that video game consumption does not only influence the player, but also the player's social network. In terms of mediating mechanisms, cognitive and affective variables account for the effects of video game consumption on behavioral responses. Overall, whether video games have a negative or positive influence on others depends heavily on their content.

数百项研究检验了电子游戏消费的人际影响。本文简要回顾了暴力和亲社会、视频游戏和社交行为之间的关系。尽管一些研究得出了相互矛盾的结果，但元分析发现，暴力视频游戏消费会增加攻击性并减少亲社会行为，而亲社会视频游戏则具有相反的效果。一些证据甚至表明，电子游戏消费不仅会影响玩家，还会影响玩家的社交网络。在中介机制方面，认知和情感变量解释了电子游戏消费对行为反应的影响。总体而言，电子游戏对他人产生负面或正面影响在很大程度上取决于其内容。