This dissertation recontextualizes a variety of sociological theorists and places them into conversation with the medium of video games. The primary aim of this dissertation is to bring a sociological perspective or lens to bear on the topic of video games and their role in the mental health of the individual playing them. Particular emphasis is given to exploring why people choose to play video games, and what about that process interacts with both the individual and their social experience of what can be broadly defined as anxiety or "stress." This project takes a two-pronged approach to tackling this question. First asking to what extent our society is "stressed out" and what might be some of the major causal factors in that stress. Secondly, it will explore how video game play and use interacts with stress or anxiety, and what its potential benefits, harms, or unexpected impacts might be, and if it has potential efficacy as a kind of intervention to aid individuals in their stress and anxiety management. This dissertation contains an exploration of magic, from the standpoint of Emile Durkheim and Daniel O'Keefe in contemporary society, how it relates to stress, and how video games themselves are magical. It also explores how society comes to be "stressed out" and anxious, and how that stress can work to create both conscious and unconscious channels of desire in individuals, primarily utilizing the viewpoints of David Riesman and Sigmund Freud. Finally, it offers detailed examples of how video gaming interacts with the concepts introduced regarding stress, and how video gaming has the potential to operate either beneficially or harmfully, depending greatly on the social context they operate within.
