Do you have a summary of the research, given your interest in the topic?
But, it's also difficult to study because the effect size, whatever it direction may be, is rather small. (nobody ever agreed to a double-blind experiment proving that bullets kill, just as a point of comparison).
From what I read back when it interested me, it seems suggestive of a mild negative effect. But it's hard to say because of the absolutely overwhelming effect of in the other direction: there is absolutely no doubt that eight hours or more of weekly gaming is evidence of depression for age groups 16 and up. (valid for PC/console only. Gaming on mobile phones is often more indicative of using public transport than anything else).
But is it a form of self medication or pathology?
Being over 16 and gaming too much is an obvious probable pathology, but I would not see pathology as the only interpretation.
I had a pretty dark time in my life during which Kerbal Space Program may well have saved my life (by taking my mind completely off the bad stuff and giving a nice boost of the positive brain transmitters).
Perhaps this is a good thing in the short term (your experience definitely seems to suggest this!), but anecdotally many of the long-term, heavy games-players I know (mid-20s) seem to be taking on less responsibility, investing less into themselves, their future and the people around them, and failing to live up to their potential in a noticeable way.
Very similar to weed smokers, thinking about it.
Surely it depends on the game and the context; that would encompass just about anyone who plays Civilization.
From whom?
Since you're putting it forth as an absolute truth, surely you'd have no problem providing us all with a citation; would you be so kind?
"Depressive symptoms and suicidal are associated to screen time induced poor sleep, digital device night use, and mobile phone dependency." (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29499467/)
This other study (http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27290/7/27290_Kuss.pdf) seems to show some association between depression and addictive use of video games (The criteria for addiction is not about length but rather about how the behavior is effecting the person life). It should be noted however that social media has a slightly higher association with depression.
I doubt there is evidence that eight hours or more of weekly gaming would be any kind of evidence of depression for age groups 16 and up. If a person, of any age group, uses games or social media to the point where it prevents them from function in society and they don't sleep, then that is likely associated with risk of depression. Not 100%, but maybe with a pearson correlation coefficient of r=0.25.
Now I should really stop writing on HN and get some sleep before people called me depressed.
I doubt that. Many critically acclaimed single player games take from 40 up to 120 hours to complete, so 8 hours a week puts you on track to play through one game in a month.
I'd say that's a typical pace for an adult gamer with a job.
Books are a good analogy for the single player games with a definite ending. The satisfaction I get from completing them is similar (but not exactly the same).
Based on what? Is there good evidence for this, or is this anecdotal? I think that's a far more complex statement that it appears on the surface, and I don't think I agree with the strong "no doubt" part of it. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise though.
Video games and short term aggression: Enough findings for me to prefer giving my (not currently existing) children something to do that are not video games if possible, lest they learn unnecessarily aggressive behavior just by copying. However, probably not a mortal danger.
Video games and (adult/teen) addiction: Seems incredibly hard to track on a long-term base, as other people in this thread mention. Nothing is easier to color a bit to your liking than a meta analysis with small effect sizes, if you should be so inclined. On the other hand, good arguments can be made that excessive gaming behavior is very, very similar to excessive alcohol consumption, gambling or smoking - in regards to brain chemistry, slow drifting decline of societal function or even excuses made to the self. Thus, personally I treat gaming with the same seriousness as other potentially addictive things.
Hope that helps a bit, and good luck on your research journey. Maybe you even find some wider spanning reviews that are new, we live in a good era of terminating twenty-year studies :)