| Summary: | Losing track of time upon gaming is a phenomenon often reported by players of computer and video games. However, the few studies addressing this issue show mixed results and do therefore not allow final conclusions about the effect of gaming on time perception. Even less is known about whether and how time distortion continues after a play session. Therefore, the present experiment tested the effect of gaming on the perception of time subsequent to a game session at a LAN party. 40 players produced standard time intervals of 10 s and 60 s before and after having played computer games. Results show a significant increase in time productions after gaming for the short interval, indicating that game-induced time losses continue even after a game session. In contrast, the reverse was true for the longer interval. We discuss how this result may be explained in terms of participants’ motivational states during the experiment counteracting subjective time losses.
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