This bachelor thesis investigates whether the relationship between the personality dimension neuroticism and the preference of the role-playing genre of video games is explained or mediated by the escapism motif. To test this research question, a nonexperimental cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. The sample, which consisted of N = 176 individuals aged 13 to 58, consisted exclusively of individuals who regularly play video games.

In this context, the individual expression of the Big Five personality dimension neuroticism was surveyed using the Big Five Inventory 2 according to Danner et al. (2019). The preference of the role-playing genre of video games was captured by the frequency and playing time per gaming session. Escapism motive was collected using the Motives for online gaming questionnaire (MOGQ) according to Demetrovics et al. (2011). Data were analyzed using bivariate correlations and linear regressions. The central aim of the statistical analysis consisted of a mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro for SPSS by Andrew Hayes (2018).

Contrary to expectation, the results showed that no statistically significant relationship exists between the personality dimension neuroticism and the preference of the role-playing genre of video games. This fact represents a violation of the prerequisites for mediation analysis according to Baron and Kenny (1986). Based on this violation, the correlations between the constructs were only exploratively examined.

Here, a significant correlation was found between the personality dimension neuroticism and the escapism motive as well as between the escapism motive and the preference of the role-playing genre of video games. The findings, although not in line with expectations, could reveal interesting relationships between the examined constructs. A higher expression of neuroticism is accompanied by an increased motive to play video games from the role-playing genre in order to escape from the real world into a digital world and to block out everyday problems and stress. The higher this escapist motive was among the subjects, the more they preferred the role-playing genre of video games.

Based on these findings and the view of some researchers that mediation only describes an indirect effect, an exploratory mediation analysis was conducted. Here, an indirect effect between the predictor and criterion variable could be identified.