Abstract
Little is known about how esports and online video game communities impact our sense of belonging during times of social isolation. This quantitative study explores how esports and multiplayer video games affect social isolation and whether people of various gender identities experience a greater sense of belonging to the esports community. There were 211 responses collected using Qualtrics. Overall, this study concluded that playing video games was associated with lower feelings of loneliness; the number of hours played affected results; and males along with non-male participants almost equally felt a sense of belonging, weakening the narrative that non-males do not feel welcome within the gaming community. These findings identify an opportunity for future research on how video games affect a sense of belonging for women, non-binary, and people of other gender identities.