Online Video Game Addiction
0 General Document comments
0 Sentence and Paragraph comments
0 Image and Video comments
Addiction
RESEARCH REPORT
doi: 1 0.11111j.13 60-0443 .20 1 0.031 04.x
Online video game addiction: identification of addicted adolescent garners
Antonius J. van Rooi]', Tim M. Schoenmakers', Ad A. Vermulst\ Regina J.J.M. van den Eijnden3 & Dike van de Mheenl,4
IVO Addiction Research Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.' Behavioural Science Institute. University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands,' Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Utrecht University. the Netherlands and Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center. the Netherlands'
ABSTRACT
Aims To provide empirical data-driven identification of a group of addicted online garners. Design Repeated cross-sectional survey study, comprising a longitudinal cohort, conducted in 2008 and 2009. Setting Secondary schools in the Netherlands. Participants Two large samples of Dutch schoolchildren (aged 13-16 years). Measurements Compulsive internet use scale, weekly hours of online gaming and psychosocial variables. Findings This study confirms the existence of a small group of addicted online garners (3%), representing about 1.5% of all children aged 13-16 years in the Netherlands. Although these garners report addiction-like problems, relationships with decreased psychosocial health were less evident. Conclusions The identification of a small group of addicted online garners supports efforts to develop and validate questionnaire scales aimed at measuring the phenomenon of online video game addiction. The findings contribute to the discussion on the inclusion of non-substance addictions in the proposed unified concept of Addiction and Related Disorders' for the DSM-V by providing indirect identification and validation of a group of suspected online video game addicts.
Keyword Compulsive internet use, internet addiction, latent class analysis, non-substance addiction, online video games, psychosocial health, video game addiction.
Correspondence to: A. j. van Rooij. IVa Addiction Research Institute. Heemraadsingel194. 3021 DM Rotterdam. the Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected] Submitted 10 March 2010: initial review completed 10 May 2010: final version accepted 10 june 2010
INTRODUCTION
Studies have consistently demonstrated the existence of a small subgroup of video garners that is seemingly 'addicted' to games [1-3]. Although video game addiction is not a new phenomenon [4], the introduction of an online component in the current generation of games has probably increased the size and scope of the problem. This online component in gaming led to the initiation of (private and public) treatment programmes targeting gaming addiction [5-7]. Consequently, there is increasing focus upon online games when studying video game addiction [8-11].
Both Korean and western researchers report specifically that Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are the main culprits in cases of online video game addiction [12-14]. In an MMORPG the player develops one or more characters (avatars) over time in a persistent virtual world. Examples include World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and Runescape. Typically, higher levels require players to cooperate to achieve goals. More-
From what I understand about these types of games this is of little surprise. Where as a story based game such as LA Noire can only be played a few times through before someone gets tired of it, an MMORPG has an enormous amount of quests and players which allow an seemingly endless amount of time to be poured into them. What is it about these types of games that lends themselves to addiction? Endless possibilities? Numerous quests? Tons of collectibles. Thoughts?
I think that the huge possibility space of MMORPGs partially contributes to the amount of time that people spend on these games, but is not the full story. I actually think the social structures and groups that these games create are what makes people keep playing. In World of Warcraft (WoW), for example, individuals can join a “guild” and this guild goes on “raids” (exploring certain areas with high-level bosses). These raids are often very time consuming affairs and the success of the raid is very much contingent on the effort of the entire group. So not doesn’t show up for a raid could spell serious social consequences (within the guild) for the player. Long story short, I think players spend so much time on these games essentially to keep face with online acquaintances or friends.
I think that both of you bring up good points. MMORPGs specifically are more compelling, as their worlds tend to be very large. One can literally explore for hours and find new things. This is the same with Grand theft auto. The online aspect adds a great deal more, however, as people do create social groups within games. I know that for me, I use games as online social groups, or chat-rooms even, just as many people use facebook or skype. Keeping the game open on the computer could be considered “playing” but could also be nothing more than sitting in a city chatting with a friend. Aspects of MMORPGs are also very time consuming, and there are many activities in the game that, like farmville, have negative effects if you don’t complete them every day, or every week.
This is heavily drawing from my own, personal sentiments, but i believe that deep down, every gamer is of the “completionist” mind. Why else would we see the trend towards achievements and medals and exclusive content as we have with recent games? Gone are the days where achieving a new high-score on an arcade machine was enough to bring players back to a game; today players are compelled to performing myriad obscure, difficult, and often idiotic tasks to get a 100% completion in their games.
With that being said, most games – like Halo, Bioschock, Assassin’s Creed, etc – have a substantive, yet ultimately finite set of achievements for a player to pursue before he/she has completed everything there is in the game. This notion is completely absent from MMORPGs like WoW. There is literally an endless amount of outlets for player activity, from shopping and interacting with other players in towns, or joining guilds and going on quests and raids, etc. And just when a player thinks they have done it all, the developer releases a DLC or expansion pack that opens yet even more avenues of exploration within the game world. Therefore, the completionist desires of the player are never satiated, and he/she can never put down the game and feel like they have beaten every boss, and done everything there is to do. The result is that people can easily become lost in such games as they devote more and more time into an activity that they can never complete.
It is important to remember that in the context of video games as a whole, MMOs are literally digital worlds. the ability to life out a life inside of a virtual world, with character (self) progression and a real (other people) community requires a completely different level of immersion and time than a normal video game. Rather than just killing monsters, a player can have a large societal group such as a clan with defined objectives like conquer a fort. Tasks like these alongside the ability to do regular things like fishing or playing an instrument keep the player far more immersed than other games.
What I think is important to realize is that someone who plays an MMO seriously usually plays that game 80 or more percent of the time. While it may seem weird to be spending all of ones time gaming with a single game, is it really so different from spending the same amount of time playing 5 games? I don’t think there is something inherently more addicting about MMOs, and I think that most of the fear comes from a small group of hardcore nerds that have scared the mainstream about WoW
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
over, MMORPGs cannot be completed: due to the regular introduction of new content it is practically impossible to finish all assignments. This places a considerable burden on the player's time, as they are required to continue playing to 'keep up' with the game. Research among a sample of World of Warcraft players identified a group of 10% who played an average of 63 hours per week and showed considerable negative symptoms [15]. Griisser et ai. sampled readers of an online gaming magazine in an online survey and found that 12% of those garners fulfilled diagnostic criteria of addiction concerning their gaming behaviour [2].
I think this is an interesting point that the article brings up, about near endless content for MMORPGs. While I do see that MMORPGs typically have near endless content, it is also impossible to finish all of the content. I know for myself, I love the GTA series games, but I have never actually completed one (the campaign only accounts for roughly 30-40% of each game). I think if a person has a personality issue in which they feel it necessary to fully complete a game, that may be a problem in itself. For me, it seems that games with endless content simply allow players to pick and choose what they would like to do with their time. The options are what can make these games fun, I don’t see this as a cause for addiction.
These findings demonstrate the existence of a small subgroup of online garners who can potentially be classified as 'online video game addicts'. This group is likely to have various psychological and social problems, as game overuse can be severely disruptive to school, work and 'real-life' social contacts [2,12,16]. Drawing parallels with the internet addiction literature, we hypothesize that this 'flight from reality' may be associated with negative self-esteem, depressive mood, social anxiety and/or
As we noted with violence in videogames, in order for someone to be prone to acting out any of the violence they had to have one or many outside contributing factors. With other forms of addiction we see this as well. With alcoholism (I recognize that substance and user addiction differ) one is more susceptible if outside factors are present such as: family history (possibly genetics) availability and hardships. In reading this article I couldn’t help thinking that an individual’s real world situation had to be fairly depressing if they found themselves playing games to the extent that they fell behind in other areas of their lives. I understand on a surface level some of it may be boredom, procrastination, or disinterest that drive people to gaming over other activities or even having a lazy couch-potato day to unwind, but when it takes precedence over day to day functions regularly that’s when I’d classify it as addiction. Considering other trends with gaming’s relationship to the outside world and trends in other forms of addiction; I think there would have to be outside factors in individual’s lives beyond what may be inherent in the game to create such an addiction.
I had never thought of video game addiction in the context of predisposition to other addictions like alcoholism. However, I definitely think that certain factors would make someone more likely to become addicted to video games. Off the top of my head some of these would probably be: loneliness, having a family member who plays video games, depression, etc.
Though I agree that when you observe anyone spending that much time playing games that may be a cause for concern. But its important to observe why that may be a cause for concern instead of just attributing it to being a problem. Many people spends hours and hours doing things that they love as a hobby. If it were anything else I doubt there would be such a concern. I have seen many people who spend all their time in working on whatever it is that hold their attention and keeps them motivated or entertained. Some people write raps and lock themselves in a room for long hours of the day doing nothing but writing rhymes. There are artist who won’t leave their studios for days because they want their art to be just perfect. But we wouldn’t say that these people are addicted to what they are doing would we? At least not with the same connotation that we use when describing video games. We talk about these video games like it is a drug and I would have to attribute that to the hyper-real nature of the media. When people are so drawn to something that could so real there that is the point that an issue is made out of it. So is it the categorization of these games as a addictive drug because it causes genuine addiction that can consume the lives of individuals or is it because it of the fear that surrounds video games as the most new and most “real” media to date.
I think that this is a really good point, and it goes back to the question of why games are different. Is it just because it’s relatively new? I’m sure when books came out, there may have been possible controversy about how it’s keeping children from being more active outside. So what is it about video game “obsession/addiction” that differs from any other hobby? Does it have anything to do with this concept of alternative realities?
I don’t think the idea of alternate realities alone can explain this entirely. After all, the idea of alternate realities isn’t unique to video games (e.g. books often create “new universes”).
I think what differentiates video games from a hobby like woodworking or painting comes from the external actor of Game Designers. Hobbies, generally speaking, don’t have any organizations that are trying to spend more and more time working with a hobby. Video games (and other forms of media, of course) actively seek viewership. And as we mentioned in class, a lot of developers really research into how to get people to play more video games.
To me, the difference in your arguments is creation, or a creative aspect. Although I agree that there isn’t a problem with people playing games for such a long time, an argument against it is that games are not creative. Yes, a person could be painting a picture, or rapping, but what if they were simply looking at pictures, or listening to rap music? I’m sure if someone spent 63 hours per week coding a video game, even just for fun, they would not receive the same negative feedback. This may not be my opinion, but it’s interesting to consider.
I think that playing video games leads to no “ultimate ends” as Plato would say. Especially as previously discussed, MMORPGs constantly evolve and can never be completed. I agree with Max in that video game player is not a creator. Thus it is a bit strange for me to relate a painter or a writer to a video game player. Rather you should be comparing a video game player to other consumers like a movie critic, a food taster, or an amusement park guest.
Addiction. 106. 205-212
206 Antonius J. van Rooij et al.
loneliness [17-20]. However, the relationship between psychosocial health and online games is potentially more complicated, as social and psychological benefits from playing online games have also been reported [15,21,22]. Moreover, effects might differ based upon the psychological profile of the gamer, i.e. there may be a group of addicted heavy garners who suffer as a result of their unbalanced life-style, and another group of heavy garners who benefit from having multiple social environments. Given the former, and the fact that the vast majorityof garners do not report addictive tendencies [1], we hypothesize that a second group of heavy garners is likely to exist. These non-addicted heavy garners will probably not show negative psychosocial outcomes or addictive symptoms, or perhaps to a lesser extent.
I think that it is important to note that this study took place in the Netherlands. I am just assuming that the results that the author is speaking of comes only from the results of this particular study taking place in the Netherlands. With only a 1-3% that can be classified as “online game addicts,” it does not seem that this is a great concern. However, I think that the percentage would be much higher if the study took place in South Korea or even in the United States where the culture is generally more accepting of these counter-cultures. I think that it is in those cultures where playing these games is deemed the norm or socially acceptable where addiction becomes a major problem that can have huge societal impacts.
I want to connect this comment to the one Alec made about screen addition not getting the type of attention that gaming addiction does. You claim that addiction might be a greater problem where gaming is more of a cultural norm, however, when things become so culturally accepted as the norm, we may fail to notice the excess or lack of balance. Yet, I don’t think video games are that deeply ingrained in the broader cultures of South Korea and the US such that addiction would go unnoticed.
Unfortunately, there is no consensus on an operational definition of video game addiction [11,23-25]. Despite the ongoing debate on diagnosis and definition, several methods are used to increase our understanding of game addiction. Researchers construct new scales to measure game addiction [1,3], avoid using standardized scales altogether [2] or approach the specific group of online games indirectly through more established measures of internet addiction [10,26]. Estimates of the size of the group of 'addicted garners' are made subsequently by applying various cut-off points to scales measuring symptoms of video game addiction or internet addiction [1,3,27]. This results in a wide variety of estimates, depending upon the selected cut-off points and composition of the sample. In the absence of consensus on a definition, the absence of a gold standard with which to compare results and the lack of clinical studies using these instruments, these efforts are speculative at best.
The present study contributes to the debate on video game addiction by applying a different approach. It seeks to provide empirical, data-driven evidence for the assumed subgroup of addicted online video garners, using two large-scale samples from the Dutch 'Monitor Study Internet and Youth'. Results provide a basis for data-based scale validation and cut-off scores. Identification of this group will be conducted through a combination of two indirect measures: game addiction severity and time spent on online gaming.
In the present study, internet addiction is thought to be an appropriate measure of online game addiction severity for several reasons. First, previous work by our group (utilizing an earlier Monitor Study sample) established cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between online gaming and internet addiction, referred to as Compulsive Internet Use (CIU) [10]. Secondly, the latter study found low correlations between various internet activities and online video gaming among adolescents [28], in line with its immersive nature [29], thus confirming that online gaming is a monolithic activity for adoles-
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
cents (these findings were replicated for the samples utilized in the present study). In combination with the inclusion of a measure of time spent on online gaming, this reduces the risk of misidentification (i.e. erroneously measuring addiction to various other applications). Consequently, the combination of a high score on CIU with many hours of online gaming per week is hypothesized to identify addicted online garners. Note that we choose to utilize the term 'addiction' for the sake of consistency with other studies: the group is defined more precisely as heavy online garners who score highly on criteria for non-substance addiction. These criteria are theorized to be applicable to online behaviour [1,3], also, see Measures [Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS)].
From this, several research questions emerge. Can the two hypothesized groups of heavy online garners (addicted and non-addicted) be identified using a datadriven approach? If so, how large are these groups? Finally, the present study explores the psychosocial correlates for the addicted versus the non-addicted heavy garners, to further elucidate the theoretical relationship between game addiction and psychosocial wellbeing.
METHODS
Procedure
The Dutch 'Monitor Study Internet and Youth' provided data for the current study [10]. This ongoing longitudinal study uses stratified sampling to select schools for participation based upon region, urbanization and education level. Participating classes are included on a school-wide basis, and repeated yearly participation in the study is encouraged. Every year, participating adolescents complete a T-hour questionnaire in the classroom, supervised by a teacher.
Written instructions are provided to the teacher, and questionnaires are returned in closed envelopes to ensure anonymity with regard to other students and teachers. Given the non-invasive nature of the study, passive informed consent is obtained from parents every year. More specifically parents receive a letter with information about the planned questionnaire study on 'Internet use and well-being'. If parents do not agree with their child's participation they can inform the school coordinator and/or the researchers, in which case the child is excluded from participation. Children can refuse participation either by informing their parents or their teachers. Refusal by either parents or children rarely occurred.
Sample
The current study utilizes the 2008 (Tl) and 2009 (T2) samples of the Monitor Study. Total response rate was
Addiction. 106. 205-212
Table 1 Demographic information on the subsamples.
Online video game addiction 207
Full sample
|
Online qamers. |
|||
|
Online gamers |
cohort |
||
|
T2 |
Tl |
T2 |
Tl-T2" |
|
10 |
12 |
10 |
S |
|
3740 |
1572 |
1476 |
467 |
|
52% |
S2% |
Sl% |
90% |
|
7S% |
7S% |
SO% |
SO% |
|
62% |
64% |
5S% |
62% |
|
14.34 (1.04) |
14.21 (1.12) |
14.24 (1.01) |
13.76 (0.79) |
Tl
Participating schools
Overall sample size (n)
Gender (% boys)
Dutch ethnicity (%)
Higher education level (%) Average age (years); mean (SD)
12 4559 49% 7S% 66%
14.35 (US)
"Values for T1 are reported. SD: standard deviation.
79% atTl, and 83% atT2. Non-response is mainly attributable to entire classes dropping out due to internal scheduling problems on schools; 13% of all classes did not return any questionnaires at Tl and 12% did not return questionnaires at T2. For the remaining classes, the average per class response rate was 89% at Tl and 92% at T2. Twelve secondary schools participated in the study at Tl and 10 secondary schools participated at T2. Of these schools, eight participated in both years.
Given the aim of the study, i.e. identification of a group of online garners, the full sample is restricted to a subs ample of online game players for both Tl (35%, n = 1572) and T2 (40%, n = 1476). Secondly, a longitudinal subs ample, namely a cohort of online garners who were included in both samples, can be identified between Tl and T2 (n = 467). Analyses in the present study span the first four classes of Dutch secondary school (average per year ages of 13, 14, 15 and 16 years, respectively). Table 1 presents demographic information on the subsamples for gender, ethnicity (Dutch/non-Dutch), higher secondary education (i.e. preparatory college and preuniversity education) or lower secondary education (i.e. pre-vocational training), and average age.
Measures
Compulsive internet use
The 14-item version of theCIUS [30] was used to measure CIU, with its Dutch phrasing slightly adjusted for adolescents. This questionnaire (employing a five-point scale) covers several core components typical of behavioural addiction: withdrawal symptoms, loss of control, salience, conflict and coping (mood modification) [30], and includes questions such as 'Have you unsuccessfully tried to spend less time on the internet?' and 'Do you neglect to do your homework because you prefer to go on the internet?' The CIUS showed good validity [30] and internal reliability [30-32], and showed good reliability in the current samples (Cronbach's a = 0.88 at both Tl and T2).
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
Weekly hours online gaming
Hours per week spent on online gaming were calculated by combining results from two questions (answers on a five-point scale) measuring days per week of online gaming [ranging from 'never', '1 day per week or less', '2/3 days per week', '4/5 days per week', to '(almost) daily'], and a seven-point scale measuring average hours of use on a gaming day (ranging from 'don't use', 'less than 1 hour', '1-2 hours', '2-4 hours', '4-6 hours', '6-8 hours' to '8 hours or more'. These questions were recoded to an interval scale and multiplied to obtain an approximation of number of hours per week. Note that although 'online game playing' includes more than just MMORPGs, an open question in the Monitor Study revealed that MMORPGs and First Person Shooters (shooting games utilizing a first person perspective, i.e. Call of Duty or Counterstrike) were the most popular types of online game [33].
Psychosocial outcome measures
The psychosocial measures in the present study were: the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale [20,34], the UCLA Loneliness Scale [35,36], the Depressive Mood List [3 7-39] and the Revised Social Anxiety Scale for Children [40-42]. These scales have been used in Dutch studies and demonstrated good reliability in the past [32,43] and in the current samples (Cronbach's a> 0.80). For all four scales, a higher score indicates more reported problems. To facilitate comparison between the scales, the present study reports standardized results.
Statistical analyses
Latent class analysis
Mplus 5.1 was used to perform a latent class analysis (LCA) [44]. LCA is an example of a mixture modelling technique used to identify meaningful groups of people (classes) that are similar in their responses to measured
Addiction. 106. 205-212
208 Antonius J. van Rooij et al.
variables [45]. In the present study, these groups were based on scores for the variables CIU and Weekly Hours Online Gaming.
The present study used LCA in an exploratory manner, aiming to establish the presence of a (small) subgroup of addicted online video garners. Besides fitting with this theoretical expectation, goodness-of-fit indices should be used to select a model of sufficient quality [46]. Two kinds of indices are used: measures of parsimony of the model and statistical tests to evaluate if the k + 1 solution is superior to a k class solution [47]. The preferred measure of parsimony is the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) [48], as shown in simulation studies [45,49]. Lower BIC values indicate a more parsimonious model. Statistical evaluation of model improvement was performed with the bootstrap likelihood ratio test (BLRT) [45]. Significant values for the BLRT indicate that the tested model (k) is superior to the previous model (k - 1). After selecting a solution (see Results), identified class membership was transferred to SPSS version 17 to examine longitudinal transition.
The data were standardized to facilitate interpretability and comparability of classes (groups). Standardized
|
Table 2 Bayesian information criterion (BIC) values and |
||||
|
entropy for different latent class analysis models. |
||||
|
T1 (n= 1572) |
T2 (n = 1476) |
|||
|
Classes |
BIC |
Entropy |
BIC |
Entropy |
|
1 |
8941 |
8399 |
||
|
2 |
8071 |
0.977 |
7437 |
0.981 |
|
3 |
7594 |
0.968 |
6973 |
0.967 |
|
4 |
7221 |
0.965 |
6619 |
0.967 |
|
5 |
6690 |
0.972 |
6264 |
0.962 |
|
6 |
6353 |
0.989 |
5847 |
0.989 |
psychosocial correlates were explored through a Wald X2 test for mean equality of potential latent class predictors [50], followed by post-hoc tests to test for between-class differences. This test has the advantage of taking the probabilistic nature of class membership into account, leading to less biased estimates.
RESULTS
Latent class identification
Table 2 gives the model fit indicators for the 1-6 latent class models when identifying classes on the basis of CIU and Weekly Hours Online Gaming (Online Gaming). The BLRT consistently reports significant outcomes (P < 0.001) and BIC values are decreasing, indicating that each model is superior to the previous one. Entropy values are consistently high, indicating good classification quality.
A subgroup of assumed addicted garners, with a higher amount of weekly online gaming and a higher score on CIU, is identified from the three-class solution onwards. This group remains stable in the four- and five-class solutions for both time-points (Tl: n=56; n=1572; T2: n = 75, n = 1476). For the three-, four- and five-class solutions the relationship between CIU and online gaming seems to have a linear nature: classes are distributed along a straight line, where increases in online gaming are related linearly to simultaneous increases in CIU. The sixclass model breaks this trend, as it splits the class with the highest CIU into two groups. Table 3 shows that the first group (class five) has a moderate increase in hours spent on online gaming, while CIU scores remain stable or drop. Thus, class five identifies the non-addicted heavy garners. The second group shows a moderate increase in hours spent on online gaming, accompanied by a disproportionate increase in CIU. As this group (class six) identifies the
T1
Table 3 Six latent class model. standardized and unstandardized results for the six classes.
T2
Online gaming (hours per week)
Compulsive internet use scale
%
Z-score hours/week Z-score crus
Class n
%
Z-score hours/week Z-score crus n
Online gaming (hours per week)
Compulsive internet use scale
|
1 |
813 |
51.7% |
-0.65 |
1.8 |
-0.21 |
1.7 |
773 |
52.4% |
-0.64 |
1.7 |
-0.22 |
1.7 |
|
2 |
421 |
26.8% |
-0.01 |
9.3 |
-0.04 |
1.8 |
374 |
25.3% |
-0.05 |
9.3 |
0.00 |
1.8 |
|
3 |
198 |
12.6% |
0.87 |
19.7 |
0.36 |
2.1 |
179 |
12.1% |
0.77 |
19.8 |
0.23 |
2.0 |
|
4 |
84 |
5.3% |
1.94 |
32.5 |
0.56 |
2.2 |
75 |
5.1% |
1.76 |
32.5 |
0.48 |
2.1 |
|
5 |
18 |
1.1% |
3.04 |
45.5 |
0.30 |
2.0 |
27 |
1.8% |
2.76 |
45.5 |
0.51 |
2.1 |
|
6 |
38 |
2.4% |
3.86 |
55.3 |
1.75 |
2.9 |
48 |
3.3% |
3.52 |
55.3 |
1.65 |
2.8 |
|
Total |
1572 |
1476 |
||||||||||
|
crus: Compulsive Internet Use Scale. |
||||||||||||
|
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction |
Addiction. 106. 205-212 |
|||||||||||
Online video game addiction 209
Table 4 Six class model classes compared on standardized psychosocial outcome measures within Tl and T2.
|
Depressive mood |
Loneliness |
Social anxiety |
Negative self-esteem |
||||||
|
Class |
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
|
|
Tl |
1 |
0.05 |
0.02** |
0.06 |
-0.01 * |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.03 |
0.04** |
|
2 |
-0.11 |
-0.02** |
-0.12* |
-0.05* |
-0.03 |
-0.02 |
-0.07 |
-0.11 *** |
|
|
3 |
0.00 |
-0.14 |
0.08 |
-0.11 |
0.06 |
-0.06 |
-0.03* |
-0.16 |
|
|
4 |
-0.08 |
-0.03 |
-0.16** |
0.04 |
-0.06 |
0.11 |
0.04 |
0.03* |
|
|
5 |
-0.05 |
-0.21 ** |
-0.37 |
0.41 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
-0.15 |
0.13 |
|
|
6 |
0.31 |
0.47 |
0.16 |
0.67 |
0.13 |
0.27 |
0.39 |
0.67 |
|
|
X' |
9.89 |
11.42 |
19.96 |
10.59 |
1.70 |
2.90 |
8.62 |
20.56 |
|
|
P |
0.078 |
0.044 |
0.001 |
0.06 |
0.889 |
0.715 |
0.125 |
0.001 |
|
|
Comparisons are made between group six and the other groups (*F < 0.05: **1' < 0.01; ***1' < 0.001). Standardized values are reported for all four |
|||||||||
|
psychosocial outcome measures. Higher values indicate more reported problems on the respective scale. |
|||||||||
|
Table 5 Latent class membership and longitudinal persistence. |
||||||||
|
T2 |
||||||||
|
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
n |
|||
|
Tl |
1 |
60.6% |
24.6% |
10.3% |
3.4% |
0.5% |
0.5% |
203 |
|
2 |
37.5% |
38.2% |
14.6% |
6.3% |
0.0% |
3.5% |
144 |
|
|
3 |
25.3% |
25.3% |
34.2% |
11.4% |
1.3% |
2.5% |
79 |
|
|
4 |
17.2% |
27.6% |
17.2% |
24.1% |
10.3% |
3.4% |
29 |
|
|
5 |
0.0% |
16.7% |
16.7% |
16.7% |
16.7% |
33.3% |
6 |
|
|
6 |
0.0% |
16.7% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
33.3% |
50.0% |
6 |
|
|
n |
202 |
135 |
75 |
33 |
8 |
14 |
467 |
|
hypothesized group of addicted online garners, the sixclass model is selected as final model.
Table 3 gives the standardized and unstandardized means for this six-class model, revealing consistent class identification in both years. Unstandardized results are reported to illustrate the actual number of hours played and to support future development of cut-off scores for the CIUS. This result can be attributed partially to repeated measurement. However, the longitudinal cohort represents approximately 30% of the respective samples (Tl and T2). From this, it is assumed that the classes are both stable and replicable. When the data are weighed against national statistics [51] (using learning year, region, gender, ethnicity and education level) to obtain a nationally representative estimate for the Netherlands, the percentage of addicted heavy online garners (i.e. class six) translates to 1.6% of the entire population aged 13-16 years in the Netherlands at Tl and 1.5% at T2.
Examination of psychosocial correlates
Table 4 presents the six-class model through comparison of standardized psychosocial variables across the various classes. Significant overall differences were found for depressive mood (T2, P < 0.05), loneliness (Tl, P < 0.01)
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
and negative self-esteem (T2, P < 0.01). Visual inspections of the table shows overall higher mean scores for all four psychosocial variables in class 6 (the most addicted group). Post-hoc tests comparing the most addicted class (6) with the other classes revealed several significant differences for depressive mood (T2), loneliness (T'L, T2) and negative self-esteem (Tl, T2). Focusing specifically upon the two groups of heavy garners (addicted, class 6 and non-addicted, class 5), only one significant difference was found, i.e. at T2 the addicted garners were more depressed than the heavy garners.
Longitudinal persistence of class membership
Table 5 presents longitudinal (year-to-year) transitions for the various classes. Results show that, apart from the first class, retention for the sixth class is higher than for other classes. In this cohort, although the absolute number of people in the sixth class is low, results indicate that half the addicted online garners at Tl (n = 6) are still addicted at T2 (n = 3).
DISCUSSION
The present study has identified successfully two distinct groups of garners: one group of addicted heavy online
Addiction. 106. 205-212
210 Antonius J. van Rooij et al.
garners and another group of heavy but non-addicted online garners, thus confirming our main hypothesis. The addicted heavy online garners differed only slightly from the non-addicted heavy garners (and various other groups) in terms of psychosocial health. However, some of these addicted garners showed persistence over time, i.e. half the addicted online garners were still addicted 1 year later.
Two large-scale samples from a nationally representative study were used to classify online garners with CIU. Using a data-driven approach, analyses showed the existence of six distinct groups within the data. The vast majority of online garners (95%) are located in four groups, which show a linear increase in CIU as the hours per week of gaming increase. The fifth and sixth groups break this trend. The fifth group is identified as a group of heavy online garners who play many hours per week, but show stability or even a drop in addiction (2008) when compared to the previous groups. This group of nonaddicted heavy online garners is relatively small (about 1-2% of the online garners, see Table 3).
The sixth group, which contains about 3% of the online garners in the period 2008/09, spends many hours on online gaming and reports more symptoms of CIU than other groups. Thus it is identified as a group of addicted heavy online video garners. These numbers translate to an average national estimate of 1.5% (2008) and 1.6% (2009) of addicted heavy online garners among all Dutch adolescents in the first four classes of secondary education (aged 13-16 years). These adolescents report an average of 55 hours per week on gaming.
Subsequently, psychosocial correlates were examined for the addicted online video garners. Visual inspection of the data shows higher scores on depressive mood, loneliness, social anxiety and negative self-esteem for addicted online garners compared to other online garners. However, post-hoc testing revealed that most of the actual bilateral relationships are non-significant from the perspective of the addicted online garners. When compared to non-addicted heavy garners, only one significant difference was found: in 2009 the addicted heavy garners were more depressed than the non-addicted heavy garners.
The implication of this paragraph (and the subsequent one) seems to imply that it is not the video game itself that is addictive, but rather the emotional state of the player. This is not shocking to me, I suppose, because a lot of the other studies we have looked at have also cited the emotional state of the player as a big indicator that a video game will have on behavior. In terms of addiction, is it only the emotional state of the player that determines whether or not he/she will become addicted to a game? We say video games are addictive, but do we really mean compelling? Should we be differentiating between someone feeling compelled to play a video game for hours and hours vs. someone who cannot help but play video games for hours and hours because his/her emotional state makes him/her dependent on the game play?
I’m glad you have differentiated between addicting and compelling. I don’t think video games are truly addicting because there is no chemical dependency that one can gain from playing. I think video games are supreme outlet utilized by people looking for an escape from problems in their real life. I don’t think we ever heard of anyone that was addicted to video games when the only games were Tetris and Donkey Kong. I think it is because it was difficult for players to fully immerse themselves in these worlds.
It’s funny that you should bring this up, because I do still believe that it takes an addictive personality to be addicted to something. If you have ever seen the documentary “king of kong” it is about the world’s best donkey kong players. One of these players plays the game so much that he openly disengages from his family and loses his job. I would say that this man may have in fact been ‘addicted to donkey kong’, so I don’t believe that it relies completely on immersion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu5CpPsaP4U
At the 1-minute mark, he openly admits to being “addicted” to certain arcade games. Interesting interview as well.
Ecstasy of Order is a great documentary about Tetris that I watched over winter break. Check it out when you have time: http://www.hulu.com/watch/429491
Although you can’t clinically physiologically prove that games are addictive there are several reasons that games can be considered an addictive activity. 1. People admit that they are addicted to games. 2. Withdrawal symptoms have been evident in hardcore gamers that have stopped. 3. Strong association between fellow addicts is common among gamers as well.
These ambiguous results illustrate the complexity of the relationship between online video game use, online video game addiction and psychosocial health. Especially in the case of outcome variables with a strong social element, such as loneliness and self-esteem, video gaming may well have a dualistic effect. First, it expands the horizon of the gamer by offering a second environment in which to experiment [52] and,later on, it may constrain social options in 'real life' when the second life starts to overshadow the first [8]. In this way, depressive symptoms, loneliness and negative self-esteem might decrease for some garners as they find refuge in online games; on
I agree that gaming definitely has dualistic effect. Games offer a second environment to for players to socialize but they are problematic for those who cannot function regularly in a normal social environment. These are the players that cannot control their game play. I think “gaming addiction” can be cured when video game addicts learn how to socialize properly in the real world.
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
the other hand, these correlates may increase for others because relying exclusively on online relationships may fail to provide the full spectrum of social contacts and support the gamer's needs in real life. This hypothesis fits well with earlier theoretical work on 'problematic internet use' by Caplan [17,18]. Further examination of these complex relationships in the case of online gaming might benefit from using statistical methods focusing upon modelling, such as structural equation modelling. Clinical studies will need to be utilized to establish the actual harm and treatability of the problems associated with 'online video game addiction'.
The identification of a small group of addicted heavy online garners supports future efforts to develop and validate questionnaire scales aimed at measuring the phenomenon of 'online video game addiction'. It also confirms the existence of the group through an alternative approach, thereby confirming earlier results for the subgroup of online garners [1,3]. Additionally, it provides a basis on which to establish empirically supported cut-off points for scales aiming to measure online video game addiction. Although an addicted group of garners was found, substantial caution should be exercised before the creation of a new 'disorder', due to the modest impairment and longitudinal persistence.
I think this study at least validates itself. Does it provide convincing arguments for video game “addiction” being a wide-ranging disease? Also, in this paragraph it’s called a “modest impairment”. Should it be classified that way?
The article says that an addicted group of gamers was found. One group in this study implies that there would be other groups in other studies. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a wide ranging disease, but if any part of the population shows similar addiction characteristics to others with the same activities, the impairment should be classified as some sort of psychological disease. Impairment, although modest, should still be considered detrimental.
The current study has several strengths. It provides a data-driven prevalence estimate for 'video game addiction' in the Netherlands, based upon two large-scale samples. Additionally, it provides some of the first longitudinal data on the development of this phenomenon over time. However, the study also has some limitations. First, the study uses self-report data, which is known to carry the risk of bias [53]; this should be taken into account when comparing estimates with external outcome variables, such as the number of people reporting for clinical treatment with game addiction as the main complaint. Secondly, the 'hours per week' variable was the result of a multiplication and might be affected by ceiling effects; as such, it should be viewed as an estimate and not as an absolute value. Thirdly, clinical measures were restricted to psychosocial measures and a measure of addiction: future research might benefit from the inclusion of specific clinical measures of, for example, hyperactivity and mania. Finally, different types of online video games are available. Whereas 'online video games' are an advancement of the unified 'video games' approach, future research may benefit from further differentiation, e.g. by distinguishing online First Person Shooter games from online Role Playing Games.
People that are addicted to things do not want to admit their addiction most of the time. I believe that self reporting therefore is not a very valid way of providing data. What other ways do other addiction tests makeup for this?
Addictions are something that is very personal and very embarrassing. Often the hardest step in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous or similar organizations are admitting the problem even exists. Relying on self-reporting can hardly be accurate. Video game addictions are no different. No one wants to admit that they’ve lied to their friends to keep playing a game. Or that they may have avoided sleeping, eating, class, or maybe work to pursue another upgrade or level-up.
On that note I think we can all agree that Professor Williams is not a true video game addict. He was able to self-report his passion for Bio Shock 3. A true addict would have been compelled to buy the game.
I agree that self-reporting is an important part of addiction awareness for all substances as well as the ephemeral field of video game “addiction.” With that being said, just because someone self-reports that they are in fact a video game addict (Professor Williams and Bioshock: Infinite being the example you jokingly mentioned) doesn’t mean that by admiting their issue, they are any less compelled to purchase and play said video game. I myself (as im sure Professor Williams can attest to) was absolutely compelled to preorder the game the second i heard it was in development, let alone actually released. Im sure your comment was more of a one-off joke and vindicating Professor Williams, but nevertheless self-admittance and a compulsion are not mutually exclusive
I’m glad the study suggest differentiation between types of games in future studies. There are such a wide variety of games that I think it’s a valid question to ask whether certain games have more addictive qualities than others. Then, what are those games, what makes them addictive, etc. We talked a lot about escapism as the beginnings of an addiction and I wonder again which games and what about them fulfills a desire to escape. Is it the ability to live another life in another world, or could it be something so repetitive that you become immersed in the game by concentration?
In summary, this study confirms the existence of a small percentage (3%) of addicted online garners. This group represents approximately 1.5% of all children aged 13-16 years in the Netherlands. Although these garners
Addiction. 106. 205-212
report addiction-like problems, relationships with decreased psychosocial health were less evident. While survey-based data cannot determine the exact clinical nature of game addiction, the present findings contribute to the discussion on the proposed unified concept of Addiction and Related Disorders' (which includes nonsubstance addictions) in the DSM-V [54].
Declarations of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the following organizations for funding data collection of the Monitor Study Internet and Youth: the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, project no. 31160208), the Volksbond Foundation Rotterdam, Addiction Care North Netherlands, the Kennisnet Foundation, Tactus Addiction Care and the De Hoop Foundation.
References
-
Gentile D. A. Pathological video-game use among youth ages 8 to 18: a national study. PSYc/lOl Sci 2009; 20: 594- 602.
-
Grusser S. M., Thalemann R., Griffiths M. D. Excessive computer game playing: evidence for addiction and aggression? Cyberpsychol Behav 2007; 10: 290-2.
-
Lemmens J. S .. Valkenburg P. M., Peter J. Development and validation of a game addiction scale for adolescents. Med Psycl1012009; 12: 77-95.
-
Keepers G. A. Pathological preoccupation with video games.
JAm Acad Child Psychiatry 1990; 29: 49-50.
-
Lin-Liu J. China's e-Iunkies Head for Rehab. Beijing hospital ward treats Internet addicts (Internet). IEEE Spectrum Online 2006. Available at: http.y/spectrum.Ieee.org/telecom/ internetlchinas-ejunkies-head-for-rehab (accessed 16 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www. webcitation.org/5na8Qi59k).
-
Sharples T. A New Recovery Center for the Woes of Warcraft.
Time.com (Internet). 2009 27 September. Available at: 3/25/13 article/O, 8 5 9 9, 1925468.00.html (accessed 16 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5na8oy409).
-
Telegraph (UK). Britain's first computer rehab clinic opens (Internet). Telegraph. co. uk. 2009 3 November. Available at: http://www. telegraph.co. uk/technology /video-games/ 6485888/Britains-first-computer-rehab-c1inic-opens.html (accessed 16 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/ 5na8yQeEN).
-
Hussain Z., Griffiths M. D. The attitudes, feelings, and experiences of online gamers: a qualitative analysis. Cyberpsycho! Behav 2009; 12: 747-57.
-
Peters C. S.. Malesky A. Problematic usage among highly-engaged players of massively multiplayer online role playing games. Cyberpsyclwl Behav 2008; 11: 481- 4.
-
Eijnden R. J. J. M., Spijkerman R., Vermulst A. A .. Rooij A. J., Engels R. J. J. M. Compulsive Internet use among adoles-
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
Online video game addiction 211
cents: bidirectional parent-child relationships. J Almorm Child Psychol2009; 38: 77-89.
-
Wood R. Problems with the concept of video game 'addiction': some case study examples. Int J Ment Health Addict 2008; 6: 169-78.
-
Chappell D., Eatough v.. Davies M. N. 0., Griffiths M.
D. EverQuest-it's just a computer game right? An interpretative phenomenological analysis of online gaming addiction. Int J Ment Health Addict 2006; 4: 205-16.
-
Council on Science and Public Health. Emotional and Behavioral Effects, Including Addictive Potential, of Video Games (Internet). 2007. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ amal/pub/upload/mm/467/csaph12a07.doc (accessed 22 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www. webcitation.org/ 5 njUtlurL).
-
Lee M., Ko Y. H., Song H. S., Kwon K. H., Lee H. S., Nam M. et al. Characteristics of internet use in relation to game genre in Korean adolescents. Cyberpsychol Behav 2007; 10: 278-85.
-
Longman H., O'Connor E .. Obst P. The effect of social support derived from world of warcraft on negative psychological symptoms. Cyberpsychol Behav 2009; 12: 563- 6.
-
Wan C .. Chiou W. Why are adolescents addicted to online gaming? An interview study in Taiwan. Cyberpsyc/lOl Behav 2006; 9: 762-6.
-
Caplan S. E. Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic internet use. CyberpsYc/lOl Behav 2007; 10: 234-42.
-
Caplan S. E. Preference for online social interaction: a theory of problematic internet use and psychosocial wellbeing. Commun Res 2003; 30: 625-48.
-
Ha J. H., Kim S. Y .. Bae S. C .. Bae S., Kim H .. Sim M. et al.
Depression and internet addiction in adolescents. Psychopatiwlogy 2007; 40: 424-30.
-
Kim H., Davis K. E. Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic internet use: evaluating the role of selfesteem, anxiety, flow. and the self-rated importance of internet activities. Comput Hum Behav 2009; 25: 490- 500.
-
Lim S .. Lee J. R. When playing togetherfeels different: effects of task types and social contexts on physiological arousal in multiplayer online gaming contexts. Cyberpsycl101 Behav 2009; 12: 59-61.
-
Wang C. Helping others in online games: prosocial behavior in cyberspace. CyberpsycllOl Behav 2008; 11: 344-6.
-
Blaszczynski A. Commentary: a response to 'Problems With the Concept of Video Game 'Addiction": Some Case Study Examples'. Int J Ment Health Addict 2008; 6: 179-81.
-
Turner N. A comment on 'Problems With the Concept of Video Game 'Addiction": Some Case Study Examples'. Int J Ment Health Addict 2008; 6: 186-90.
-
Wood R. A response to Blaszczynski, Griffiths and Turners' comments on the paper 'Problems With the Concept of Video Game "Addiction": Some Case Study Examples' (this issue). Int J Ment Health Addict 2008; 6: 191-3.
-
Ko C., Yen J .. Chen C., Yeh Y .. Yen C. Predictive values of psychiatric symptoms for internet addiction in adolescents: a 2-year prospective study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2009; 163: 937-43.
-
Griffiths M. D., Hunt N. Dependence on computer games by adolescents. Psychol Rep 1998; 82: 475-80.
-
Van Rooij A. J., Schoemakers T. M .. Van den Eijnden R. J. J.
M., Van de Mheen D. Compulsive internet use: the role of
Addictiol1. 106. 205-212
212 Antonius J. van Rooij et al.
online gaming and other Internet applications. J Adolesc Health 2010; 47: 51-7.
-
Yee N. Motivations for play in online games. CyberpsycllOl Behav2006;9: 772-5.
-
Meerkerk G. J., Van den Eijnden R. J. J. M., Vermulst A. A., Garretsen H. F. L. The Compulsive Internet Use Scale rcms» some psychometric properties. CyberpsycllOl Behav 2009; 12: 1-6.
-
Meerkerk G. J .. Van den Eijnden R. J. J. M .. Garretsen H. F. L.
Predicting compulsive internet use: it's all about sex! CyberpsycllOl Behav 2006; 9: 95-103.
-
Meerkerk G. J. Pwned by the Internet, Explorative Research into the Causes and Consequences of Compulsive Internet Use. PhD thesis. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Erasmus University. Rotterdam; 2007.
-
Van Rooij A. J., Schoenmakers T. M., Meerkerk G. J., Van de Mheen D. Monitor Internet En Jongeren. Videogal11es En Nederlandse [onqerer: [Monitor Internet and Youth. Video Games and Dutch Youth]. Rotterdam: IVO; 2008.
-
Rosenberg M. Society and the Adolescent SelJ~Il11age, revised edn. Middletown, PA: Wesleyan University Press; 1989.
-
Ghassernzadeh L .. Shahraray M .. Moradi A. Prevalence of internet addiction and comparison of internet addicts and non-addicts in Iranian high schools. CyberpsycllOl Behav 2008; 11: 731-3.
-
Russell D., Peplau L. A., Cutrona C. E. The revised UCLA loneliness scale: concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. J Pers Soc Psycl1011980; 39: 472-80.
-
Engels R. C. M. E .. Finkenauer C .. Meeus W., Dekovic M.
Parental attachment and adolescents' emotional adjustment: the associations with social skills and relational competence. J Couns Psyclw12001; 48: 428-39.
-
Kandel D. B .. Davies M. Epidemiology of depressive mood in adolescents: an empirical study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982; 39: 1205-12.
-
Kandel D. B., Davies M. Adult sequelae of adolescent depressive symptoms. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986; 43: 255-62.
-
La Greca A. M., Dandes S. K., Wick P., Shaw K., Stone W.
Development of the social anxiety scale for children: reliability and concurrent validity. J Clin Child PSYc/1011988; 17: 84-91.
-
La Greca A. M., Stone W. L. Social anxiety scale for children-revised: factor structure and concurrent validity. J Clin Child Psychol1993; 22: 17-27.
-
Gross E. F. Adolescent internet use: what we expect, what teens report. J Appl Dev PSYc/1012004; 25: 633-49.
© 2010 The Authors. Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
-
Van den Eijnden R. J., Meerkerk G. J .. Vermulst A. A., Spijkerman R .. Engels R. C. M. E. Online communication, compulsive internet use, and psychosocial well-being among adolescents: a longitudinal study. Dev PSycl1012008; 44: 655-65.
-
Muthen L. K., Muthen B. O. Mplus User's Guide, 5th edn. Los Angeles. CA: Muthen & Muthen; 1998.
-
Nylund K. L .. Asparouhov T., Muthen B. O. Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: a Monte Carlo simulation study. Struct Equ Modeling 2007; 14: 535-69.
-
Marsh H., Ludtke 0 .. Trautwein u.. Morin A. Classical latent profile analysis of academic self-concept dimensions: synergy of person- and variable-centered approaches to theoretical models of self-concept. Struct Equ Modeling 2009; 16: 191-225.
-
Van der Vorst H., Vermulst A. A., Meeus W., Dekovic M., Engels R. C. M. E. Identification and prediction of drinking trajectories in early and mid-adolescence. J Clin Child PSycl1012009; 38: 329-41.
-
Schwarz G. Estimating the dimension of a model. Ann Stat 1978; 6: 461-4.
-
Yang C. Evaluating latent class analysis models in qualitative phenotype identification. COl11put Stat Data Anal 2006; 50: 1090-104.
-
Asparouhouv T., Muthen B. O. Wald test of mean equality for potential latent class predictors in mixture modeling (Internet). 2007. Available at: http://www.statmodel.com/download/ MeanTest1.pdf (accessed 16 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www. webcitation.org/ 5na9F6IXo).
-
Statistics Netherlands. CBS StatLine (Internet). 2010. Available at: http://statline.cbs.nllstatweb/?LA=en (accessed 1 June 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www. webcitation.org/ 5qA5 rbLeZ).
-
[ansz J. The emotional appeal of violent video games for adolescent males. Coml11un Theor 2005; 15: 219-41.
-
Podsakoff P. M .. MacKenzie S. B .. Lee J. Y., Podsakoff N. P.
Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J Appl PSycl1012003; 88: 879-903.
-
American Psychiatric Assocoation (APA). Substance-Related Disorders (Internet). American Psychiatric AssociationDSM-5 Development. 10 February 2010 (available at: http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/ Substance-ReiatedDisorders.aspx (accessed 10 February 2010) (archived by WebCite® at http://www. webcitation.org/5nR8AitLs).
Addiction. 106. 205-212
This document is a scanned copy of a printed document. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material.
General Document Comments 0
I first thought about the issue of addiction in this class with the first reading that we did, Bissell. Remember, he was the one who told himself that he would watch the inauguration of Obama, but instead lost track of time playing a new video game.
Bissell is certainly an example of at least short term idea of persuasive games—I don’t know about addiction…
I do not believe you could qualify Bissell as an addict. If you did that, it would mean so many more people are addicted to video games than what is actually true. Bissell was making a choice to not watch the inauguration because he got so caught up in Fallout. Video game addiction on the other hand, is a much more serious problem. It is like any other addiction that involves withdrawal problems, neglect of health, neglect of family and friends, etc. I think there is a problem when people hear or say the words addicted when it comes to video games. If you play a lot of video games and you would rather do that than many other things, you are not addicted. When there is a choice, you are not addicted. Addiction isn’t a choice.
Addiction isn’t a choice, I like that. No one chooses to be addicted, it happens to them. But at what point does someone cross that line between really liking to play a game and be addicted to it? Because if we are going by certain ideas like they choose to play games instead of doing something else that they should be doing we could technically categorize tons of 8 year olds as well as lazy college students who prefer to play video games that study for their midterm the next day as addicts as well. Real addicts will doing anything to insure they get their fix. Forsake family and friends alike for the sake of their games. If you watch any documentary about what some recovering addicts did to get their drugs I doubt you would be able to put video game addicts on the same level. I doubt any video game addict ever sold their bodies or neglected their infants for the sake of playing the video game.
I agree with you completely that the severity of most drug addictions is worse, or has worse ramifications than being “addicted” to video games, but i look at it as more of a spectrum in a sense. I remember cases where video games (not to name any names, but WoW does come to mind) where people would sit down and play them for so long that they would not only forsake their personal health and other responsibilities. Now an 8 year old or a college student obviously has various responsibilities of their own, however playing video games at the expense of homework or doing well in school is basically a “choice” for all intents and purposes, however jeopardizing ones physical health or family responsibly, in my mind, become a whole other issue, one that would more appropriately be classified as an “addiction”
I think you make a good point. I know that when we got the 6 hour video game playing assignment, I thought it would be difficult, and I planned to play two hours a day for three days, but once I actually started playing, time flew, the sun set, and I realized in the dark bedroom that I had played for 6+ hours. With that said, though I thought of that game often throughout the next few days, I didn’t feel urgently compelled to play it again. There is definitely this factor of choice when it comes to video games, but in the same sense, I think that there may often be cases of real video game addiction, though it’s just not necessarily as widespread and common, just like there are cases when some people are addicted to food or cleaning. The issue, I think comes when we talk about it being diagnosable and comparable to other addictions.
So while reading this I can’t help but to think that video games are not the most important new addiction. I believe a much more serious and harmful addiction, don’t laugh when I say this, is our addiction to our phones and screens. There are already laws in place to prevent people from texting while driving so it has become a problem in that sense as well. I know that I feel like I am missing something when I don’t have my phone on me, it is like an extra limb. I feel the withdrawal symptoms, it makes me irritable when I can’t find or don’t have my phone. Why do you all think video game addiction then receives so much more attention?
I think your point is extremely valid. Why do we focus on videogames as opposed to the overwhelming need and attachment to screens as a whole? I think part of this is that cellular and internet communications have become considered such a normal part of our day to day lives that we begin to deem them necessary to function in society. I get the same feeling of anxiety when I can’t find my phone too. However, when I think about it, maybe only one of my conversations every week via cell phone are actually significant. I’m that way with my Facebook as well. I have considered deleting it numerous times, but I keep it as a means of remaining in the loop with what my friends are doing. Maybe it’s just severe FOMO (fear of missing out) but I’d say I have a screen addiction.
I agree. I think that the internet and the heavy proliferation of social media have made iPhones and laptops a necessary aspect of our lives. We can’t help but crave screen time because it is the prominent way in which we stay in tough with each other and the world. I wonder how this conversation would be different if we lived in the imagined world of Jane McGonigal. I don’t think that she would point to this study as an indication of addiction, bur rather an indication that reality is broken. Rather than acknowledging the powerful draw of video games and the skills they can teach, we spend our time examining the negative social and emotional implications of video games and how best to resolve these problems. McGonigal would argue that there is more to the draw of a video game then the emotional state of the player. If we lived in a world where video games became a prominent form of education or communication, I would suspect we wouldn’t consider 55+ hours a week on MMORPGs for consecutive years as a serious addiction. It would just be the terms of engagement.
I have to agree with this thread as a whole and I want to really jump on the Facebook reference Megan made. If we think about how much Facebook has grow in the past 5 years you would be astounded at how the potential for addiction there. Facebook has enough members to be its own country, How long did it take for the phone to catch on? In was invented in the 1870s and it wasn’t till the 50s that it became widely used, even then few people had it. We are all so connected that it is easier to get online, meet and greet our friends, make some new ones and be social no matter where we are. I know that I visit the Facebook site several times a day just to see what is going on in the world but the worst part is I’m one of the milder users in my age group. There are people who just stay on Facebook all day long doing who knows what.
Reading from this thread, I’m finding that many people find it useful and nigh necessary to have such devices and services. I doubt that something can be classified as an addiction if it’s necessary for day-to-day life. Sugar might be addicting, but food isn’t. Perhaps it’s a shift in modern culture towards the need to be instantaneously connected to others, and we fulfill this need through Facebook and these other methods. Occasionally I start to think that we might be classifying fulfilling some new need we have as addiction.
Yet, I don’t have a Facebook and I’m pretty independent from my smartphone. However, I still find myself replacing things like Facebook and constant texting with Skype and other related services. It’s only really coincidence and personal preference that’s the cause of me not using Facebook, rather than a lack of addiction or need.
As something of an aside, I find myself a victim of another definition of “screen addiction.” My desktop PC has 3 monitors because I simply need the screen space for everything I do on that machine, including gaming. I struggle to be productive on just my laptop with one screen.
I think Hunter’s distinction between necessity and addiction is useful. I think it goes back to what we discussed in class when we were trying to define addiction in some way. You rattle off a list of questions like, have you missed something because of the media, lied about something to continue using the media, etc. The negative consequences of someones use of a certain substance I think is what begins to classify it as an addiction. Even though we’re all “addicted” to Facebook and our cell phones, I don’t think any of us have made up some excuse like, “my Aunt died” in order to continue trolling on Facebook. I guess I would see a big difference in this conversation between “addicted” versus “addiction”. I think we tend to say “addicted” far more casually than we do “addiction”.
While reading this study, I wondered what exactly we mean when we (seriously, not in jest) use the term “addiction.” This study used the CIUS survey, in which participant answer questions about negative effects of their actions (such as avoiding obligations to go online). However, when the study attempted to actually find psychosocial consequences of high video game use, the results were minimal (except that a subset of heavy gamers were more depressed). It seems to me that something can be defined as being addictive when it has negative physiological or psychosocial consequences. Perhaps someone else can shed some light on this issue.
I definitely agree with a lot of the posts above. I think that addiction is identifiable by the amount of disorder it creates in one’s life so I wouldn’t necessarily call it an addiction, but then what is it? What, then, do we call spending so many hours, neglecting one’s social/academic life, etc. for the sake of playing a game? I think it’s problematic to call it an “addiction,” but I think that there is definitely a real obsessive and addictive quality of video games that we cannot easily neglect. Is there a better word to describe this attraction with video games?
icons on the left to see existing comments.
0 archived comments