The University of Missouri researchers warns of potential dangers for gamers.
Problematic video game use isn’t all that different from other types of addictive behavior, such as alcohol or drug abuse, which can be spurred by poor coping strategies, Hilgard added.
“Gamers who are really into getting to the next level or collecting all of the in-game items seem to have unhealthier video-game use,” said Hilgard. “When people talk about games being ‘so addictive,’ usually they’re referring to games like Farmville or Diablo that give players rewards, such as better equipment or stronger characters, as they play. People who are especially motivated by these rewards can find it hard to stop playing.”
Understanding individuals’ motives for playing video games can inform researchers, game developers and consumers about why certain games attract certain individuals, said Hilgard.
“Researchers have suspected that Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are the most addictive genre of video games,” said Hilgard. “Our study provides some evidence that supports that claim. The games provide opportunities for players to advance levels, to join teams and to play with others. In addition, the games provide enormous fantasy worlds that gamers can disappear into for hours at a time and forget about their problems. MMORPGs may be triple threats for encouraging pathological game use because they present all three risk factors to gamers.”
“Consistent with previous research, we did not find a perfect relationship between total time spent playing games and addictive video game behaviors,” said study co-author Christopher Engelhardt, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Health Psychology in the MU School of Health Professions and the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. “Additionally, other variables, such as the proportion of free time spent playing video games, seem to better predict game addiction above and beyond the total amount of time spent playing video games.”
The open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychology, published the article, “Individual differences in motives, preferences, and pathology in video games: the gaming attitudes, motives, and experiences scales (GAMES),” earlier in September. Bruce Bartholow, a professor of psychological sciences at MU also co-authored the study. The article is available for free at http://www.frontiersin.org/Developmental_Psychology_/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00608/abstract.
