The discussing keeps circling around the issues and repeating the same arguments. I'll try and clarify my point as succinctly as I can.
I've experienced addiction and Nicotine directly interferes with your body's chemistry in ways WoW does not, its not a valid comparison to equate WoW to chemical addictions.
Your individual experiences do not dictate hard and fast universal laws.
The discussing keeps circling around the issues and repeating the same arguments. I'll try and clarify my point as succinctly as I can.
I've experienced addiction and Nicotine directly interferes with your body's chemistry in ways WoW does not, its not a valid comparison to equate WoW to chemical addictions.
Your individual experiences do not dictate hard and fast universal laws.
Science does. You personally may not have had a problem quitting cigs, but cigarettes are physically addictive, period. WoW is not physically addictive, period. Or were you arguing on whether or not the comparison between a physical addiction and a psychological one was valid? Cause I'm not sure either way on that one since I can't really claim personal experience on any psychological addictions.
The discussing keeps circling around the issues and repeating the same arguments. I'll try and clarify my point as succinctly as I can.
I've experienced addiction and Nicotine directly interferes with your body's chemistry in ways WoW does not, its not a valid comparison to equate WoW to chemical addictions.
Your individual experiences do not dictate hard and fast universal laws.
Science does. You personally may not have had a problem quitting cigs, but cigarettes are physically addictive, period. WoW is not physically addictive, period. Or were you arguing on whether or not the comparison between a physical addiction and a psychological one was valid? Cause I'm not sure either way on that one since I can't really claim personal experience on any psychological addictions.
The claim I'm making is that addiction is difficult, across the board.
It all involves chemical dependancy. Even with a psychological addicition, you still go through withdrawal.
I think a lot of the people who are claiming to have been "addicted" to WoW, and then completely stopping one day were not, in fact, addicted to WoW. Obsessed a bit, maybe, but not actually addicted.
The discussing keeps circling around the issues and repeating the same arguments. I'll try and clarify my point as succinctly as I can.
I've experienced addiction and Nicotine directly interferes with your body's chemistry in ways WoW does not, its not a valid comparison to equate WoW to chemical addictions.
Your individual experiences do not dictate hard and fast universal laws.
Science does. You personally may not have had a problem quitting cigs, but cigarettes are physically addictive, period. WoW is not physically addictive, period. Or were you arguing on whether or not the comparison between a physical addiction and a psychological one was valid? Cause I'm not sure either way on that one since I can't really claim personal experience on any psychological addictions.
The claim I'm making is that addiction is difficult, across the board.
It all involves chemical dependancy. Even with a psychological addicition, you still go through withdrawal.
I think a lot of the people who are claiming to have been "addicted" to WoW, and then completely stopping one day were not, in fact, addicted to WoW. Obsessed a bit, maybe, but not actually addicted.
By that definition very few people are addicted to WoW, and so it's not a very dangerous thing, though it IS designed to be addictive in a way that many hobbies or products (such as coffee) are, and so any "WoW on X, oh shit" or "WoW while Y, gasp" are just knee-jerk reactions.
By that definition very few people are addicted to WoW
How do you extrapolate that?
"A few folks say they used to be addicted, but they're really just exaggerating, ergo nobody is truly addicted"?
Hey, that's what you said, not me.
No, what I said is that the specific dudes in this thread who are talking about how addiction is easy because they quit being addicted and never looked back probably were never addicted.
I didn't say a thing about the countless other people who are too busy playing WoW right now to be posting on any forums. :P
By that definition very few people are addicted to WoW
How do you extrapolate that?
"A few folks say they used to be addicted, but they're really just exaggerating, ergo nobody is truly addicted"?
Hey, that's what you said, not me.
No, what I said is that the specific dudes in this thread who are talking about how addiction is easy because they quit being addicted and never looked back probably were never addicted.
I didn't say a thing about the countless other people who are too busy playing WoW right now to be posting on any forums. :P
Your "countless" is as much of an assumption as my "very few". The fact is every single time someone claimed to be addicted in any of the threads here you always replied "Well YOU don't count because you weren't addicted".
Djiem, you do understand that, personally, I don't CARE what the number of people is, right?
I'm not in here trying to argue that WoW is dangerous, which seems to be what you are worried about.
I am just asserting that addiction is addiction, and while it is possible to differentiate addiction based on external chemicals from addiction based on internal chemicals, NEITHER one is good.
Djiem, you do understand that, personally, I don't CARE what the number of people is, right?
I'm not in here trying to argue that WoW is dangerous, which seems to be what you are worried about.
I am just asserting that addiction is addiction, and while it is possible to differentiate addiction based on external chemicals from addiction based on internal chemicals, NEITHER one is good.
That's a comment I can get behind. And again, while I think WoW has a greater susceptibility to abuse versus other video games, I don't think this is a PROBLEM for WoW that needs correction or oversight or something. I just get pissed when someone brings up someone playing an obviously unhealthy amount of the game and immediately people storm the thread with all kinds of negativity about how there's nothing wrong with someone who chooses to play WoW with the majority of hours in a day for weeks at a time.
For the record, I think a WoW iPhone app is no more dangerous than, say, a flask. A dude could totally be sipping on a discreet flask while driving, but most folks don't, so don't worry about it.
Djiem, you do understand that, personally, I don't CARE what the number of people is, right?
I'm not in here trying to argue that WoW is dangerous, which seems to be what you are worried about.
I am just asserting that addiction is addiction, and while it is possible to differentiate addiction based on external chemicals from addiction based on internal chemicals, NEITHER one is good.
This Study
While it has been established that both online and offline gaming can influence player affect, it remains to be established whether users of MMOs can truly develop definitive addictions to the games they play. The leading MMO gaming company, Blizzard Entertainment, officially acknowledge the possibility of addiction by including the item on exit surveys they offer to players who have cancelled their accounts (Blizzard, 2006). Much of the available research is devoted to either dimensions of affect or on developing reliable measures of gaming addiction, while there is little focus on possible methods of prediction or prevention. To what extent can a player’s vulnerability to addiction influence the amount of time they devote to game play or excessive levels of internet dependence? If a person is predisposed to behavioural, physical, or psychological addiction, can their level of playfulness be predictive of the sort of activities to which they become addicted, e.g., gambling versus online games?
The purpose of this study was to gain a broader knowledge of the predictive factors of online game play, and determine in particular whether or not they are similar to those that predict VLT gambling addiction. Personality traits that have been reliably associated with problem gambling behaviours will be assessed in players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Specifically, these traits are distress (anxiety, depression), impulsivity, tendency toward dissociation (Jefferson, 2006), and tendency toward playfulness (Apter, 1982).
It was expected that the results of this study would further clarify what factors of personality can lead to behavioural addictions. It is certain that for a large majority of players, video games are simply a hobby; but the psychological causes and effects of gaming taken to extremes are not well-investigated, despite the harm they could potentially cause. This study will examine the following hypotheses in the hope of identifying these risks:
1) Individual levels of distress will be significantly correlated with time spent
playing MMORPGs.
2) Individual levels of distress will be significantly positively correlated with internet addiction.
3) Impulsivity will be significantly positively correlated with time
spent playing MMORPGs
4) Impulsivity will be significantly positively correlated with the level of internet addiction.
5) Dissociative tendencies will be significantly positively correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs
6) Dissociative tendencies will be significantly positively correlated with the level of internet addiction.
7) Attitudes towards playfulness will be significantly correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs
8) Attitudes towards playfulness will be significantly correlated with the level of internet addiction.
[B] Methods [/B]
[B]Participants:[/B]
Participants were 22 students from the University of New Brunswick, recruited via posters and email over the Winter term of 2007. There were 2 females and 20 males, with ages ranging from 18 to 26 and a mean age of 19.95. Each participant was screened to ensure they were current players of massively multiplayer online games (MMORPGs). For the purposes of this study, MMORPGs were defined as games which: 1. Were designed primarily for large-population internet play, as opposed to solo play; 2. Included communication functionality for use outside of discrete rounds of gameplay (e.g. game-wide chat/trade channels that can be accessed any time, as opposed to online ‘lobbies’ designed for team communication within discrete rounds of play); 3. Accommodated in-game economies and/or item trading between players; 4. Allowed players to upgrade or enhance their in-game character through continued play. These factors are intended to isolate MMORPGs from other large-scale online games, such as first-person shooters, which may include communication functions but are primarily based on timed rounds of action-oriented play as opposed to socializing and character development. The proposal for this research had been approved by both a departmental ethics committee and a university ethics committees.
Materials
[B]Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS)[/B]
Higher scores on the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Appendix A) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were found to be predictive of problem gambling behaviour by Steve Jefferson in 2006. For this reason, it was used for this study in order to ascertain any common factors between a predisposition to problem VLT gambling and a predisposition to excessive internet gaming. It consists of 42 items scored on a 4-point scale (0 = Did not apply to me at all, 1 = Applied to me to some degree or some of the time, 2 = Applied to me to a considerable degree or a good part of the time, 3 = Applied to me very much or most of the time). The DASS has internal reliability ranging between .89 and .96 (Brown et. al., 1997)
[B]Dissociation Questionnaire (DQ)[/B]
Dissociation is a tendency to ‘zone out’ or to disconnect from the world around oneself. The Dissociative Questionnaire (Appendix B) was adapted from one used by Diskin and Hodgins (1999) for use with experiences during the use of MMORPGS. The scale consists of 5 questions, with 4 used to assess dissociative feelings while playing, and 1 about losing track of time. For example, one question asks “After a session of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, have you ever felt as if you had been in a trance?†Each item is scored from 0, or “never†to 4, or “all the timeâ€. According to a study conducted by Diskin and Hodgins in 2001, the DQ has a Cronbach alpha of approximately .78 prior to adaptation for use in this study.
[B]Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 (BIS-10)[/B]
Jefferson (2006) found Impulsivity to be a predictor of VLT gambling addiction, using the Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 (BIS-10; Barrat, 1985). The Barrat Impulsivity Scale (Appendix C) consists of 34 items on a 4-point Likert scale (Rarely/never, Occasionally, Often, Almost always). Examples of these items include, “I plan tasks carefully†or “I say things without thinking.†The BIS-10 measures three aspects of impulsivity: Non-planning, motor impulsiveness, and cognitive impulsiveness. A total score can be obtained by summing these three measures. The Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 has a Cronbach’s alpha of approximately .80 (Patton, Stanford, & Barrat, 1995) and has been shown to have validity by O’Boyle and Barrat (1993).
[B]Telic-paratelic dominance (TDS)[/B]
The telic-paratelic dominance scale (Appendix D) is based on research done by Apter on reversal theory (Apter, 1982). This measure is designed to assess an individual’s attitudes towards playfulness. It consists of 42 items with 3 response options each: 1 telic/nonplayful, 1 paratelic/playful, and 1 neither (e.g., Compile a short dictionary for financial reward, Write a short story for fun, Not sure.). Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter, and Ray (1978) found the test-retest reliability of the TDS to be between .634 and .711 at a period of 6 months, and that it had construct validity.
Demographic questionnaire and play time measure
At the beginning of every questionnaire set, there was a self-report measure (Appendix E) used to collect general information from the participant (e.g., gender, age, faculty) as well as a report of time spent playing MMORPGS in the week prior to the date of their participation. The time report consisted of three questions on a 4-point scale (Less than 1 hour, 1 to 2 hours, 2 to 3 hours, more than 3 hours) with each question referring to a specific time of day (8am to 4pm, 4pm to midnight, midnight to 8am).
Internet Addiction Scale (IAS)
[B]The Internet Addiction Scale (Appendix F)[/B] (IAS, Nichols & Nicki, 2003) was used to measure internet addiction in participants. It consists of 31 items based on seven DSM-IV criteria (APA, 1994) for substance dependence and two criteria (salience, mood modification) suggested by Griffiths (1998). Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = frequently, 5 = always) with higher scores on the scale representing greater likelihood of internet addiction in the respondent. The scale uses a cutoff score of 3 or above to determine whether or not addiction is present. The IAS has been found to be a highly reliable measure (Cronbach Alpha = .95) by Nichols and Nicki (2003) and has been shown to have construct validity. They went on to caution that the test-retest and reliability and criterion-related validity must be further established.
Procedure
The questionnaire packets were randomly shuffled to give four different test orders: DASS, BIS, DQ, IAS, TDS; DASS, IAS, BIS, DQ, TDS; DQ, IAS, BIS, TDS, DASS; and BIS, DQ, DASS, TDS, IAS. Each packet always included the demographic questionnaire as its first page.
Study sessions were held in campus residences and classrooms in order to accommodate the scheduling needs of potential participants. Before responding to the questionnaires, each participant was asked to read and sign an informed consent form (Appendix G). Email addresses were also collected as a means of contacting those who wished to be included in the draw or to receive results for the study. They were compensated with a chance to win one of four $50 prize draws, and were informed of the approximate odds of winning based on the goal number of participants [1/80]. Actual odds of winning were 1/22, with each participant only able to win once.
There were difficulties involved in the recruitment process which prevented us from obtaining a larger sample. These problems included a delayed response on the part of the residence community administration, as well as an apparent lack of interest in the 50$ prize. In one case, students commented to the researchers that this prize was inadequate for the time required to fill out the questionnaires, approximately 30 minutes. Upon finishing the questionnaire, participants were given a debriefing form (Appendix H).
That study sounds very interesting. I would like for an N of greater than 22, but I realize the problems in personally recruiting people for such a unique study.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
That study sounds very interesting. I would like for an N of greater than 22, but I realize the problems in personally recruiting people for such a unique study.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
Yeah it's hard to do something large-scale when a large portion of our sample wouldn't peel themselves away from WoW for a half-hour to win 50$. They wouldn't give up WoW for a half-hour for a chance to win a couple free months...
Then again it's only an Honours thesis. I'm not expected to write a 200-page dissertation for my BAHon.
That study sounds very interesting. I would like for an N of greater than 22, but I realize the problems in personally recruiting people for such a unique study.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
Yeah it's hard to do something large-scale when a large portion of our sample wouldn't peel themselves away from WoW for a half-hour to win 50$. They wouldn't give up WoW for a half-hour for a chance to win a couple free months...
Then again it's only an Honours thesis. I'm not expected to write a 200-page dissertation for my BAHon.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, the results were very interesting and I liked what you posted of the thesis.
"Is World of Wacraft on the iPhone a dangerous idea?" is something I'd expect to see on Fox News. The introduction would have explosions and the font would be on fire.
I don’t have much time to play WoW but I do enjoy my time with the game. I find when I do get a chance to play the game I do find that I will play for a considerable amount of time. I do have a level 80 character and I have raided a few times and find it quite enjoyable. I could easily see myself wanting to play more if I had strong connections to people in the game. My schedule does not allow me to spend a great deal of time socializing and raiding at set times. If I had a regular kind of schedule I could easily see how it could become more consuming. I have been out with friends when I would rather have been playing WoW just because I would derive more enjoyment out of it at the time. I can easily see how it could be addicting and I have met people who I would classify as a WoW addict. ( I have worked with people with addictions for the last 3 years.)
I would also say that you could insert any video game in the place of WoW and you could see the same response. I would say though WoW is more capable of sustaining the interest for longer periods due to how much there is to do and how you are rewarded for spending your time. Since WoW rewards you for spending a large amount of time in straight blocks it is more likely to interfere with your life. Yes other games can be addicting but in single player games one can pause or come back to the game with out any loss or set back but in WoW missing raid times can put you far back on progressing further on.
The DSM is a good resource but its not always 100% correct there is a reason why it is revised quite often. The internet is a relatively new device and there is not enough empirical evidence there to support any claim that there is an addictive quality to video games it does not mean that such addiction does not exist. This is the same resource that once stated homosexuality was a mental health issue. There is a reason why it has to be revised and challenged. It 10 years we will have a lot more information on the subject and we may discover that there is no addicting quality to but it is something that needs to be looked at.
There is a lot of things in game that I do not get a chance to do because they are massive time sinks ie. trade skills.
I think would pay like $5-$10 for an app that allow me to play the auction house or raise my fishing/cooking skill even a mini game that would reward me gold or experience. It would help me maximize my playtime as a casual player.
They should just make like a WoW poker mini game. I would much rather gamble my gold then play with real money.
That study sounds very interesting. I would like for an N of greater than 22, but I realize the problems in personally recruiting people for such a unique study.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
Yeah it's hard to do something large-scale when a large portion of our sample wouldn't peel themselves away from WoW for a half-hour to win 50$. They wouldn't give up WoW for a half-hour for a chance to win a couple free months...
Then again it's only an Honours thesis. I'm not expected to write a 200-page dissertation for my BAHon.
Shit, I'd get off for four times as long if it meant 50$! I'm broke, I need the money! :P
ed: And before you comment, no, I am not unemployed/broke due to WoW. It is a very simple cycle: I do not have a job and thus can't get any contacts, and I do not have any contacts and thus can not get a job.
That study sounds very interesting. I would like for an N of greater than 22, but I realize the problems in personally recruiting people for such a unique study.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
Yeah it's hard to do something large-scale when a large portion of our sample wouldn't peel themselves away from WoW for a half-hour to win 50$. They wouldn't give up WoW for a half-hour for a chance to win a couple free months...
Then again it's only an Honours thesis. I'm not expected to write a 200-page dissertation for my BAHon.
Shit, I'd get off for four times as long if it meant 50$! I'm broke, I need the money! :P
ed: And before you comment, no, I am not unemployed/broke due to WoW. It is a very simple cycle: I do not have a job and thus can't get any contacts, and I do not have any contacts and thus can not get a job.
huh, contacts?
you mean like networking stuff?
you can always pick up a help-wanted section.
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acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
edited May 2009
It'd be neat to see most of the ingame assests changed to either reduced detail models or like, 2d sprites, in the interest of the game running at a reasonable framerate.
Well from what I understand, the iPhone thing that fired up this discussion wasn't actually rendering WoW, it was sending the rendered frames over the 3G network. Like that OnLive service. So the framerate would probably be determined by the quality of your cell connection at any point in time.
Szechuan wrote: View Post
I haven't posted my results yet. Everything so far is the usual preamble needed to convince the reader your study was warranted.
well you know what i mean
or rather maybe you don't
i liked what you posted is what i was trying to say
Thanks.
Last part here. I'm not concerned about finding my bibliography or anything.
Part 4 - Results
Results
The participants’ self reports showed that they spent a mean of 4.1 hours a day playing online games. The means and standard deviations for the Demographic Questionnaire, DASS, the IAS, DQ, BIS, and TDS can be found in Table 1.
For hypothesis 1, individual distress did not significantly predict time spent playing MMORPGs.
Hypothesis 2 was supported. The measure of individual distress (the DASS) was strongly positively correlated with the measure of internet addiction (IAS) where r = .807, p < .05.
Hypothesis 3 and hypothesis 4 were not supported. Impulsivity did not significantly predict time spent playing MMORPGs or internet addiction.
For hypothesis 5, tendency to dissociate did not significantly predict time spent playing MMORPGs.
Hypothesis 6 was supported, with the measure of dissociation (the DQ) being significantly positively correlated with the measure of internet addiction (IAS) where r = .588, p < .05. In addition, a multiple regression analysis found that the linear combination of the DASS, BIS, DQ, and TDS significantly predicted the criterion variable (scores on the IAS) where F(4,17) = 11.83, p < .05. Semi-partial correlation coefficients relating the personality measures to the IAS showed only the DASS to uniquely and significantly (p <.05) predict IAS scores, and accounted for 38.8% of the variance on the IAS.
Hypothesis 7 was confirmed, with the measure of telic/paratelic dominance (TDS) being significantly negatively correlated with hours spent playing MMORPGS, where r = -.484, p < .05. However, a multiple regression analysis found that linear combination of DASS, BIS, DQ, and TDS did not significantly predict the criterion variable (Time Played).
Hypothesis 8 was not supported. Results did not indicate that tendency toward playfulness significantly predicted predict problem internet use or addiction.
Discussion
This study found that measures of distress and dissociation were predictive of increased levels of internet addiction. Furthermore, the DASS singly accounted for a large part of the variance in IAS scores. From these findings, we can conclude that the DASS, a measure of overall distress, is a very strong predictor of addictive internet use.
We also found that tendency to dissociate is significantly correlated with both the DASS and IAS results, but is more strongly correlated with the IAS. Based on these data, we believe that a tendency to dissociate may be a moderating factor in determining whether or not individuals suffering from psychological distress will turn to increased use of the internet as opposed to other activities. It would be advantageous for future researchers to further examine these factors.
While there were no significant results found for the regression analysis of time played, there was a significant correlation (-.484) between telic-paratelic dominance and time spent playing MMORPGs. This is to be expected, as higher scores on the TDS represent more serious-minded attitudes towards playfulness. It would be interesting to see how strongly telic-paratelic measures can predict time spent on video gaming related activities in a study focused specifically on that criteria.
Somewhat surprisingly, there was not a significant correlation between the
measure of internet addiction scores and time spent playing MMORPGs. It is apparent that individuals who are showing signs of excessive internet use or addiction are not necessarily spending their time gaming. However, it is possible that the scores on the IAS reflect the participants’ feelings regarding their online play as opposed to strictly their use of the internet/web browsing programs. The exact nature of these distinctions may be the focus of a future study.
While not significant, there was a slight negative correlation (-.178) between DASS scores and time played. It is possible that psychological distress may leave individuals with less desire to play online video games, especially in the case of depression. The idea of negative affect leading to less time spent gaming also runs counter to the findings of Chumbley and Griffiths (2005), who found that frustration levels did not mediate the amount of time spent playing video games.
There were some other results that I can't dig up. I don't know where my final copy of my thesis went. Basically if you're depressed and not too emo about it, you're likely to play MMOs.
Posts
Your individual experiences do not dictate hard and fast universal laws.
Science does. You personally may not have had a problem quitting cigs, but cigarettes are physically addictive, period. WoW is not physically addictive, period. Or were you arguing on whether or not the comparison between a physical addiction and a psychological one was valid? Cause I'm not sure either way on that one since I can't really claim personal experience on any psychological addictions.
PSN: TheScrublet
The claim I'm making is that addiction is difficult, across the board.
It all involves chemical dependancy. Even with a psychological addicition, you still go through withdrawal.
I think a lot of the people who are claiming to have been "addicted" to WoW, and then completely stopping one day were not, in fact, addicted to WoW. Obsessed a bit, maybe, but not actually addicted.
By that definition very few people are addicted to WoW, and so it's not a very dangerous thing, though it IS designed to be addictive in a way that many hobbies or products (such as coffee) are, and so any "WoW on X, oh shit" or "WoW while Y, gasp" are just knee-jerk reactions.
How do you extrapolate that?
"A few folks say they used to be addicted, but they're really just exaggerating, ergo nobody is truly addicted"?
Hey, that's what you said, not me.
No, what I said is that the specific dudes in this thread who are talking about how addiction is easy because they quit being addicted and never looked back probably were never addicted.
I didn't say a thing about the countless other people who are too busy playing WoW right now to be posting on any forums. :P
Your "countless" is as much of an assumption as my "very few". The fact is every single time someone claimed to be addicted in any of the threads here you always replied "Well YOU don't count because you weren't addicted".
I'm not in here trying to argue that WoW is dangerous, which seems to be what you are worried about.
I am just asserting that addiction is addiction, and while it is possible to differentiate addiction based on external chemicals from addiction based on internal chemicals, NEITHER one is good.
That's a comment I can get behind. And again, while I think WoW has a greater susceptibility to abuse versus other video games, I don't think this is a PROBLEM for WoW that needs correction or oversight or something. I just get pissed when someone brings up someone playing an obviously unhealthy amount of the game and immediately people storm the thread with all kinds of negativity about how there's nothing wrong with someone who chooses to play WoW with the majority of hours in a day for weeks at a time.
PSN: TheScrublet
Oh, well yeah, on this point I agree with you.
Description and Methods:
This Study While it has been established that both online and offline gaming can influence player affect, it remains to be established whether users of MMOs can truly develop definitive addictions to the games they play. The leading MMO gaming company, Blizzard Entertainment, officially acknowledge the possibility of addiction by including the item on exit surveys they offer to players who have cancelled their accounts (Blizzard, 2006). Much of the available research is devoted to either dimensions of affect or on developing reliable measures of gaming addiction, while there is little focus on possible methods of prediction or prevention. To what extent can a player’s vulnerability to addiction influence the amount of time they devote to game play or excessive levels of internet dependence? If a person is predisposed to behavioural, physical, or psychological addiction, can their level of playfulness be predictive of the sort of activities to which they become addicted, e.g., gambling versus online games? The purpose of this study was to gain a broader knowledge of the predictive factors of online game play, and determine in particular whether or not they are similar to those that predict VLT gambling addiction. Personality traits that have been reliably associated with problem gambling behaviours will be assessed in players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Specifically, these traits are distress (anxiety, depression), impulsivity, tendency toward dissociation (Jefferson, 2006), and tendency toward playfulness (Apter, 1982). It was expected that the results of this study would further clarify what factors of personality can lead to behavioural addictions. It is certain that for a large majority of players, video games are simply a hobby; but the psychological causes and effects of gaming taken to extremes are not well-investigated, despite the harm they could potentially cause. This study will examine the following hypotheses in the hope of identifying these risks: 1) Individual levels of distress will be significantly correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs. 2) Individual levels of distress will be significantly positively correlated with internet addiction. 3) Impulsivity will be significantly positively correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs 4) Impulsivity will be significantly positively correlated with the level of internet addiction. 5) Dissociative tendencies will be significantly positively correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs 6) Dissociative tendencies will be significantly positively correlated with the level of internet addiction. 7) Attitudes towards playfulness will be significantly correlated with time spent playing MMORPGs 8) Attitudes towards playfulness will be significantly correlated with the level of internet addiction. [B] Methods [/B] [B]Participants:[/B] Participants were 22 students from the University of New Brunswick, recruited via posters and email over the Winter term of 2007. There were 2 females and 20 males, with ages ranging from 18 to 26 and a mean age of 19.95. Each participant was screened to ensure they were current players of massively multiplayer online games (MMORPGs). For the purposes of this study, MMORPGs were defined as games which: 1. Were designed primarily for large-population internet play, as opposed to solo play; 2. Included communication functionality for use outside of discrete rounds of gameplay (e.g. game-wide chat/trade channels that can be accessed any time, as opposed to online ‘lobbies’ designed for team communication within discrete rounds of play); 3. Accommodated in-game economies and/or item trading between players; 4. Allowed players to upgrade or enhance their in-game character through continued play. These factors are intended to isolate MMORPGs from other large-scale online games, such as first-person shooters, which may include communication functions but are primarily based on timed rounds of action-oriented play as opposed to socializing and character development. The proposal for this research had been approved by both a departmental ethics committee and a university ethics committees.Materials
[B]Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS)[/B] Higher scores on the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Appendix A) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were found to be predictive of problem gambling behaviour by Steve Jefferson in 2006. For this reason, it was used for this study in order to ascertain any common factors between a predisposition to problem VLT gambling and a predisposition to excessive internet gaming. It consists of 42 items scored on a 4-point scale (0 = Did not apply to me at all, 1 = Applied to me to some degree or some of the time, 2 = Applied to me to a considerable degree or a good part of the time, 3 = Applied to me very much or most of the time). The DASS has internal reliability ranging between .89 and .96 (Brown et. al., 1997) [B]Dissociation Questionnaire (DQ)[/B] Dissociation is a tendency to ‘zone out’ or to disconnect from the world around oneself. The Dissociative Questionnaire (Appendix B) was adapted from one used by Diskin and Hodgins (1999) for use with experiences during the use of MMORPGS. The scale consists of 5 questions, with 4 used to assess dissociative feelings while playing, and 1 about losing track of time. For example, one question asks “After a session of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, have you ever felt as if you had been in a trance?†Each item is scored from 0, or “never†to 4, or “all the timeâ€. According to a study conducted by Diskin and Hodgins in 2001, the DQ has a Cronbach alpha of approximately .78 prior to adaptation for use in this study. [B]Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 (BIS-10)[/B] Jefferson (2006) found Impulsivity to be a predictor of VLT gambling addiction, using the Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 (BIS-10; Barrat, 1985). The Barrat Impulsivity Scale (Appendix C) consists of 34 items on a 4-point Likert scale (Rarely/never, Occasionally, Often, Almost always). Examples of these items include, “I plan tasks carefully†or “I say things without thinking.†The BIS-10 measures three aspects of impulsivity: Non-planning, motor impulsiveness, and cognitive impulsiveness. A total score can be obtained by summing these three measures. The Barrat Impulsivity Scale-Version 10 has a Cronbach’s alpha of approximately .80 (Patton, Stanford, & Barrat, 1995) and has been shown to have validity by O’Boyle and Barrat (1993). [B]Telic-paratelic dominance (TDS)[/B] The telic-paratelic dominance scale (Appendix D) is based on research done by Apter on reversal theory (Apter, 1982). This measure is designed to assess an individual’s attitudes towards playfulness. It consists of 42 items with 3 response options each: 1 telic/nonplayful, 1 paratelic/playful, and 1 neither (e.g., Compile a short dictionary for financial reward, Write a short story for fun, Not sure.). Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter, and Ray (1978) found the test-retest reliability of the TDS to be between .634 and .711 at a period of 6 months, and that it had construct validity. Demographic questionnaire and play time measure At the beginning of every questionnaire set, there was a self-report measure (Appendix E) used to collect general information from the participant (e.g., gender, age, faculty) as well as a report of time spent playing MMORPGS in the week prior to the date of their participation. The time report consisted of three questions on a 4-point scale (Less than 1 hour, 1 to 2 hours, 2 to 3 hours, more than 3 hours) with each question referring to a specific time of day (8am to 4pm, 4pm to midnight, midnight to 8am). Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) [B]The Internet Addiction Scale (Appendix F)[/B] (IAS, Nichols & Nicki, 2003) was used to measure internet addiction in participants. It consists of 31 items based on seven DSM-IV criteria (APA, 1994) for substance dependence and two criteria (salience, mood modification) suggested by Griffiths (1998). Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = frequently, 5 = always) with higher scores on the scale representing greater likelihood of internet addiction in the respondent. The scale uses a cutoff score of 3 or above to determine whether or not addiction is present. The IAS has been found to be a highly reliable measure (Cronbach Alpha = .95) by Nichols and Nicki (2003) and has been shown to have construct validity. They went on to caution that the test-retest and reliability and criterion-related validity must be further established. Procedure The questionnaire packets were randomly shuffled to give four different test orders: DASS, BIS, DQ, IAS, TDS; DASS, IAS, BIS, DQ, TDS; DQ, IAS, BIS, TDS, DASS; and BIS, DQ, DASS, TDS, IAS. Each packet always included the demographic questionnaire as its first page. Study sessions were held in campus residences and classrooms in order to accommodate the scheduling needs of potential participants. Before responding to the questionnaires, each participant was asked to read and sign an informed consent form (Appendix G). Email addresses were also collected as a means of contacting those who wished to be included in the draw or to receive results for the study. They were compensated with a chance to win one of four $50 prize draws, and were informed of the approximate odds of winning based on the goal number of participants [1/80]. Actual odds of winning were 1/22, with each participant only able to win once. There were difficulties involved in the recruitment process which prevented us from obtaining a larger sample. These problems included a delayed response on the part of the residence community administration, as well as an apparent lack of interest in the 50$ prize. In one case, students commented to the researchers that this prize was inadequate for the time required to fill out the questionnaires, approximately 30 minutes. Upon finishing the questionnaire, participants were given a debriefing form (Appendix H).You're a dangerous idea.
You belong in a museum, Dr. Langfor6.
This subject bears further research. I do not know that many universal claims can be made with such a low sample size.
Yeah it's hard to do something large-scale when a large portion of our sample wouldn't peel themselves away from WoW for a half-hour to win 50$. They wouldn't give up WoW for a half-hour for a chance to win a couple free months...
Then again it's only an Honours thesis. I'm not expected to write a 200-page dissertation for my BAHon.
"Is World of Wacraft on the iPhone a dangerous idea?" is something I'd expect to see on Fox News. The introduction would have explosions and the font would be on fire.
I would also say that you could insert any video game in the place of WoW and you could see the same response. I would say though WoW is more capable of sustaining the interest for longer periods due to how much there is to do and how you are rewarded for spending your time. Since WoW rewards you for spending a large amount of time in straight blocks it is more likely to interfere with your life. Yes other games can be addicting but in single player games one can pause or come back to the game with out any loss or set back but in WoW missing raid times can put you far back on progressing further on.
The DSM is a good resource but its not always 100% correct there is a reason why it is revised quite often. The internet is a relatively new device and there is not enough empirical evidence there to support any claim that there is an addictive quality to video games it does not mean that such addiction does not exist. This is the same resource that once stated homosexuality was a mental health issue. There is a reason why it has to be revised and challenged. It 10 years we will have a lot more information on the subject and we may discover that there is no addicting quality to but it is something that needs to be looked at.
There is a lot of things in game that I do not get a chance to do because they are massive time sinks ie. trade skills.
I think would pay like $5-$10 for an app that allow me to play the auction house or raise my fishing/cooking skill even a mini game that would reward me gold or experience. It would help me maximize my playtime as a casual player.
They should just make like a WoW poker mini game. I would much rather gamble my gold then play with real money.
or rather maybe you don't
i liked what you posted is what i was trying to say
Shit, I'd get off for four times as long if it meant 50$! I'm broke, I need the money! :P
ed: And before you comment, no, I am not unemployed/broke due to WoW. It is a very simple cycle: I do not have a job and thus can't get any contacts, and I do not have any contacts and thus can not get a job.
huh, contacts?
you mean like networking stuff?
you can always pick up a help-wanted section.
PSN: TheScrublet
Thanks.
Last part here. I'm not concerned about finding my bibliography or anything.
Part 4 - Results
There were some other results that I can't dig up. I don't know where my final copy of my thesis went.