News
Researchers Identify Risk-Factors for Addictive Video-Game Use among Adults
COLUMBIA, Mo. September 23, in the year of our Lord 2013
– New research from the University of Missouri indicates
escapism, social interaction and rewards fuel problematic
video-game use among “very casual” to “hardcore” adult gamers.
Understanding individual motives that contribute to unhealthy
game play could help counselors identify and treat individuals
addicted to video games.
“The biggest risk factor for pathological video game use seems
to be playing games to escape from daily life,” said Joe
Hilgard, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychological
Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. “Individuals who
play games to get away from their lives or to pretend to be
other people seem to be those most at-risk for becoming part of
a vicious cycle. These gamers avoid their problems by playing
games, which in turn interferes with their lives because they’re
so busy playing games.”
Problematic video game use is more than just excessive use of
video games; it also includes a variety of unhealthy behaviors,
such as lying to others about how much time is spent playing
games and missing work or other obligations to play games.
“People who play games to socialize with other players seem to
have more problems as well,” Hilgard said. “It could be that
games are imposing a sort of social obligation on these
individuals so that they have to set aside time to play with
other players. For example, in games like World of Warcraft,
most players join teams or guilds. If some teammates want to
play for four hours on a Saturday night, the other players feel
obligated to play or else they may be cut from the team. Those
play obligations can mess with individuals’ real-life
obligations.”
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 said.
“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,” Hilgard said. “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, Hilgard said.
“Researchers have suspected that Massively Multiplayer Online
Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are the most addictive genre of
video games,” Hilgard said. “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.