Online Gaming Addiction? Motives Predict Addictive Play Behavior in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Sep 15, 2012Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking

Motives predict addictive play in online role-playing games

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

MMORPG players are significantly more likely to experience gaming-related problems than nonplayers.

Escapism and game mechanics are strong predictors of excessive gaming.
These motivations may be more influential than the amount of time spent gaming.
The findings highlight the importance of differentiating between types of online games.
Results contribute to ongoing discussions about classifying online gaming addiction in mental health diagnoses.

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Recently, there have been growing concerns about excessive online gaming. Playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) appears to be particularly problematic, because these games require a high degree of commitment and time investment from the players to the detriment of occupational, social, and other recreational activities and relations. A number of gaming motives have been linked to excessive online gaming in adolescents and young adults. We assessed 175 current MMORPG players and 90 nonplayers using a Web-based questionnaire regarding their gaming behavior, problems as consequences of gaming, and game motivations and tested their statistical associations. Results indicated that (a) MMORPG players are significantly more likely to experience gaming-related problems relative to nonplayers, and that (b) the gaming motivations escapism and mechanics significantly predicted excessive gaming and appeared as stronger predictors than time investment in game. The findings support the necessity of using measures that distinguish between different types of online games. In addition, this study proves useful regarding the current discussion on establishing (online) gaming addiction as a diagnosis in future categorizations of psychopathology.

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Online Gaming Addiction? Motives Predict Addictive Play Behavior in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

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