Online Video Game Addiction: Exploring a New Phenomenon

Over a period of thirty years, video games have evolved from Pac Man to photorealistic, massively populated, three-dimensional environments. Adolescents become involved with online virtual communities (tribes, guilds, groups) and play games on a daily basis with people they have never seen in ‘real’ life. Large online games provide a virtual environment in which they have fun and can freely experiment with different identities, speak other languages, and form new social connections at the same time. Nowadays, games have developed beyond simple concepts such as ‘eat-the-yellow-dots’ in Pac Man. Gaming now includes sophisticated persistent virtual worlds (World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars), competitive team-based online shooting games (Counterstrike, Team Fortress 2), and multiuser real-time strategy games (Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3). These changes are largely driven by the rapid developments in computing power and internet access, as well as by the declining costs of consumer electronics. As a result of increased availability, more people are playing games; however, some individuals seem to be playing more as well. A 2008 press release by the market research group NPD states that: “…of the 174 million gamers who personally play games on PC/Mac or video game systems, three percent are Extreme Gamers” (NPD, 2008). Extreme gamers play an average of 45 hours per week. A press release by the same firm two years later stated that this percentage had increased. In 2010 the NPD group reported that the group of extreme gamers had grown to four percent, emphasizing that “…extreme gamers spend two full days per week playing video games” (NPD, 2010)

Lost in the chaos: Flawed literature should not generate new disorders

The paper by Kuss, Griffiths, and Pontes (2016) titled “Chaos and confusion in DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder: Issues, concerns, and recommendations for clarity in the field” examines issues relating to the concept of Internet Gaming Disorder. We agree that there are serious issues and extend their arguments by suggesting that the field lacks basic theory, definitions, patient research, and properly validated and standardized assessment tools. As most studies derive data from survey research in functional populations, they exclude people with severe functional impairment and provide only limited information on the hypothesized disorder. Yet findings from such studies are widely used and often exaggerated, leading many to believe that we know more about the problem behavior than we do. We further argue that video game play is associated with several benefits and that formalizing this popular hobby as a psychiatric disorder is not without risks. It might undermine children’s right to play or encourage repressive treatment programs, which ultimately threaten children’s right to protection against violence. While Kuss et al. (2016) express support for the formal implementation of a disorder, we argue that before we have a proper evidence base, a sound theory, and validated assessment tools, it is irresponsible to support a formal category of disorder and doing so would solidify a confirmatory approach to research in this area

Addressing problematic video game use: A multimethod, dual-context perspective on leisure-time use : Commentary on: Policy responses to problematic video game use: A systematic review of current measures and future possibilities (Király et al., 2018)

A more integrative approach to the prevention of problematic gaming behavior is recommended in Király et al.’s review. We discuss the Dutch policy responses to problematic gaming behavior and suggest two alternatives to the dominant survey research approach to achieve this. Employing time-use/diary studies allows us to map out the full scope of leisure-time use and employing log-data analysis improves our understanding of gamer behavior within the virtual context. All of these approaches would benefit from accounting for the diversity of within-virtual context behavior. The approach is summarized as a multimethod, dual-context approach to understanding leisure-time behavior

4th International Conference on Behavioral Addictions February 20–22, 2017 Haifa, Israel

Background and aims: Previous small-scale studies in Portugal suggested that a minority of adolescents could be at risk for developing technological addictions such as Internet addiction (IA) and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). However, these findings are still to be replicated by larger studies using more robust samples. In light of this, the present aimed to ascertain how IA, IGD, and Facebook addiction (FA) may impact on Portuguese school-aged adolescents' mental health. Methods: A total of 509 school -aged adolescents were recruited (M age = 13 years; S.D. = 1.64 years) to a multi-technological addictions project. Data were collected on participants' sociodemographic, IA, IGD, FA, and several psychiatric symptoms. Results: Overall, the incidence of technological addictions was not overly prevalent across the sample (0% IA; 1% IGD; 1.8% FA), and a small minority of adolescents appeared to be 'at-risk' for developing technological addictions (1.6% IA; 0.6% IGD; 2.4% FA). Finally, increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were found to be consistently associated with augmented symptomatology of technological addictions. Conclusions: The findings of the present study provided preliminarily insights into how technological addictions may affect Portuguese school-aged adolescents, and corroborated a large body of international studies that found systematic links between technological addictions and psychiatric comorbidities

The Internet addiction components model and personality: Establishing construct validity via a nomological network

There is growing concern over excessive and sometimes problematic Internet use. Drawing upon the framework of the components model of addiction (Griffiths, 2005), Internet addiction appears as behavioural addiction characterised by the following symptoms: salience, withdrawal, tolerance, mood modification, relapse and conflict. A number of factors have been associated with an increased risk for Internet addiction, including personality traits. The overall aim of this study was to establish the association between personality traits and the Internet addiction components model in order to develop a theoretical framework via a nomological network. Internet addiction and personality traits were assessed in two independent samples of 3,105 adolescents in the Netherlands and 2,257 university students in England. The results indicate that low agreeableness and high neuroticism/low emotional stability are associated the Internet addiction components factor in both samples. However, low conscientiousness and low resourcefulness predicted it in the adolescent sample only. The implications include the usage of the Internet addiction components model as parsimonious tool for the initial screening of potential clients in mental health institutes, and identifying populations at risk through their personality traits which may prove advantageous for the initiation of targeted preventions efforts

Video gaming in a hyperconnected world: A cross-sectional study of heavy gaming, problematic gaming symptoms, and online socializing in adolescents

Aims Examining online social interactions along with patterns of video gaming behaviors and game addiction symptoms has the potential to enrich our understanding of disorders related to excessive video game play. Methods We performed latent class analysis in a sample of 9733 adolescents based on heavy use of games, social networking and instant messaging, and game addiction symptoms. We used latent class regression to determine associations between classes, psychosocial well-being and friendship quality. Results We identified two types of heavy gaming classes that differed in probability of online social interaction. Classes with more online social interaction reported fewer problematic gaming symptoms than those with less online social interaction. Most adolescents estimated to be in heavy gaming classes had more depressive symptoms than normative classes. Male non-social gamers had more social anxiety. Female social gamers had less social anxiety and loneliness, but lower self-esteem. Friendship quality attenuated depression in some male social gamers, but strengthened associations with loneliness in some male non-social gamers. Conclusions In adolescents, symptoms of video game addiction depend not only on video game play but also on concurrent levels of online communication, and those who are very socially active online report fewer symptoms of game addiction

Behavioural Addiction Open Definition 2.0 – Using the open science framework for collaborative and transparent theoretical development

Commentary to: How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours?</p

Assessing Internet addiction using the parsimonious Internet addiction components model - a preliminary study [forthcoming]

Internet usage has grown exponentially over the last decade. Research indicates that excessive Internet use can lead to symptoms associated with addiction. To date, assessment of potential Internet addiction has varied regarding populations studied and instruments used, making reliable prevalence estimations difficult. To overcome the present problems a preliminary study was conducted testing a parsimonious Internet addiction components model based on Griffiths’ addiction components (2005), including salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse. Two validated measures of Internet addiction were used (Compulsive Internet Use Scale [CIUS], Meerkerk et al., 2009, and Assessment for Internet and Computer Game Addiction Scale [AICA-S], Beutel et al., 2010) in two independent samples (ns = 3,105 and 2,257). The fit of the model was analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results indicate that the Internet addiction components model fits the data in both samples well. The two sample/two instrument approach provides converging evidence concerning the degree to which the components model can organize the self-reported behavioural components of Internet addiction. Recommendations for future research include a more detailed assessment of tolerance as addiction component