Only 15% of Gamers are Internet Addicts

Huckster writes "Jeffrey Parsons - a doctoral candidate from University of Iowa has resently conducted a research on MMORPG addiction. It took a while to get the results - but they are now available. The study found that about 15% of gamers meet the criteria for Internet addiction as provided by Kimberly Young, a leading researcher in Internet addiction. Using more strict criteria, a minimum of at least 10% of gamers met criteria for Internet addiction. Compared to national studies of Internet addiction, this numbers are somewhat elevated. However, given the sheer number of hours MMORPG gamers spend online (in comparison to the general population), even a 15% addiction rate is somewhat low. To illustrate the point, the college student spends 10 hours on the Internet per week. The average MMORPG gamer (addicted or not) spends 20-25 hours per week just playing MMORPGs, and an additional 10-15 hours per week in other Internet use. In other words, MMORPG players are spending 4x as much time online as non-gamers."

Comments

Bit of a strawman (I think), however...

[grub]

If 15% of people who enjoyed a cold beer or a glass of wine were considered alcoholics I'm sure the word "only" wouldn't be in the headline.

Re:Bit of a strawman (I think), however...

[Golias]

Lots of people spend 20-30 hours or more a week watching TV, and most of society considers this to be perfectly normal.

During softball season, I spend close to 10 hours a week either playing games or practicing fastpitch softball, and I'm considered a very "casual" player in my league. Some people spend more time playing softball than they spend at their jobs.

In High School, I knew a guy who spent almost every evening and every weekend hacking and wardialing for hours on end. These days, he's gainfully employed in the IT field.

"Does something a lot" != "Addicted"

The only thing which makes a person who spends 30 hours a week playing a game different from most people is that their chosen form of recreation happens to be a fringe activity. They are not hurting anybody, so I say leave them the hell alone.

Furthermore, can we get past this stupid habbit of calling every apparant obsessive/compulsive behavior an "addiction?" It's not as if these people are going to go through withdrawl symptoms if they are deprived of their gaming "fix" for a couple weeks.

Re:Bit of a strawman (I think), however...

[88NoSoup4U88]

Very well said indeed... untill the last line :

Furthermore, can we get past this stupid habbit of calling every apparant obsessive/compulsive behavior an "addiction?"

Addiction, by defenition, is :
- Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance.
- The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.

So calling "apparent obsessive/compulsive behaviour" an addiction, is only because that -is- the defenition of it :
I do agree with him though ; that 'spending alot of time' does not equal addiction.

It's not as if these people are going to go through withdrawl symptoms if they are deprived of their gaming "fix" for a couple weeks.

That's only true if you are comparing withdrawal symptons from, let's say, heroine addiction, to the withdrawal symptons from missing out on a month of RPG-ing.

Hell, even I really long for playing a (FPS) game when I haven't done so for a week.

They're designed to be that way.

[ShortedOut]

Every game made today..
The first level is easy to accomplish.
Second level is marginally harder.

Before long, you have to press the lever 10,000 times to get your treat. By that time, you've grown old, wife left, dog died.. etc.

The games are DESIGNED to addict you. You don't make subscription money if you don't have a good core base of addicts.

MMORPG's are designed to last for years. The more addicting, and the ability to constantly provide rewards througout the game, will keep a guy hemmed up for years.

Hate the word "addiction"

[goldspider]

Slightly OT rant:

Why is every bad habit these days assigned a diagnosis of "addiction"?

I'll tell you why. Because if we can blame our bad habits on a disease, something out of our control, then we can absolve ourselves of any responsibility for it.

Face it, most of these purely psychological "addictions" that plague modern society can be corrected with a little behavior modification and a little willpower.

Re:Only 15% of Doctoral Canidates are useful

[Scarblac]

Speak for yourself. Back in the day when I was a MUD addict, it cost me about seven years of my life. About four years playing and doing nothing else, three more of depression when I had finally kicked it. Needed several psychologists to finally get back on my feet. It was a very big problem, I was aware of it and miserable, and unable to stop.