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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."
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.
Trolling is a art,
Internet addiction is a made up/hyped up thing so Frauds can scam money from the gullible.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
It took a while to get the results...
Perhaps somebody was fooling around on the INTERNET when they should have been working?
Jeez, I'm one to talk...
Why did he resent conducting the study? Did someone force him to do it against his will?
Gotta do something to fill the void of loneliness. And sometimes a steady regiment of Hotpockets, Mountain Dew, and cigarettes simply won't do.
The net mean age in the survey is more telling, I think, than the subject of the survey: MMORPG gamers.
~ 23 or 24 appears to be the net mean age of all survey groups, and in my experience, and as someone from that generation, we spend a lot of time online for many different reasons.
I'm a programmer and an information junkie who's never played a MMORPG in his life. When I was interviewed for my job last year, I was told the company was looking for someone who "lives on the web." All these people focusing on games don't realize the most obvious phenomenon: the web as a lifestyle.
I Want To Believe
To me, how much you do something doesn't make it addictive, it's whether it starts interfering with normal life. I probably easily surpass the requirements, however I still have a perfectly normal social life.
This probably seems obvious, but the important point is, people who become addicted easily can become addicted to anything they come into contact with - drugs (legal or illegal), internet browsing, exercise/fitness, even possible reading Slashdot!
However, I think a disproportionate number of people with addictive personalities are drawn into gaming, especially MMPORGs, and for this reason you have this, actually relatively high figure for addiction.
Get a free iPod Nano 4GB!
Most Americans are addicted to driving their cars.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
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.
I can quit anytime I want to! I just don't want to *twitch*
I was afraid I had a problem with my gaming...
You wanna know who the REAL internet addicts are? People at work posting on slashdot... using Google... etc, etc.. I bet they match the "criteria"
I'd say that in many of these cases, the 20 some hours a week in the game is just displacing the 20 some hours a week previously spent watching TV. The games are not inherently evil, they just give us something to do other then watch the idiot box...
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.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
...I am reporting that most (more than 85%) of gamers have fantasized about Lara Croft and a bucket of chicken.
Film at 11.
Tough day? How about a free Mac mini?
Is there any form of an authoritative definition of internet addiction? I mean, I spend a lot of time online a day, like probably many of the readers here, so my interest has been raised.
I personally do not believe that it can be determined quantitatively by how long one spends on the net; rather, perhaps some quality of the use may determine addiction.
As a student, I spend considerable quantities of time online performing research and consulting reference materials. For many things, it is just more efficient to do things online as opposed to performing inefficient information retrieval offline.
Even the Politburo concurs with Process of Elimination http://process-of-elimination.net
I'm an addict and I know why. The internet can give me whatever I want (from porn to news) when I want it. I don't have to listen to some idiots opinion on the news but I can get every side of the argument then do my own research to see which is true.
When I get this open else where I might care, untill then the Internet is the best resource for myself.
I like muppets.
an internet study on internet addiction? Not sure the volunteers will really be a representative cross-section.
Besides, most of the MMORPG addicts were too busy playing to take the 5-10 minute survey.
This comment was generated by a squadron of trained super elite albino ninja chickens for you.
Women gamers were more likely than men... to have children
In other news, male gamers are more likely to pee standing up.
The term 'Internet addiction' is far too broad. There are MMORPG addicts, chat addicts, porn addicts and so forth. In my eyes, the biggest sign that you are addicted to something on the internet is when it starts to cause big emotional responses. If you start crying because of someone you're chatting with who you will never meet, then you have a problem. If you start crying because some other character rolled higher for an item you really wanted, then you have a problem. If you start crying during porn, you have a problem (though its probably not addiction).
I'm almost willing to bet that more than 15% of the MMORPG population is addicted to it. What other reason would a person play EQ for 5 years?
I used to scoff at Internet addiction until I witnessed it firsthand. My roommate in University was hopelessly addicted to MMORPGS. It got to the point where he was skipping class to play. Shortly after that, he started asking everyone to call him by the name of his Everquest character (I think it was StealthDemon or something rather lame like that). It was *extremely* uncomfortable when he got up in front of the Stats201 class to "announce" his name change. It didn't help that he was wearing a cape and a huge plumed hat at the time, either. Before I moved out, he had actually started keeping a pail under his computer desk to urinate into so he wouldn't have to miss any action. Pretty sad, really.
I always save my last mod point to mod up a good troll. You people are too serious.
In other words, MMORPG players are spending 4x as much time online as non-gamers.
Normal User: 10-15hrs
MMPORG User: 10-15hrs + 20-25hrs
If we're using the low end of the scale:
Normal User: 10hrs
MMPORG User: 10+20=30hrs
That's 3x the internet usage
If we're using the high end of the scale:
Normal User: 15hrs
MMPORG User: 15+25=40hrs
Again, that's 3x the internet usage.
The Kimberly Young definition of internet addiction: http://www.netaddiction.com/whatis.htm
Granted, this article is a few years old, but the main point will always remain. There is no such thing as an "Internet addiction"
I think what I am should be considered an addict. I always tell myself I'm going to stop, but always find myself coming back to it a month later... I really hate this. I wish I could keep a balance between real life and the virtual worlds, but that just isn't what happens.
Thank god I have people around me who notice when I get sucked in... I know there are many others who don't have anyone around to keep an eye on their health.
And no, I don't think playing 6+ hours a day is healthy.
When someone tells you that you have a problem because you played a game (MMORPG or not) between 6:00PM and 10:00PM the night before. And what did these people do during the same timeframe last night? They watched TV.
Gone on the road for two weeks, working 14 days straight for a total of 145 hours. Come back and play with friends on an afternoon, what's the verdict: I play too much videogames.
It really is mainly about some people's perception of valid use of your free time. My rule of thumb is not to tell any woman born before 1980 that I even know what a computer is.
I unsubscribed from world of warcraft yesterday. I'm a weekend player, but my friends/roommates are truly addicted to the game. Seeing them play day in and day out just made me hate the game. They go to college, and well, at least one of them is gonna flunk classes this semester due to that game. I have work during the week which leaves no time for the game, and well, I want to do something other than stare at a screen on the weekends. Anybody else unsubscribe from WoW for this reason?
I'm wondering how many of these people would be playing offline games for about the same amount of time if there were no MMORPGS? Wouldn't they be "Gaming Addicts" instead of "internet addicts"?
I know for myself that before I got sucked into the good MMORPG on the market today, I'd still spend hours at the 'puter playing "offline" games...
The whole concept of 'Internet addiction' is pretty laughable, IMHO, and certainly using 'hours spent online per week' is completely useless from any scientific point of view.
How do you decide when someone is online or not? When their computer is running and connected to the net? In that case, I'm online 168 hours a week. I better get help immediately!
If you say it's 'hours spent using the Internet', that's no better. When I go to sleep at night, I like to listen to BBC news. No station in my area carries it, so I listen to it streaming from KERA in Dallas to an Airport Express and a small pair of speakers in my bedroom (where there is no computer). Am I thus 'using the Internet' while I'm lying there asleep? Certainly, there's a lot of network traffic going on, but I'm just listening to the frickin' radio!
What about if I'm just sitting at my computer playing Solitaire? Am I 'online' during that hour? What if, unbeknowst to me, my anti-virus fires up and downloads a new set of updates while I'm doing it?
The concept of 'an hour spent online' lacks any rigorous definition whatsoever. And people that spend a lot of time trying to do math with those made-up numbers make me wonder what it must have been like back when the telephone was invented. Surely the business world today is filled with people who would have been considered 'addicted to the telephone system' by similar pedants back in the early 20th century.
This is just academics trying to put numbers on things so they can get funded to do a study. Ignore them, and maybe they will go away.
Go read any of the BBs out there for mmorpgs, some people call 30 hours/wk 'casual' -- that's pretty much a job. They will adamantly talk about how I'm not an addict, I have a life, a job, etc. Well, so do lots of gambling addicts and alchoholic, doesn't mean a thing. Plus they are often posting to the boards that are filled with fellow junkies, looking for reinforcement of their behavior. And there's a lot of the 'well I only play 30 hrs, so and so plays 40, he/she is clearly out of control, but I'm fine'
I am a mmorpg player. I've played a ton of the d*mn things (EQ, AO, DAoC, CoH, WoW) they can suck up all your time, cut into sleep, etc etc. Luckily, with each new one I've played I found I quit them sooner and sooner and get bored more easily. Nonetheless, I still play them WAY more than I should, they are clearly unproductive timesinks, nothing more. Yes, I've had fun and met some cool people - but mmorpgs can get in the way of more important things for sure.
Some people though, live in these things. Sad but true story - there's a friend's friend who has been playing EverCrack ever since it came out like 5(?) years ago. He's late 30s lives with his mom, has no job, and plays EQ like 8-10 hours a day. He threatens to go back to get his college degree every now and again, takes one or two classes here or there - but usually has some excuse on why he can't finish, goes back to playing f/t and just lives off his mom (who should clearly kiss his a*s out, but that's another story...)
While his story might be a bit more extreme than most, I don't think his is unique.
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
I spend all my free time playing Duke Nukem Forever on my Phantom console.
I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
I have no idea how you can say playing CS 10 hrs/day is addiction, but playing a mmorpg for the same is a lifestyle. Semantic nonsense, I'm sorry. 50 hrs/week of gaming period (FPS, RTS, MMORPG) sounds like addiction to me, that's a freakin f/t job with overtime for pete's sake.
I'm a mmorpg player as well, but I would NEVER call it a lifestyle, it's entertainment, that's it. If it's a lifestyle, then it's a sad one.
Reminds me of Dan from the show Night Court who during a fit of self-loathing said "I don't have a life... I have a lifestyle."
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
We have a nation of people who watch tv for upwards of 30 hours a week but somehow interacting with other via a video game is given the bad name? Don't get me wrong, if your major social outlet is Everquest there is an issue, IMHO. But it's better than the millions of beer bellies that can't pull themselves from "the game" or Survivor long enough to help their kids with their homework.
What it comes down to it, dollar for dollar, 20 hours of Everquest a week is your best entertainment value, well, right after copyright infringement.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Since half of the posts in response to this article will devolve into some sort of argument about what is and isn't an "addiction", I feel I need to define it.
An addiction is any behavior that someone does in preference to other things and which results in adverse effects on another aspect of their life (e.g. relationships, job, assets, etc). Both of those things are important. If you just prefer to do something but it's not causing a problem, it's not an addiction.
Note that there is nothing in the definition describing "withdrawal" or whether it's psychological or physical or anything like that. Most of those things come from people's half understanding of substance abuse terminology, and have nothing to do with it. There is confusion over "dependence" and "addiction", such that people can be addicted to drugs (using them and having life problems) and be either physically dependent (e.g. heroin), mentally dependent (e.g. cocaine) or neither, although the last one is rare with drugs (it more applies to things like gambling and such).
In other words, MMORPG players are spending 4x as much time online as non-gamers
Uh, well, it is an online game, so I would imagine they would indeed spend more time online than non-gamers. I could have told you that.
Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices. -Theodor Adorno
Nope, the 'G' in MMORPG stands for Game, it's still a game, it's one genre like RTS, FPSs, etc, but a game nontheless.
"to play an MMORPG properly a person has to DEDICATE a LOT more time. He is not ADDICTED to the game, he is simply PLAYING a LOT of the game... because thats how they are designed."
'has to DEDICATE? It's a choice, you don't HAVE to do diddly. Like I said, I've played plenty of mmorpgs, and I utterly disagree. If feel you feel like you have to, then it's a compulsion, hence, addiction.
"On the other hand, a guy who is playing CountStrike 10+ hours is ADDICTED because a CS match lasts 5-15 mins max... in other words, the game has the OPTION to quit."
The distance to the carrot that's dangling in front of you is irrelevant, be it 15 min or 3 hours. You have the option to quit ANY game from any genre, if you think quitting isn't an option, that right there IS addiction my friend. You can quit you mmorpg session any time you please.
"Once you reach high level in an MMORPG, and start facing epic monsters, PvP, etc... even a single raid can EASILY take 4+hours... so, you are REQUIRED to spend that much time. Its part of the game."
Again you say "REQUIRED" -- by what, your own compulsion? You aren't required to do do a raid or play for 4 hours, I've done raids, it was my choice, generally I don't bother b/c they do take too much time to complete - it's a game design flaw imo, one I choose to ignore, 'required 'doesn't fit into the equation, unless you choose to put it there.
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
Fellow slashdotter nbCaffeine and I had Kimberly Young as a professor for our "Intro to Business Information Systems" class, which, as CompSci majors, we were taking towards an easy minor in BIS. The course was really more of a 100 level thing, as we discussed the various components of computers, basic network topology, and server-client basics.
Throughout the class, she would constantly venture off on tangents about her work in studying "Internet Addiction", and what a terrible thing it is... She's published a few books and papers on the topic, but in real life, she doesn't seem to be that big a superhero researcher. In fact, she's really quite amusing, whatwith the curly-afro like hairdo and the subtle woman-moustache, not to mention the thick rimmed glasses she wore. She always told stories about how internet addiction leads to marital woes, citing examples of women and men who confessed to her that they had been cheating on their spouse via online relationships. Given that that's what she mostly talked about, I would propose that her professional interest and expertise with regard to "internet addiction" predominantly center around the affects of chatrooms and IM on personal "offline in the real world" relationships. Now, with MMORPGs, one must consider how applicable Kimberly Young's research is. I can see how there would be an argument that there are parallels between say, the interactions you have with other people in a MMORPG and those with people in a chatroom.... However, if you're really into the RP aspect of those games, you might be TOTALLY different in that regard than say the person you'd be in a chatroom... You know what, maybe we could do a Slashdot Interview with Kimberly Young, if somebody tells me to go ahead, I'll send her an e-mail and then submit the idea.
Isn't it interesting how you come to recognize posters based solely on their sigs???
There's a lot of back and forth in here about what addiction is, but no one has bothered to identify the definition of addiction. As with most posts you slashdotters have strong opinions, but a lot of you have preconceptions of what others define as addiction to computers/internet/MMORPGs.
I believe its safe to say if a single man gets up in the morning, washes up, dresses nicely for his job, works 8 hours, eats 3 square meals and keeps his apartment clean, and spends every other hour not doing this playing a MMORPG, that he's not addicted. He's well adjusted, like's his game, but knows his other priorities.
I also believe its safe to say that if a man spends 5 days straight playing a game, skips classes to play it, gets little or no sleep, fails to much of anything, both he and his apartment reek of dead ass, and has problems with his grades and health, then he's probably addicted and needs some help.
The deciding factor is usually how you are hurting yourself or those around you. There is plenty of gray area between the two examples. The report is definitely trying to address the latter, and is not trying to make severe judgements just because someone responsible likes to spend 4 hours a night playing games.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Having sunk the better part of a 120 days into EQ, I've tried many MMO's since, actually wanting to get addicted again with no luck at all. A few of my friends who were playing with me back then that I keep in touch with also seem to have the same 'problem'. I suppose this could be an aberation, but I think what happens is that once our brains wrap around the game elements that keep bringing us back, it grows dull and tedious.
Most Americans are overweight, but that doesn't make it healthy. Just because it is normal to spend 4 hours a day watching TV doesn't make it healthy. OTOH I don't think anyone would argue that spending 10 hours a week practicing at a sport is unhealthy, even if it is way more exercise than is "normal".
Playing video games (even online) is a little like watching TV. You can learn things from both. But eventually you hit a point of diminishing returns where the opportunity cost exceeds the additional knowledge gained. Most people I know would think that 30 hours of TV in a week is too much. The knowledge gained from the TV would come at the cost of interactions with family/friends, sports, and other activies.
Playing video games is also kind of like smoking weed. Many people frown on it, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. People generally don't hurt others while high. But they often displace other activities to smoke weed, which can be a problem.
The medical profession generally agrees that you cannot get physically addicted to marijuana. But lots of people I know smoked for years because they didn't think there was a good reason to quit. The difference between this state and physical addiction seems dubious to me.
So I think that gameplaying is fine if it doesn't displace other activies, but that is basically impossible if you are playing 30 hours a week. And I think that classifying this as addiction is fair as well. If you could stop at any time but choose not to and the activity is harmful to yourself then it seems to fit the classic definition.
How often you do something has absolutely no bearing on whether you are addicted to it or not. You are only an addict when you are unable to stop.
For example, I spend 35 hours a week answering tech support queries. By the definition of a lot of people here, that would make me an addict. Well let me assure you, I would have no problem kicking the habit!
By contrast, I drink no more than two cups of coffee a day, hardly excessive by anyones standards, but my god am I a cranky SOB before my first cup. I probably am addicted to my morning caffeine hit.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
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."
Wow! People wwith a hobby of online computer games spend more time online than people who have other hobbies. Now if only someone would do a study to find out if people with gardens spend more time outside than those with high definition TV's.
I gues 85% of americans would be considered "Addicted" to TV since they spend upwards of 30-40 hours a week watching TV?
Who has the time to be both.