Online Gaming Addiction: October 2016

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Lack of sleep

Playing video games at night is one of the major factors that deprive children from sleep according to a US study. The National Sleep Foundation discovered that 95 percent of the people they questioned used some type of electronic an hour before they went to bed. Two thirds of the subject stated that they did not get enough sleep.The subjects consisted of ages 13 and 18 years old which made a third of those that played games before bedtime. While 28 percent of young adult between 19 and 29 years old played games before bedtime reports Reuters.NSF’s vice chairman Russell Rosenberg believes that cell phones and computers are meant to make our lives more productive and enjoyable but it's abused by children, teens and adults and it ultimately contributes to lack of sleep at night. NSF believes lack of sleep will have a negative impact on people’s work ,mood ,family ,driving habits, health and school.

According to sleep experts, kids should be getting nine hours and 15 minutes of sleep a night, but according to study’s kids get an average seven hours and 26 minutes on weeknights. Kids are getting an hour to two hours less sleep a night that means that are lagging in about 50 hours of sleep a month. One in three children have sleep problems to the extent that it affects their body and mind reported by the study of 9,000 school children in Delhi and the NCR in the Indian Journal of Sleep Medicine two years ago (Sharma, 2015).Preliminary data from sleep clinics suggest that bedtime texting and surfing the Internet has caused the increased of number of underage insomniacs (Sharma, 2015).Over the past two years it is said that healthy children have been having troubling sleeping and staying due to the unlimited access to smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and laptop (Sharma, 2015).

Children stay up longer the older they become and the more time they spend more time using their devices. Boys most of the time are more likely to surf the Internet or play online games with their friends and girls are most likely to text or make a cell phone call. American researchers have suggested that the use of phone, email and games are part of the late night routines that affect sleep problems (Sharma, 2015).

A survey was done in 14 countries including India and 10,085 mothers reported that less than half the infants, toddlers and preschoolers surveyed had a regular bedtime routine every night. This study found that children with a specific bedtime routine sleeps better and sleep an average of more hours longer per night (Sharma, 2015).

Sources:

Sacco, D. (2011, March 8). Gaming causes lack of sleep. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gaming-causes-lack-of-sleep/04578

Sharma, S. (2015, August 8). Moody, distracted child? Blame it on bedtime smartphone use, from Hindustan Times.

Obesity

The American Academy of Pediatrics have been telling parents that media time (Television, gaming, electronics) should not surpass two hours daily for their kids (Sanghavi,2012). A research was done by Kaiser Family Foundation and average kids spend more than an hour online daily, more than an hour on video games and watch at least twice that much of television (Sanghavi, 2012).

Screen time has been blamed since the 1980s for the tripling obesity rates in children. In February 2012 a research was done in Texas and researchers reported their findings whether kids will lose weight if their regular games are replaced with an active alternative like Nintendo Wii console (Sanghavi,2012). The study entail 84 children that received the Wii consoles and one half of them were given exercise oriented games like EA Active and Wii Sports. This involves the players to move their arms, legs and body. While the other kids got inactive games like Madden NFL which doesn’t require that much body movement. The comparison of the result was disappointing, after months there was no proof that children that received more active games were indeed more active in general (Sanghavi, 2012).

An estimate of 12.5 million children between ages 2 and 19 are obese according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genetics and diet may have played a crucial role in childhood obesity, but the CDC also believes that passive media viewing can play a role to this disease (Loop,2015). Hence, just sitting in front of a television playing video games can play a role in a child developing weight problems (Loop,2015).

Playing video game is largely passive for most children in contrast to playing on a playground or playing sports at the park. Television viewing is similar to the passive aspects of video games because they both take away physical activity and may lead to weight again (Loop,2015). For instance the American Academy of Pediatrics on its HealthyChildren.org website stated that children that five hours plus of television per day have a four and a half times greater risk of being overweight than those that watch two hours or less of television (Loop,2015).

Children's weight are greatly influenced by whether they have active video games and if there is a television in the bedroom, according to the results of two new studies. (CBC, 2014). A study was done and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and it showed that children who had a television in their bedroom gained weight (CBC, 2014).

A research was done by the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in New Hampshire uncovering a pattern of weight gain when studying children with televisions in their bedroom. 3,055 children, between the ages of 10 to 14, were surveyed over a four-year period (CBC, 2014). Children were asked questions like :

o Do you have a TV in your bedroom?

o On school days, how many hours a day do you usually watch TV (excluding video-game playing).

o On school days, how many hours a day to you usually spend playing video or computer games?

o How many movies to you watch on TV in a week?

From the children the surveyed :

· 59.1 per cent had bedroom televisions.

· Boys were eight per cent more likely to have a set in their room than girls.

· Children with bedroom TVs reported that their parents were less demanding.

· Children with bedroom TVs had an excess BMI gain of 0.24 between the two-year and four-year benchmarks, which translated to 0.4 kilograms/year.

The study result shows that children with televisions in their bedrooms gained more weight than their peers without a television (CBC, 2014).

Sources:

Sanghavi, D. (2012). Are TV and Video Games Making Kids Fat? Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/04/are_video_games_making_kids_fat_screen_time_and_childhood_obesity_.html

Loop, E. (2015, May 25). Do Video Games Contribute to Childhood Obesity? Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games/

CBC News. (2014,March 03). Children's weight affected by bedroom TVs, active gaming. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/children-s-weight-affected-by-bedroom-tvs-active-gaming-1.2558270

Lacking Social Skills

One in five Americans suffer from loneliness, while technology has increased with social media keeping everyone connected it's hard for people to interact in person which raises the cause of loneliness. Also which is really unhealthy and can raise the level of physical and psychological health problems, including heart disease and depression. Now you wonder how is this information above linked with online gaming addiction, most people addicted to online gaming have trouble to interact socially outside their home with other which cause those health issues. An addicted teenager will lack social skills which will make it much more difficult for them to make friends and enjoy interacting with others. Days go by and now that teenager will become an Adult and will be lacking really important skills that will be used for the real world. Skills that could be used for a interview in a workplace or to invest time in a relationship. Video games can easily make you addicted to playing and make you zone out everything around you and that’s why people tend to not focus on others and enjoy being lonely. This issues have been going on for several years and plans to become even worse especially while new and more exciting video game consoles keep producing. Plus, having plenty of different type of consoles such as the WII which is know for a body motion gaming system, and the two most popular are PlayStation and Xbox which really has concurred the video gaming industry. While in today's world we see people who own more than one console as in a PlayStation and a Xbox. This addiction has become a serious problem, up to 50% of marriage end up having tension between each other all cause of a video game. Mostly men in a relationship is the one that is addicted to video and which is lacking social skills, which is why relationship are having that tension. Men are focusing more on video games while forgetting about others even the ones they vowed for which can cause serious problems towards a relationship or a marriage. And for that reason is why online gaming addiction has been a serious problem and will be a serious problem going further. Video gaming addiction has become one of the world's top addiction and is affect a lot of children and adult. Is there a way for it to be stopped? Most likely not with how much money is being made and how powerful are video gaming systems are in today world. To put an end to a gaming systems would be compared to trying to end the use of a cellular device which seems nearly impossible because the number of people using it. We won't be able to terminate video gaming consoles but will be able to try and maintain people being addicted to video gaming. To understand that being social is a great skill to have and video gaming addiction is a barrier for you to earn it.

Source:

Video Game Addiction. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.video-game-addiction.org/social-consequences.html

Dominance

Have you ever wanted to be known as the greatest in a specific category such as, Michael Jordan in basketball, Wayne Gretzky in hockey, or Serena Williams in tennis. In 2016, we have individuals trying to become the greatest video game player in specific games. Online video gaming has become a growing addiction among adults and children because they each want to be known as the best. There are many video games that pertain a competition such as, action, shooting, racing and sports games. In 2015, there was a survey that happened to see what genres of video game were the most popular. The most popular, was shooting games with 24.5% while action games weren’t too far behind with 22.9%. (cite) The most popular shooting game today is called Call of Duty, which is known for its leaderboard where individuals are being ranked for their performance. By having the leaderboard approach people are able to established their dominance over other, not only towards their friends but everyone around the world. In 2014, Riot Games an organized gaming competition had a roughly 27 million streaming views which is nearly the same number of people tuned into the NCAA Basketball final the same year. People love having fans while competing against millions of people battling to become the top video gamer in the world. Also while playing for the Riot Games the winner will be receiving a grand prize which is usually cash and for that reason is why people try to become the best at a video game, most people playing video game is a career. Having dominance in a video game can provide shelter and food for someone family, that’s the core reason why the public is starting to play video games a lot more than usual because believe it or not it can be a full time job if you’re that good. Dominance, is one thing everyone wants to have and it is not easy to get. Especially when there is approximately 1.2 billion people playing video games in the world today. To conclude, everyone wants to be the greatest and is practicing like it’s a full time job to be the best, not only playing for fun as, but also to provide for himself and their family.

Sources:

U.S. most popular video game genres 2015 | Statista. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2016, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/189592/breakdown-of-us-video-game-sales-2009-by-genre/

Booton, J. (2015, July 29). 27 million watched this video game tournament - matching NCAA final audience. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-new-sports-industry-is-blossoming-online-and-its-already-worth-billions-2015-05-29

Takahashi, D. (2013, November 25). More than 1.2 billion people are playing games. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/more-than-1-2-billion-people-are-playing-games/

What Kind of Online Games Are Most Addictive?

Online gaming addiction is already becoming a very serious problem in lots of different individuals. There are lots of different video games out there in the world. There is probably a video game related to any kind of subject you can think of. Video games are a big part of the world right now. It’s good entertainment and some video games are educational. There are a lot of different problems that stem from online gaming and online gaming addiction is probably the biggest problem connected with it right now. Among the different kinds and types of online games, MMORPGs are probably the most addictive kind. MMORPGs stands for Massively multiplayer online role-playing games and these are a mix of massively multiplayer online games and role-playing video games in which a very huge number of players interact and communicate with each other inside a virtual world. I would tell you more about MMORPGs which would tell you why people get addicted to playing MMORPGs so much.

The virtual world where the video game occurs is never constant, and even if a player logs off, different events occur across the world and this might have an effect on the player when the player logs in again to play. In most of the traditional console-based role-playing games the main goal is to complete the game but this is totally different for MMORPGs because MMORPGs rely on developing gameplay which is based on the interactions of players and different groups of players. A lot of the MMORPGs still distribute tasks and battles that get harder as the players progress, but the main reason of these is to enable gamers develop their characters in terms of wealth, abilities, and experience. To keep the gaming experience transforming, MMORPGs allow players to establish alliances, customize their avatars, connect within the game, and even make some of the game content. Players can get involved in battles to build up their characters and they can set up shops in communities to contribute to the authenticity of the game's world. MMORPGs have their own economies, where players can use the virtual currency to purchase items. (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), n.d.)

MMORPGs are like a second life as you can see and this is why many people are so addicted. People get to live a completely different life which isn’t real while forgetting they actually have to live their real lives. As shown in the tables below a survey was conducted to know how much online gamers play and how easy it is for them to interact with people while playing.

TABLE 1. HOURS PER WEEK SPENT ON GAMING BY MMORPG PLAYERS AND NON-MMORPG PLAYERS IN PERCENTAGE

Hours per week	MMORPG players	Non-MMORPG players
0-1 h	1%	11%
1-2 h	5%	38%
3-6 h	10%	35%
7-10 h	13%	7%
11-20 h	25%	2%
21-40 h	34%	4%
40 or more h	11%	2%

Note. Reprinted from Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8(2), 110-113 by Ng, B. D., & Wiemer-Hastings, P. (2005).

TABLE 2. MMORPG PLAYERS AND NON-MMORPG PLAYERS WHO HAVE SPENT MORE THAN EIGHT CONTINUOUS HOURS PLAYING IN ONE SESSION

Likert scaling	MMORPG players	Non-MMORPG players
Strongly agree	58%	23%
Agree	22%	23%
Does not apply	1%	5%
Disagree	10%	18%
Strongly disagree	9%	32%

Note. Reprinted from Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8(2), 110-113 by Ng, B. D., & Wiemer-Hastings, P. (2005).

TABLE 3. MMORPG PLAYERS AND NON-MMORPG PLAYERS WHO FIND IT EASIER TO TALK TO PEOPLE WHILE IN GAME SESSIONS

Likert scaling	MMORPG players	Non-MMORPG players
Strongly agree	12%	2%
Agree	23%	2%
Does not apply	5%	4%
Disagree	34%	47%
Strongly disagree	25%	47%

Note. Reprinted from Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8(2), 110-113 by Ng, B. D., & Wiemer-Hastings, P. (2005).

References:

Ng, B. D., & Wiemer-Hastings, P. (2005). Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8(2), 110-113.

(n.d.). What is a MMORPG? - Definition from Techopedia. Retrieved October 09, 2016, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1919/massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing-game-mmorpg

Risk factors connected with online gaming addiction

Online gaming addiction can be a serious problem and there are a lot of risk factors involved with online gaming addiction. By risk factor I mean any characteristic or an attribute that adds to the possibility of online gaming addiction in a person. We would take a look at some of the risk factors connected with online gaming addiction shortly.

According to Conrad, the following are some risk factors connected with online gaming addiction:

1. Personality attributes such as neuroticism, trait anxiety aggressiveness, and a strong urge for totally new and different experiences are risk factors for video game addiction. Mehroof, et al. (2010).

2. Being older, not being happy with how one’s life is, and low self-esteem are online gaming addiction risk factors in male gamers. Ko et al. (2005).

3. Mood management with the use of online gaming puts people at a high risk of online gaming addiction. Chappell et al. (2006).

4. Just being a male on its own is part of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Griffiths (2008).

5. It has been observed that online gaming addicts have higher rates of depression and anxiety and lower grades in school. This leaves this open to interpretation meaning that anxiety and depression are online gaming addiction risk factors or maybe that online gaming addiction is a risk factor for anxiety and depression. Peukert et al. (2010).

6. In interpersonal situations having a negative view of one's competence and a positive view of one's intelligence are potential online gaming addiction risk factors. Zheng et al. (2006).

7. Parenting styles which are authoritarian might be included as one of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Wang et al. (2006).

8. Playing multiplayer online role playing games is one of the big risk factors for online gaming addiction. Van Tooik et al. (2010).

9. Risk factors for online gaming addiction also include lack of social skills, impulsiveness, restricted capability to keep emotions in check, and less empathy. Gentile et al. (2011).

10. There is proof that the brain regions which people believe contributes to substance dependence (e.g., the right caudate nucleus and the right orbitofrontal cortex) are also excessively initiated in video game players in response to video game related images and videos. As a result of this, the responsiveness of certain neurobiological mechanisms may be added as one of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Ko et al., (2009).

These are just some of the various risk factors connected with online gaming addiction. A survey of the risk factors for online gaming addiction was conducted and of the four risk categories which include cognitive functions, individual factors, social interactions, and psychopathologies, psychopathologies were seen as the strongest risk factors for online gaming addiction in all patients. To be specific, self-esteem, sex, family environment, perseverative errors, attention, and depressive moods were considerably related with online gaming addiction. In the patients with pure online gaming addiction, connections were found with social interactions, individual factors, and psychological factors. Of the four categories, Psychopathologies were seen as the strongest risk factors among the four categories for online gaming addiction in patients with pure online gaming addiction. To be specific, depressive moods, sex, self-esteem, age, family environment, and attention were significantly associated with online gaming addiction in these patients. (Hyun et al., 2015)

Sources:

Hyun, G. J., Han, D. H., Lee, Y. S., Kang, K. D., Yoo, S. K., Chung, U., & Renshaw, P. F. (2015). Risk factors associated with online game addiction: A hierarchical model. Computers In Human Behavior, 48706-713. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.008

Conrad, D. B. (n.d.). What are the risk factors for video game addiction? - TechAddiction. Retrieved October07, 2016, from http://www.techaddiction.ca/video-game-addiction-risk-factors.html

Online Gaming Addiction causes Gambling even in Academic Performance

Online Gaming Addiction causes Gambling even in Academic Performance

When I first discovered online gaming it was like I was at the doorstep of heaven and who wouldn’t want to check heaven out so I opened the door and It began. I had become an online gamer but I am not addicted but not everyone can say that. The addiction has affected a lot of people in different ways. There are a lot of things that would be on your mind right now but what I want to talk is gambling that results from online gaming. Just like anything you do in the world, you become better as you do it more often because it is good practice and training. This also works the same way in video games. The more you play you can only get better if you take it serious which most people do. After people have played video games online with other people and they are sure of their skills then they become ready to bet on it. The funny thing about gambling is that money is the motivation. Someone might not take something serious but when there’s cash on the line you can bet that it’s going to be all out war literally when people gear up for the shooter games. The shooter games are very addictive if not the most addictive. Everyone’s trigger finger is itchy. People use online gaming to relieve stress and meanwhile it might be causing a problem for them too but they don’t think so. There are many consequences of online gaming and one of the consequences in relation to college students is the decrease of academic performance. Academic performance can decrease when students spend more time playing online rather than studying or finishing up assignments. If I was to give an example, I’d say I’m a pretty good example. I play video games all the time and study for a little time and usually only when a midterm or an exam is creeping around the corner. According to Anderson and Dill (2000), the relationship between the total amount of time spent playing video games and academic performance is not a positive one. Teenagers who witness larger amounts violence in video games have poorer performances in school (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004). A student might be performing in the online gaming world but might be doing poorly when faced with academic challenges in the real world. Different studies have been conducted to show how online gaming affects academic work done. According to Cummings & Vandewater (2007) survey, “For every hour boys played video games on the weekdays, they spent 2 minutes less reading. Because boys spent an average of 8 minutes reading, this represents a 30% decrease. There were no significant relationships between reading and video game play on the weekends among boys, and there were no significant relationships for girls on either day type. For boys, there was no significant relationship between time spent playing video games and time spent doing homework on either day. For girls on the weekdays, every hour of video game play was related to 13 minutes less doing homework (a decrease of 34%). On the weekends, video game play and homework were unrelated for girls.” These are just a few of the consequences of Online Gaming Addiction. According to Craton (2011), “Playing video games is often associated in our society with poor academic performance. This anecdotal idea is supported by some research. A 2000 study found a negative correlation between GPA and time spent playing video games (Anderson & Dill, 2000).” Craton also states that “MMORPGs have been criticized for hampering academic and job performance. The FCC has specifically accused World of Warcraft, one of the most popular games, as leading to college dropouts (Somaiya, 2009).”

Sources:

Cummings HM, Vandewater EA. Relation of Adolescent Video Game Play to Time Spent in Other Activities.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(7):684-689. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.7.684

Toker, S., & Baturay, M. H. (2016). Antecedents and consequences of game addiction. Computers In Human Behavior, 55668-679. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.10.002

Craton, B. J. (2011, April 26). The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement. Retrieved October 09, 2016, from http://www.acsd.org/article/the-effect-of-videogames-on-student-achievement/

The negative impact of online gaming addiction

Gaming addiction is prevalent more now than ever before. With all of the current at home consoles as well as computer gaming, it can be quite easy for one to become addicted. The social effect of these gaming addictions can be quite a lot. Since the majority of gamers are men, teens, young adults and boys, most of the effects relate more so to them than it does to their female counterparts.(Chappell 2006) A lot of gaming is done in front of a screen at ones house, these gaming sessions can go on for countless of hours. In some games you are able to talk other gamers and cooperate in achieving the same goal, but in others you cannot do that, that is where gaming hits you, socially. When one has been gaming for long periods of time and not talking (or just talking to himself in his head) one becomes very awkward in social environments. For one, the person may not feel comfortable having so much people around him as that person is used to being in their own little gaming “world” or “atmosphere” that this environment might feel like a new experience. In addition to feeling overwhelmed to the situation, one may find it very difficult to have a conversation with another person. The lack of speech can be credited to a gaming addiction, when you constantly play for hours and hours without talking you will find it hard to go out and start talking to people. Furthermore, if a gamer is losing sleep because they are playing video games, they might find it hard to perform at their school or workplace, it is essential for one to try and get eight hours of sleep every night, without that a gamer might find it hard to get the grades he or she was attaining before, or for gamers with jobs might find it harder to get through the day, they may even end up submitting mediocre and put their job at risk. In fact, gamers with families might put family matters and responsibility to the side just so that they can keep playing or “beat the level” or whatever it may be. Gamers may actually think twice before helping their family, and that is only if they do decide to help out. On the other hand, there are people who do stop playing but all they would do is talk about the game. On top of talking about it a lot, they talk about it with a lot of passion, letting their emotions get ahead of them and it does drive spouse, friends, and girlfriends mad. But overall gaming is not a bad thing, but gamers do need to learn how to control it and communicate with the “outside” world.

Sources:

Chappell, D., Eatough, V., Davies, M. N., & Griffiths, M. (2006). EverQuest—It’s just a computer game right? An interpretative phenomenological analysis of online gaming addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 4(3), 205-216.

MMORPG’s as a substitute for social life

MMORPG’s as a substitute for social life

Remember as a kid, when you got that new phone and the first thing you did was download a cool game to play? It was your cherished game for days to come and you intended to finish all the levels, but you often find yourself with a dead battery and hours gone to waste. Hopefully, you've grown out of that. Right? Globally, kids find themselves carrying this so called passion into their early adolescent years, and tend to achieve a sense of accomplishment when realizing they have beaten a level. This is called a online gaming addiction. It’s known to be a impulsive control disorder, similar to pathological gambling. Its also known as video game overuse or compulsive/excessive use of computer games or video games.(Greenfield 2009) Ever hear of online games such as Minecraft, Final Fantasy, and World of Warcraft? These kind of games are popularly known to have multi-player online role-playing games, also known as MMORPG’s and multi-user domain games or MUDs. MMORPG’s allow networks of people, all interacting with one another to play a game to achieve goals, accomplish missions and reach high scores in the online fantasy world. For MUDs combine multiple elements including factors of role playing games, fighting and such. Such games allow for individuals to chat online as a substitution for realistic human interaction. Due to the constant time inside, these individuals lack proper social standards and find themselves struggling with social cues. Instead, they socialize and meet and exchange ideas through online chatting. Some video games require for the game to load for a somewhat long time, it requires for people to continuously stay online for a prolonged period of time, as a way of devotion and loyalty to other players who have not loaded on yet. Online gaming for the youth has been on a rise recently and it is clear that children, especially males, are more concerned with thriving in an online life instead of reality. Video games have a multitude of pros and cons associated with them however many of the cons take precedence over the pros. A lot of video games contain a large amount of violence in them and to expose that kind of explicit content to young children can do more damage to them psychologically. In addition often times the player is rewarded for using violence to reach a goal in the game which can teach children to emulate the same actions in real life and the constant repetition of these actions can lead to and much more dangerous problems in the future. Playing these games for hours on end can also isolate the child socially and prevent them from doing homework, eating proper meals and engaging in the more important aspects of life due to the fact that an addiction has been formed.

Sources:

"Virtual Addiction" David N. Greenfield, Ph.D., "Caught in the Net" Dr. Kimberly Young, Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, American Psychiatric Association, Online Gamers Anonymous ( http://www.olganon.org), Gentile, D.A. (2009). Pathological video game use among youth 8 to 18: a national study. Psychological Science, 20, 594-602.