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Cody Sardella
Professor Yaniga
Writing 39C
2/3/15
Placeholder title
Video games have a great power that can produce a large effect on people. One
of the effects it produces is addiction. As online gaming attracts more and more players
to the game, the player spends more of her or his time in an online realm rather than in
situations outside a computer or the internet. This is problematic because there is now a
dependency on the internet or the online games people play and it is not shrinking in
any capacity. This addiction “creates psychological, social, school, and/or work
difficulties in a person’s life” (Caplain 2.1).
Initially, before the rapid growth of online
gaming due to xbox live and MMORPGs such as
World of Warcraft, a similar addiction in the use of
the internet occurred. In 2001, a study was
conducted into internet addiction, and concluded
with people deveolping Problematic Internet
Use(PIU). The below graph is the results
concluded from this study, and even before the
introductions of large scale video games being
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popularized on the internet, people had addictive tendencies towards the use of the
internet. Results such as “difficulty to stop using the internet” and “neglecting daily
obligations” are worrying because this means that a person’s personal life outside of the
internet is being negatively impacted because of the draw of the internet.
Source: Beard, Keith W., and Eve M. Wolf. "Modification in the Proposed Diagnostic
Criteria for Internet Addiction."
But how do video games contribute to this growing problem of PIU? Years later
in 2012, well after the surge in popularity indicated that the median hours per week
spent playing MMORPGs is 27 (Kuss, 482). This can be seen as an addiction because
the amount of hours of consumption of this type of entertainment is abundant, andthe
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University of Delaware has conducted research into the symptoms of PIU with use of
video games. “Individuals who report negative outcomes associated with theur internet
use appear to be especially drawn to its iterpersonal functions” (Caplain 1.1). The
people who were tested produced symptoms close to what is described as Impulse
Control Disorder, meaning that they are unable to resist the urge to use the internet or
play video games online . PIU “creates psychological, social, school, and/or work
difficulties in a person’s life” (Caplain 2.1).
But how can video games cause a social problem within a person’s life? An
example of this negative online behavior comes from interactions of players on the
popular video game, League of Legends. In this game, there are instances of
teammates and other players flaming other players for lack of skill, lack of game
knowledge, or intentionally being an uncooperative teammate. Flaming is the textual
way of being offensive or aggressive towards another person online (techterms). In one
of the most played PC games in the world, League of Legends, more than 47 million
players have been reported due to flaming, and even more now that this article is two
years old (Forbes; Kuo, 619). But is this an inherent cause of the video game, or has
the video game help players grow from being a flamer? League of Legends has
developed an effective code implementation to do this feat. The Tribunal empowers
players to self-govern others behaviors by judging the chat history of a player who has
been reported (Senior). The Tribunal has implemented Lessig’s idea of code and norms
in “a serious and partially effective effort” that has produced results because fifty
percent of players warned that their behavior was inflammatory have not been found on
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the tribunal again (Kuo, 620). This, although not cumulative of all people who play
games online, has the potential to indicate how video games help strengthen character
by having a positive norm to abide with and a warning code to help correct errors if
someone goes off on a bad day. This example then combats against the stigma that
video games cause social disorders or malignant behavior because there are players
actively trying to help improve negative attitude.
Previously before the existence of League of Legends and large wide scale
masses of people partaking in video games, studies were conducted in order to see the
effects of online interaction on a person’s behavior. A study was conducted by Bryant
College to determine the relationship between the loneliness a person feels and the
amount of time spent on the internet. The results concluded are that people who claim
to be lonely spend more time on the internet for various reasons shown in the graph
below.
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Source: Morahan-Martin, Janet, and Phyllis Schumacher. "Loneliness and Social
Uses of the Internet."
The above graph does show a corrolation between lonliness and internet use,
but it doesn’t indicate that internet use promotes or causes social anxiety. To further the
argument against the idea that video games promote social anxiety and ngeative
behavior, the following graphs indicate the relationship between player’s online friends
and real life relationships. The graphs relate closely in time period to the first table, and
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they contain differences in data about how game playing affects a person’s relationships.
Where the first one indicates a dependancy on the internet and increased inter use for
the more lonely, but the second and third graph indicate that a majority of people’s
personal relationships do not suffer because of their gameplay and internet use.
Therefore a conclusion could be made about how video games did not produce
negative affects to how a person relates with other people in the early 2000’s.
Source: Yee, Nick. “ The Norrathian Scrolls: A Study of EverQuest.”
Since video games can contribute to a dependency or addiction to the internet,
does that mean the time spent gaming online will hurt the player in their ability to be
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social with people? Not necessairily, gaming online can help teach a player to “create
and maintain relationships to manage gaming and abide by and construct norms and
rules that help make up the interactional space” (Eklund, 2.1). This means that in this
space players may develop friendships while entertaining themselves and participating
in immersive world to perform tasks furthering a bond and connection to other people.
This could then help develop relationship skills because “you can do something together.
It’s not just talking” (Eklund 4.1).
Over the history of the internet, the continual use and addiction has been
prevalent and menacing to a person’s wellbeing. Did the introductions of video games
further develop problems within the people who have symptoms of PIU? The studies
and evidence show in this paper have shown that people’s lives have become worse off
because of PIU, in the case of neglecting daily obligations or the separation from face to
face friendships that PIU may cause. Video games have also shown to improve social
aspects within a person. From here the discussion needs to continue to decrease
dependency on the internet and online gaming, but still improve the benefits online
gaming can prove to a person. “A person has potential to either develop beneficially or
negatively in social interaction, but a person can act differently in online or real life
scenarios (Bavelier).
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Works Cited
Bavelier, Daphne, C. Shawn Green, Doug Hyun Han, Perry F. Renshaw, Michael M. Merzenich,
and Douglas A. Gentile. "Brains on Video Games." Nature Reviews Neuroscience Nat
Rev Neurosci 12.12 (2011): 763-68. Web.
Beard, Keith W., and Eve M. Wolf. "Modification in the Proposed Diagnostic Criteria for
Internet Addiction." CyberPsychology & Behavior 4.3 (2001): 377-83. Web.
Caplan, Scott, Dmitri Williams, and Nick Yee. "Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial
Well-being among MMO Players." Computers in Human Behavior 25.6 (2009): 1312319. Web.
Eklund, Lina. "Bridging the Online/offline Divide: The Example of Digital Gaming." Computers
in Human Behavior 53 (2015): 527-35. Web.
"Flaming." Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://techterms.com/definition/flaming>.
Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/07/11/riot-games-league-of-legendsofficially-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/#7ece22f56ae2>.
Kuo, Yubo, and Bonnie Nardi. IDEALS @ Illinois:. Proc. of Regulating Anti-social Behavior on
the Internet: The Example of League of Legends. N.p., 30 Jan. 2013. Web.
Kuss, Daria J., Jorik Louws, and Reinout W. Wiers. "Online Gaming Addiction? Motives Predict
Addictive Play Behavior in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games."
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 15.9 (2012): 480-85. Web.
Kuss, Daria J., Jorik Louws, and Reinout W. Wiers. "Online Gaming Addiction? Motives Predict
Addictive Play Behavior in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games."
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 15.9 (2012): 480-85. Web.
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Lessig, Lawrence. Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. New York: Basic, 1999. Print.
Liu, T., and M.n. Potenza. "Problematic Internet Use." Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience
(2010): 104-11. Http://www.education.vic.gov.au/. Web.
Morahan-Martin, Janet, and Phyllis Schumacher. "Loneliness and Social Uses of the Internet."
Computers in Human Behavior 19.6 (2003): 659-71. Web.
Senior, Tom. "Riot Games Hopes Tribunal System Will Clean up League of Legends
Community." PC Gamer. N.p., 13 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.pcgamer.com/riotgames-hopes-tribunal-system-will-clean-up-league-of-legends-community/>.
Yee, Nick. "The Norrathian Scrolls: A Study of EverQuest." The Norrathian Scrolls: A Study of
EverQuest - (MMORPG Research, Cyberculture, MMORPG Psychology, Demographics,
Statistics, Psychology, Charts, Addiction, Gender Differences, Gender Bending,
Relationships, Romance, Guilds, Download). N.p., May 2001. Web.
<http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/relate.html>.