Literature Review

Call of Duty, Madden NFL, Battlefield, World of War Craft, what do all these titles have in common?  They are all video games that have a top selling product in the consumer market.  They are popular not only in the United States but throughout the whole world, such as South Korea, Australia, China and even France.  They consist of a video game console or computer.  You can play them at home; at a friend’s house or even while you are walking down the street with a portable gaming device.  Now, you cannot find a house with children or teens living there without seeing some type of video game hardware inside their home. With its high popularity and mass usage, what happens when these video games become addictive?   Do any negative or positive effects occur?  These four questions will help figure it out.

11.)    How does video game addiction affect teens in school and adults in work?

22.)    How do video games affect people physically and mentally?

33.)    What causes video game addiction?

44.)    How much money has been spent on video games in the United States of America during the 21^st century?

First, in order to understand video game addiction, you have to know how it all started.  When video games first came out back in the 1970’s, not that many people were into them because, they were expensive and there were not many things you could play on them other than Ping-Pong and hockey.  Then, in the 1990’s Nintendo came out with a whole new console which delivered a game and storyline people became instant fans of.  The storyline of the game was about two Italian brothers, one red and one green, who were trying to save the princess from the evil Koopa King.  This game of course was called Super Mario Bros.  This was the turning point for the success of video games.

From here on out, games started getting more specific, detailed and expanding with levels.  It used to take a few days to complete a game, but with more memory and better consoles the levels are much deeper and longer to beat.  Graphics have been modified to look like real life events and people.  Video game makers have established a gaming experience where it feels as though the users are really inside the game.  Another gaming advancement has been online play.   Online playing makes it possible for a person from the United States to play with a person from China via Internet as long as they have the same game.  With headsets and texts, people can communicate with the people they are playing with.  The better the game the more a person will play.  All these developments made a few people become addicted to playing video games, playing over 15 hours a day, losing sleep, missing school and work.  There are some people who believe playing video games can be a good thing and that it is just a childhood thing to do. 

What do researchers say can cause a child, teen or adult to become addicted to video games in the first place?  According to my research, most kids ranging from 8 to 17 years old play video games for large amounts of time because, they do not have anything to do when they get off of school.  With online video games, teens can chat with friends or meet new people.  Some children and teens do not have friends at school so they can use video games as a replacement to have fun and interact with people.  Another part of my research shows most adults who are addicted to playing video games started when they were in their teens and they never let go of playing.  In some cases these people chose video games over their actual lives and either get a small job or do not even have a job and still live with their parents even after high school.  This gives the person more playing time without having to worry about paying bills or living life outside.

Video games can deprive a person from the real world.  According to this database, “Users may play compulsively, isolating themselves from other forms of social contact, and focus almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than broader life events.” (Weinstein 2010).   This means video game addicts focus all of their attention on the video game and they do not try to interact with life outside the game. Symptoms a person can have are isolation from the outside world; the person stays quarantined in their home, having no connection with the outside world.  They spend all day playing video games rather than being with friends and family.  They also make goals for themselves, but not life goals such as striving for good grades, being in clubs or trying to get a boyfriend/girlfriend.  Instead they make video game goals as in trying to achieve in completing a certain level, getting a high score or beating the whole game in one day.  All these are symptoms of a video game addict.

There have been various amounts of effects for video addicts.  According to this database, a study “Found that self-reported sleep problems, depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, obsessions, and compulsions as well as alcohol and substance abuse were positively related to the frequency of video game playing.”  (Mentzoni 2011).  This means the syndromes that a video game addict can obtain range from a minor problem (sleep problems) to major problems (suicide).  When a person does not have at least eight hours of sleep a day, he or she can develop stress and become moody.  This not only affects the video game addict themselves but also family or friends that are close to the individual.  The way suicides occur is some people try to reenact what they play in the game.  Violent video games are believed to contribute in this factor.  According to this article, “One of the primary concerns with violence in video games is that gaming is not passive. In order to play and win, the player has to be the aggressor. Rather than watching violence, as he might do on television, he's committing the violent acts.” (Violence and Video Games). Video games are rated to show the age appropriateness.   Video games have ratings to show the appropriateness of the video game.  The ratings start at C, which means children and range up to A which means adults only.  The most common rating is E, which stands for everyone.   Most shooting and violent games are M for mature which says they are only meant for people over the age of 17, meaning, only people over the age of 17 can purchase these types of games.  However, children and teens are still able to get their hands on these games because parents or older siblings buy them without noticing the ratings.

Video game companies have made it easier for people to get more games at a time by making them available for rent.  People can now play a game for a week, send it back and get another one.  Another spike in video game addiction has been remote controllers’ usage.  Meaning when used for a long time, remote controllers ran out of battery and people had to keep buying batteries but now people can buy a rechargeable pack so that the player can never stop playing. 

Video game addiction normally affects males more than females. 

As you can see in the graph above, males play any type of video games more than females.  The graph consists of different console categories and shows how many males and females play the console.  In all the categories, males played more than females.

   There could be trends though that children and teens can go through.   According to this database, “Given trends for television usage, one might expect videogame usage to increase across elementary school, peak at about middle school, and drop off across high school… The frequency of video-game play appeared to be relatively steady from ages 8 to 13, and to decrease thereafter” (Gentile 2009).  This means video addiction can be just a phase a person goes through.  Kids in elementary start using video games because everyone has them, in middle school they have nothing else to do, but by high school, kids turn into teens and start going to parties and joining sports teams which diminishes video game use.  These statistics are different for video game addicts though, because according to the pie graph below, video game addiction affects 18-49 year old people more than 18 and under people. The average age of a video game addict is 35 years old.

Video games do not just have negative effects on people; they can also have positive effects.  According to this database, “Players play video games due to various motivations and purposes. Some believe video games help them boost mental skills and improve physical coordination… reading ability, attention, hand-eye coordination, and speed reactions to novel situations.”  (Shu-Hsun 2011).  This means that video games can contribute mental skills because some video games require critical thinking and that can enhance people’s reaction.  Also since most video games require a remote control, hand-eye coordination increases a person’s movement.  Some video games can also help people lose weight while exercising.  This method uses a kinetic sensor device, which is a motion sensor that does not require a remote control.  All you have to do is put the sensor device near your television where it can scan the person’s playing, and any kind of movement the person does, the player on the television will do the same thing.  This establishes an exercise activity in which people who play will not be sitting on a couch.  All kinetic games promote the act for cardio activity. For instance; pumping your feet and arms to make it seem like you are running.  Other activities include jumping up and down, dancing and even martial arts movements.

The video games industries are also a big market for the economy.  According to a Forbes research, citizens in the United States spend roughly between 16.3 to 16.6 billion dollars on video games a year.  This also included online and mobile games as well.  The U.S. is not the only country that uses video games to boost the economy; other countries as well succeed in selling video games.  According to this database, “With the popularity of online games in South Korea, the total revenue of the online gaming industry reached about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2006, 24 percent of which was comprised of revenue from the South Korean gaming industry.”  (Bong-Won 2010).  This means not only are people in the United States buying video games, but also other countries purchase these games to increase currency in their economy as well.  The popularity and addictiveness to these games make people of all age buy them.  

Treatments for video game addicts include putting the person in a rehab facility where the person has no access to a video game console or computer.  A family and friends intervention can also be useful to show the person what he/she’s been missing since being focused on video games.  Another example can be outdoor programs such as wilderness camps.  According to this article, “"Wilderness camps" or "outdoor education," are highly effective in treating teens struggling with behavioral problems like video game addiction or obsessive Internet use.” (Why Wilderness Works).  These programs are designed to get people outside and interact with nature.  All the person has to do is call to get more information.

In conclusion, video game addictiveness can have various effects.   As studies show video games usage increase during middle school age but slowly decrease throughout high school.  The effects though can be more severe to some people and can go on past high school.  There are helpful websites that can instruct parents on how to control their child’s playing habits.  Since this starts at an early age, the websites target parents to be focused on what their children are playing and how long they are playing it. 

Reference List

Bong-Won, P., & Jae-Hyeon, A. (2010). Policy analysis for online game addiction                         problems. System Dynamics Review (Wiley), 26(2), 117-138.

Gentile, D. (2009). Pathological Video-Game Use Among Youth Ages 8 to 18: A                                                 National Study. Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 20(5), 594-602.

Mentzoni, R., Brunborg, G., Molde, H., Myrseth, H., Skouverøe, K., Hetland, J., &                                   Pallesen, S. (2011).     Problematic Video Game Use: Estimated Prevalence and                             Associations with Mental and Physical Health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14(10), 591-596.           

Shu-Hsun, H., Chutinon, P., & Chia-Ying, L. (2011). May I Continue or Should I Stop?                           The Effects of Regulatory Focus and Message Framings on Video Game Players' Self-control. International Journal Of Business & Social Science, 2(12), 194-200.

Weinstein, A. (2010). Computer and Video Game Addiction—A Comparison between                             Game Users and Non-Game Users. American Journal of Drug & Alcohol Abuse, 36(5), 268-276.    

Violence and Video Games, Video Game Addiction, Retrieved from:  http://www.video-                         game-addiction.org/violence.html

            Why Wilderness Works, Video Game Addiction, Retrieved from: http://www.video-                                game-addiction.org/wilderness.html

First Graph:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1576744/women-female-social-gaming-                                   video-games

Second Graph: http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kud/Documents/regpubl/stmeld/2007-                            2008/report-no-14-2007-2008-to-the-storting/5.html?id=518845