neils clark

Not much, actually. This Harris Poll, originally linked by Game Politics and Joystiq, gave kids a quick diagnostic for ‘pathological use.’ That’s good, since addiction is such a harsh word to use. While the study claims some groundbreaking findings, that 8.5% of children qualify as pathological gamers, there are a few major reasons that the numbers aren’t saying much.

Some of this comes from my post on Joystiq:

First, the questions being asked by this study have been copied from questions on Pathological gambling. Kimberly Young was the first to copy and paste these criteria. First she applied it to the internet, creating “internet addiction.” Afterwards, she did the same for “online gaming addiction.” This study, put forward by the head of the National Institute for Media and the Family, used a few more criteria than Young (11, rather than 8), and had a more stringent cutoff, requiring kids to engage in 6 of the behaviors. While it’s nice to see that researchers aren’t copying from Young verbatim anymore, it’s still a lot dissapointing.

Sure, gambling and gaming share some similarities. You don’t even want to know how many spawns I’ve camped at the local indian casino. Still, they’re not exactly the same. There’s a behavioral component in all addiction. Yeah, it releases chemicals and all that. No, it’s not exactly the same as rolling on the craps table. Playing cards is structurally very different from exploring an enchanted forest to experience the sights and sounds. Slaying dragons and riding on magic carpets is not the same experience as rolling on a craps table. More than that, these online worlds are similar and different on a number of levels. They can be a behavioral addiction, but there are unique elements that are pulling people in, many of them quite legitimate and non-addictive.

The studies out there haven’t yet tried to capture this.

This study added onto Young’s criteria, and as a researcher I appreciate that to a point. What I’d appreciate more is a fundamental re-thinking of how we understand this. Games aren’t the same as drugs like meth or heroin. They also aren’t the same as smoking a stogie while you cheat at cards. Games are a form of expression… that keeps some people glued to their computers for whole days.

Main point incoming:

Before we start figuring out how many people are addicted, we have to have an idea of what game addiction is

If you don’t understand what’s happening, then how is it even remotely responsible to willy-nilly tell the general public that 8.5% of kids are addicted, or that 40% of WoW players are addicted? IT’S NOT!

What do we know? Well, no drugs are being injected by keyboards. While there is, as I said before, a behavioral element which underlies addiction, it is not the only thing happening here. Continuing to follow in Young’s footsteps is becoming less and less forgiveable.

Neils Clark :: Apr.09.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research ::

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