Annotated Bibliography
Charlton, J.P. & Danford, I. D.W. Validating the Distinction Between Computer Addiction and Engagement: Online Game Playing and Personality. Behavior and Information Technology, Vol. 29(6), pp. 601-613.
This study was carried out in order to look at the validity of the evidence produced previously in relation to the difference between pathological related addictions and the non-pathological high engagement in the computer activities. The study was a survey done on a sample of 388 players of an online game known as MMORPG which tends to have multiple players. An online questionnaire was used to look at the psychometric measures of engagement and addiction to the game. The aim was to look at the differences between the peripheral and the core addiction related to some behaviors which include emotional stability, extraversion, negative valence, agreeableness, and attractiveness.
The section that answers my research question is the assertion that the addiction has an inverse proportional to the behaviors of the addicts, bringing in negative consequences to their social lives. Armed with these findings, I can state that online gaming has an effect on the social lives of the people and teenagers engaged in the games. They tend to have a reduced social function in agreeableness and extraversion. This implies that the individuals become more of loners than of social beings since the game allows them to be engaged while all alone. This can be a major cause for worry.
Mehroof, M. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Online Gaming Addiction: The Role of Sensation Seeking, Self Control, Neuroticism, Aggression, State Anxiety, and Trait Anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 13(3), pp. 313-316.
This article aimed at adding to the body of knowledge that has been constituted on the effects of online gaming and the use of technology on the lives of people. It sought to fill the gap in knowledge where little or nothing had been done with references to the relationship between online gaming addiction and the personality factors. The factors to be tested included self-control, sensation seeking, aggression, neuroticism, state anxiety, and trait anxiety. This was a survey which made use of an opportunity sample of 123 students from East Midlands University in the UK. The tool used was an online questionnaire, and the data collected was analyzed using the linear regression strategy.
The results indicated that online gaming had a significance association with each of the factors of interest. It noted that individuals’ aggressive behavior can lead to addiction where the individuals like playing violent games. In the long run, this aggressive nature can be engraved in their daily social interactions with other people which would be quite a disadvantage. However, on the positive note, the addiction at times comes because the players want to get better scores.
The article answers my research question by noting that if the above findings are transposed to the players’ lives in general, they become quite aggressive in pursuing their goals. Another relationship was related to the behavior and trait anxiety where the individuals tend to take the games as a consolation from the tensions gained in their daily activities. Neuroticism also comes about as the people try to cope with the tensions of life. If the people take to the gaming as a coping strategy, they can easily forget one aspect of their social lives which involves active socialization processes.
Smahel, D., Blinka, L., & Ledabyl, O. (2008). Playing MMORPGs: Connections between Addiction and Identifying with a Character. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, Vol. 11(6), pp. 715-718.
This research sought to add to the body of knowledge on the role-playing games and their potentially bad effect on the social lives of the youths and teenagers. This study was quite specialized as it looked at the addiction of youths to MMORPGs. It further went down to look at the connection between the players and their favorite characters in the games. this happens because the players get addicted to their characters, want to make them superior and make them look as if they act in real life. The data was gathered used an online questionnaire which had 64 items, 14 relating to addiction to the game and 10 related to the attachment of the player to the character.
On analysis, it was realized that the young are more addicted than the older people, hence are the ones to be affected more. It was realized that the players get attached to the characters emotionally where they have a sense of pleasantness and satisfaction when the character seems to be doing well. However, the same can lead to negative effects when the character starts doing badly, such as being attacked and defeated by other players.
The discussion answers my research question by observing that due to the emotional attachment between the player and the character, the individual can feel dejected, defeated or in a low state when the character does badly. This impacts negatively on the player’s social life. It was also noted that the attachment to the character leads to feelings of shame and conflict when the character does poorly. Of course, this makes the teenager or other individual playing the game to have emotional problems which can lead to poor performance in terms of socialization.
References
Charlton, J.P. & Danford, I. D.W. Validating the Distinction Between Computer Addiction and Engagement: Online Game Playing and Personality. Behavior and Information Technology, Vol. 29(6), pp. 601-613.
Mehroof, M. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Online Gaming Addiction: The Role of Sensation Seeking, Self Control, Neuroticism, Aggression, State Anxiety, and Trait Anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 13(3), pp. 313-316.
Smahel, D., Blinka, L., & Ledabyl, O. (2008). Playing MMORPGs: Connections between Addiction and Identifying with a Character. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, Vol. 11(6), pp. 715-718
