When one thinks of addicting behaviors online, the old staples come to mind, like porn or gambling, but online multiplayer games have now become a growing problematic activity. According to Wallace, it has many properties that make it a prime candidate as a PIU (problematic internet use). First off, any online game played with other players has a “variable reward” system, so that no matter how the game is played, the outcome will always differ. One playing style versus a weak player may result in an easy victory; the same style against a stronger player may end in a hard-earned win or even a loss. This encourages the players to keep playing and gain experience and skill, and hopefully, eventually, greater success.
And with popular games, the community is usually active 24/7, so in order to be better than everyone else (or at least, to stop losing so much), it pays to play early and often. This reward for remaining online is what Wallace calls “maintenance of virtual presence,” and it extends farther than just practice. It’s easy to make friends on the internet, and if you commonly see a certain player on your server, you may ask them for advice or play with them often. These advantages are particularly alluring to a newcomer, and the attraction to this novelty is called “newbie disease.” It’s exciting to learn how to play, to compete against other players, and to win.
All of these characteristics make online gaming a very attractive activity, especially to the socially inept, as Caplan’s model describes. Those with psychosocial problems may opt not to talk with their fellow gamers, or to slowly get comfortable and practice their social skills. It is easy to prefer online gaming, because there’s no one around, watching or judging, which can be very intimidating, yet if one improves in the game, other will flock to them. Although it’s understandable why a community would suggest to the socially inept to join in team sports or school clubs, multiplayer gaming provides minimal social risk to the player while offering the most social control and many social benefits. They can become respected, beloved players and community leaders in a game, a game that offers a chance to be more than they could ever expect offline. This, in turn, may become a vicious cycle, where one pours more and pour time into a game to become the best, never realizing that their psychosocial problems increase because of their hobby. However, there are many cases where people make good friends and become more social because of online gaming, so the cycle can be broken.
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I wrote about the same thing in my post this week. Your analysis of the structural properties of games that make them prone to problematic Internet use was particularly interesting. I had touched on it briefly, but you covered it in more depth. Ultimately though, I think that, regardless of these factors, the psychosocial predisposition is much more important in the gaming sphere. Millions of people are able to fend of the PIU-inducing properties and play online games for fun and social connection. The few that have serious problems with it had some sort of tendency towards introversion that led to their PIU. These situations are especially difficult, as oftentimes the social groups that a game player can join up with are totally oblivious to the fact that this person is having issues, thus preventing him from getting the help he needs.
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