Psychological Motives and Online Games Addiction: ATest of Flow Theory and Humanistic Needs Theory for Taiwanese Adolescents

Abstract

Obviously, the negative impact of online games has received much attention as well as having become a popular research topic. This research explored, from flow theory and humanistic needs theory, the psychological motivations of Taiwanese adolescents who are addicted to online games. The purpose of Study 1 was to investigate the relationship between players' flow state and their online games addiction. The results indicated that flow state was negatively correlated with addictive inclination and it was not a significant predictor for players' subsequent additive inclination. Findings also revealed that the addicts' flow state was significantly lower than the nonaddicts. Thus, flow state might not be the key psychological mechanism of players' addiction. In Study 2, the results showed that the psychological needs of players of online games were close to the two-factor theory which depicts satisfaction and dissatisfaction dimensions. Addicted players' need-gratification was similar to the feature of dissatisfactory factor. That is, the absence of playing online games is more likely to generate sense of dissatisfaction; the addicts' compulsive use of online games seems to stem from the relief of dissatisfaction rather than the pursuit of satisfaction. In contrast, online games tend to provide the nonaddicts with a sense of satisfaction rather than a sense of dissatisfaction.

MMORPG gaming and hostility predict Internet Addiction symptoms in adolescents: An empirical multilevel longitudinal study

“…While MMORPGs have been consistently associated with IA (Kuss & Griffiths, 2012;Gentile et al, 2011), their likely positive effects in the areas of social interactions and facilitating educational learning have also been noted (Cole & Griffiths, 2007;De Freitas & Griffiths, 2011;Skoric & Kwan, 2011;Jones, Scholes, Johnson, Katsikitis, & Carras, 2014). Continuously increasing challenges, scoring, and immediate gratification in MMORPGs enable players to achieve a sense of self-actualization (Wan & Chiou, 2006), and this has been linked to IA (Hull, Williams & Griffiths, 2013).…”

“…This association can be explained by online satisfaction and immediate gratification due to addressing the gradually increasing level of challenges in MMORPGs (Choi & Kim, 2004;Hull et al, 2013;Wan & Chiou, 2006). More specifically, MMORPGs may trigger high emotional involvement and an increased need to spending time online (Gentile et al, 2011), and thus reinforcing IA.…”

Online gaming addiction in children and adolescents: A review of empirical research

“…Based on the database literature search, 18 studies were identified that assessed online gaming addiction by means of using adapted diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling and impulse control disorders not otherwise specified (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006;Dongdong, Liau & Khoo, 2011;Gentile, 2009;Gentile et al, 2011;Han et al, 2007Han et al, , 2009Kwon, Chung & Lee, 2011;Lemmens, Valkenburg & Peter, 2009, 2011a, 2011bRau, Peng & Yang, 2006;Thomas & Martin, 2010;van Rooij, Schoenmakers, van de Eijnden & van de Mheen, 2010;van Rooij, Schoenmakers, Vermulst, van de Eijnden & van de Mheen, 2011;Wan & Chiou, 2006a, 2006b, 2007.…”

“…It was found to have good internal consistency, construct and discriminatory validity (Lin & Tsai, 1999). The samples used in these 18 studies included 72 adolescents in grades eight and nine (mean age = 15 years, SD = 1 year) as well as their parents (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006), 62 children (mean age = 9 years, SD = 2 years) with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Han et al, 2009), 154 male adolescents (mean age = 16 years, SD = 1 year), half of which were excessive Internet game players (Han et al, 2007), 161 secondary school students in Singapore with MMO experience (mean age = 14 years, SD = 0.7 years) (Dongdong et al, 2011), large samples (the respective sample sizes ranged from more than 800 to less than 5,000 participants) of Dutch adolescents (mean age = 14 years, SD = 1 year) (Lemmens et al, 2011a(Lemmens et al, , 2011bvan Rooij et al, 2010) and adolescent Dutch online game players (Ns = 721 and 3,048; age range = 13-17 years) (Lemmens et al, 2009;van Rooij et al, 2011), American youths (N = 1,178, age range = 8-18 years with equal gender and age distribution) (Gentile, 2009), Korean adolescents (N = 1,136, mean age = 14 years, SD = 0.5 years; 61% male) (Kwon et al, 2011), and Singaporean youth (N = 2,998, mean age = 11 years, SD = 2 years, 73% male), 64 children and adolescents (age range = 9-20 years) (Rau et al, 2006), 3,034 secondary school children (mean age = 11 years, SD = 2 years) (Gentile et al, 2011), 1,326 secondary school and college students (mean age = 22 years, SD = 7 years) (Thomas & Martin, 2010), 177 Taiwanese adolescents and young adults (age range = 16-24 years) (Wan & Chiou, 2006a, 2007, and 182 Taiwanese adolescent and young adult MMORPG players (age range = 16-22 years) (Wan & Chiou, 2006a), and ten Taiwanese adolescents with no explicit age specification with online game addiction (Wan & Chiou, 2006b).…”

A brand new future? Cool Japan and the social imaginary of the branded nation

“…However, these situations are absent in virtual social interactions due to the control over time and the pace of interaction. It is thus well-grounded that MMOs are extremely social games with many gamers making long-lasting friends through anonymity, lack of physical appearance, and extended control coupled with a possibility of non-verbal communication decrease social anxiety (e.g., Wang & Chiou, 2006).…”