Comparison of game addiction prevalence rates between MMOFPS players and MMORPG players. A case of EVE Online and DUST 514

Abstract

The main aim of this research project was to explore the prevalence of gaming addiction among players of different genres of video games. Additionally, the potential risks of structural characteristics of games were also examined. The sample consisted of 445 participants, aged 13 to 67, with 96.6% being male and 3.4% being female. To assess video game addiction the short version of the GAS-7 (Lemmens et al., 2009) was employed. The results showed that no significant differences were found between prevalence rates of video game addiction, between players that played, the MMORPG EVE Online, the MMOFPS DUST 514 or both types of games. Further, ratings of importance or enjoyment for 13 out of 14 structural characteristics were the same between players diagnosed with gaming addiction and those not. Additionally, education level was contrasted with addiction and structural characteristic preferences were contrasted with game preference. The findings suggest that gaming addiction is not specifically linked to the genre of the video games studied but perhaps rather to a shared element of these games. In this case the immersive persistent world and social interaction featured in both games. The results from the current study and further studies like it could assist in diagnosing and preventing video game addiction by identifying potential risk factors. Further comparison research is needed to create a wider context for the current findings and explore further the potential risk factors for gaming addiction across different types of computer games.