Addiction

About 40% of users would consider themselves addicted to the game. This percentage is quite striking given the social desirability bias built into the question. There were no gender differences, and age differences were minimal - about 2 years between "definitely" and "definitely not". In other words, male and female users of all ages are about equally likely to consider themselves addicted to the MMORPG they are playing.

The average hours played per week in each of the five responses offer perhaps a rough guideline as to how much game play is too much game play. As a comparison, typical Americans watch about 27 hours of TV per week.

There were interesting correlations between this self-reporting of addiction and motivations. In particular, self-reported addiction was positively correlated with scores on Achievement (r = .25) and Escapism (r = .25). This finding dovetails with an earlier discussion of addiction. It appears that both internal (skinner box model) and external factors (compensation model) contribute to addictive behavior.

Note (12/02/2006): This data is complicated and can be misleading for several reasons. First of all, there is no accepted definition of "online gaming addiction" to begin with, so it's not clear what players meant by that (or why we would trust people to diagnose themselves even if that were the case). Secondly, it's not clear they didn't just take the statement to mean "the game is very fun" as the word is used commonly in the game industry. And finally, we have no comparison data with other hobbies - i.e., If we asked golfers that question, how many would have said "yes"? In other words, could it be that 40% of users of all hobbies would say they are "addicted" to their hobby (whether that is golf, knitting, or watching the TV show "Lost").

See Also (listed in chronological order):

- Understanding MMORPG Addiction
- The Seduction of Achievement
- Problematic Usage
- A New Disorder is Born