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Introduction Online gaming has emerged as a popular and successful source of entertainment and play for people of all ages, especially for the students. It refers to the games that are played over some forms of computer network, typically on the internet. These games are played online, in which you can connect with multiple players. It is normally platform independent, relying on the web browser and appropriate plug-in. It is one of the best inventions that is made ever by human beings. It has the ability to link players together. It has been one of the most popular activities in entertaining for younger people.
Because of this, almost everybody is into it. Its fantastic characteristic makes a lot of students become hook on it. It provides entertainment and at the same time, online socialization with different kind of people. But sometimes, it causes negative effects. It has two kinds of impacts: the good and bad. It depends on the player itself. Studies show that online gaming is a major source of addiction, especially to college students. Because of its ability to link multi-players together, most students become hooked on it. They keep on playing and playing because it gives them thrill until it becomes an addiction.
This research study shows how online gaming can be an addiction and its possible effects on the students. Background of the study For most gamers, the era of online games started with the release of the four-player game Doom in 1994. However, the very first multiplayer game was actually developed in 1969 by Rick Blomme who wrote a two-player game. Then, in 1979, Roy Trubshaw and Rich Bartle developed the first multi-user dungeon (MUD) interactive game. MUDs were role-playing computer games that run on a bulletin board system or Internet server.
Through MUDs, players see textual descriptions of rooms, objects, other characters, and computer-controlled creatures in a virtual world. The introduction of MUDs saw the taking off of online gaming in the late 80’s to early 90’s. The creation of the World Wide Web in December 1990 by a CERN scientist Tim Berners-Lee’s marked the next major milestone in online gaming, allowing players to move from MUD servers to the Internet. As computer systems became more powerful and allowed for 3D graphics and lightning-fast multiplayer capabilities, online gaming became more appealing, even to those without much technical knowledge.
The modern era of online gaming began in 1997 with the release of Ultima Online for play across the Internet. Despite some initial teething problems with bugs and gameplay lag, the game soon had over 50,000 paying customers within the first three months. Ultima Online proved there was a large pool of gamers waiting for massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Soon, games like EverQuest and Asheron’s Call began to fight for the dollars of gamers. You can now play everything from online first-person shooters to real-time strategy games against your friends or even someone on the other side of the world.
This is a far cry from having only the computer as an opponent or having to wait your turn in old turn-based games. Statement of the Problem Through the productive use of survey questionnaires and interview, we were able to know the bad impact of online gaming on the students. General Problem: Online gaming causes addiction. It refers to the excessive and uncontrollable online gaming that interferes with daily life. Effects of Online Gaming Addiction: Destruction on studies Students get into online gaming, they start to neglect their studies. They prioritized more the online gaming than studying.
Their grades start to drop and it seems that they don’t care. SOLUTION: Avoid playing online games too much. Balance your time for studying and online gaming. Time Consuming Time really passes so fast when you’re having fun. Students don’t notice how much time they’re spending on online gaming. Because of this, the things that they’re supposed to do are being undone. Online gaming consumes most of their time. Instead of prioritizing other important things, they spend most of their time playing. SOLUTION: Don’t spend too much time than normal to online gaming. Students should learn how to balance their time appropriately.
They should know how to use it wisely. Aside from that, they should be doing first what is more important. Start to have Poor Eyesight Vision Too much playing online games causes students to have poor eyesight vision. When almost all day, they’re eyes are centered on computer, they might start to have bad eyesight. SOLUTION: Give your eyes enough rest. Don’t face the computer almost the whole day. After online gaming for normal time, make sure that you’re going to rest your eyes. Lack of Sleep Students are known to be highly socially active. They get used to sleeping late at night.
Though they have early classes for the next day, most of them stay late at night just for online gaming. SOLUTION: Always bear in mind that people need 8-10 hours of sleep per day. Get enough rest. Health issues Because of getting addicted on online gaming, students tend to skip their meals often or they just eat junk foods that is lack of nutrients to provide what the body neeeds. Illness start SOLUTION: Always eat on time. Waste of Money Students don’t know how to save money. They’re spending too much of it for online gaming. SOLUTION: DON’T get addicted! Significance of study
The study proves that online gaming becomes an addiction especially on college students. It shows which impact is affecting the youths. The conduction of this research study would significantly help and benefit the following: TEACHERS. Teachers are the essential factors in the educational process. This study will help them to know the possible reasons why some of their students’ grades are dropping. And also for them to have knowledge on how to help the students SCHOOL. Greatly benefit ABE as an institution upon knowing the situation of the students and have a precautionary measurements. STUDENTS.
The study would be a great help to the students for it would make them aware that online gaming can be really addictive. It shows the effects of online gaming addiction and the possible solutions on solving the problems regarding the study. PARENTS. Parents of the students would know the specific causes and effects of online gaming to their children. It can help them to become more aware to the outcome of it and what they are supposed to do about it. Detailed Discussion of the Study Ever since the emergence of Internet, online games have started to make waves changing the lives of gamers around the world.
We can still recall a time when we were limited by slow computers with crawling dialup speed. In the past, people could never have imagined the great leaps that would be taken in the field of online games. Today, online games are very advanced. In the world of today, gaming has advanced to an amazing degree. Things like streaming 3-D animation graphics with superb surround sound stereo now have the ability to make us all addicted to gaming. Playing online games is so much more different than playing games in a single player mode where your only challenge is to beat the computer.
If one wants to hone one’s gaming skills, one can simply play with the best players across the globe. In fact, certain game platforms cater to this by having rankings to determine the champions. There can be no doubt that with this ranking system, gamers have become very motivated to win. Getting the top rank is important to gamers across the world. Whether it is role playing games, shooting or strategy games, it is not surprising to see that online gaming is not just a teenage obsession. Adults have got into the groove as well. Online gaming has a big impact on youths: the good and bad.
It depends on the player itself. Good impacts refer to the good effects of online gaming on the students. These include the following: •It helps them relax from the stress of school and everything else around them. •It helps them create and make new friends. •Develops cooperation with co-players •Source of entertainment •Self-satisfaction •Builds-up interpersonal relationship with each other •Develops interpersonal intelligence •Gets your brain way more active •Enables users to interact with each other while playing games online. Of course, even online gaming has its negative aspects.
The world has become so attached to online gaming that many people prefer to interact only through games. They loathe the idea of social interaction. This, of course, is not advisable. In fact, some also link this trend to unhealthy lifestyles because it also means sitting in one position all day without much activity. Young people are especially susceptible to the lure of online games which leads them to neglect school. It includes the ff: •It is the major source of addiction; means getting too into playing online games. Getting too addicted on online gaming causes students
But we cannot downplay the many advantages that gaming does have. For instance, by limiting gaming to a certain number of hours a day, there can actually be some positive effects. Scientific studies have found that online games can train the human mind to be agile and alert. Gamers are always exposed to conditions whereby they have to learn to adapt and develop certain strategies in order to survive. As with everything, even gaming has its good and bad effects. Whether you let yourself be affected positively or negatively is your call. Definition of terms Addiction – Online gaming – Web Browser – Review of related literature
Online Game Addiction Well, so what does all this medical jargon have in relation to online gaming? Recently, the massive emergence of online games has greatly affected the lives of college students. Similar to addictions like gambling or exercise, online gaming provides emotional escape and relief from high intervals of stress and social interaction. Since college students continue to actively meet an endless array of deadlines, stress becomes an innate aspect of college life. With the simultaneous exposure of an intense social atmosphere, many students are fearful to expose themselves as shy and vulnerable human beings.
It is the stress of schoolwork and fear of social interaction, in which online gaming has become an integral source for emotional pleasure and excitement stimulation. The games themselves allow for people to anonymously protect themselves from the real world, both socially and emotionally, while stimulating excitement in the form of adrenaline. Thus, online gaming can now be considered a source of addiction, and I will explain what specifically is addictive about online games, and how they are relational to college students. “We come to see ourselves differently as we catch sight of our images in the mirror of the machine…
A rapidly expanding system of networks, collectively known as the internet, links millions of people in new spaces that are changing the way we think, the nature of our sexuality, the form of our communities, our very identities” (Turkle, 1995). Computer addiction can be thought of as time spent on the computer, playing video games, or cruising the internet in which reaches a point of disruption in an individual’s natural reality. Its expanding system of networks becomes a virtual community and reality other than physical reality, which greatly alters a player’s perception of life. reference 2) (reference 3)The virtual world, in a way, becomes physical reality in which relationships and emotional stimulation become inseparable from its collective structure. For some students, this disembodiment from the real world becomes so out of hand, that it harms social relationships as well as disrupting school work. The game replaces friends and family, like other addictions as the source of a person’s emotional life. Possible symptoms of online game addiction, like cocaine and alcohol, are: * Most of non-school hours are spent on the computer falling asleep in class * not keeping up with assignments * worsening of grades * dropping out of social groups * experiences feelings of withdrawal, anger, or depression when not on the computer * would rather play the games than spend time with friends and family (reference 5) While college students only make up 8. 1% of the world gaming population, as much as 70% of all these college students reported playing video or online games at least once, and as high as 65% admitted to being regular users. Surprisingly, gender plays no role in online gaming, where 50. % male to 49. 2% female becomes the divide (Brian 2005). There is an obvious observance that online gaming is widely accessible to a majority of college students, making online addiction more easily obtained than substance drugs like cocaine and other physical drugs. This is why gaming has been overlooked as a serious impact in the role of interaction, because it has become such an inherrant aspect of today’s culture. If someone doesn’t play computer games in today’s age, they aren’t conforming to society’s social network.
Ironically, computer gaming has]ve become the melting-pot for all socially inept and emotionally challenged individuals, where the risk-free virtual experience allows people to reform their identities. (reference 2) (reference 3) These socially inept people now have become the socially active, where non-computer users have fallen out of the loop. Biologically, non-substance addiction has been discussed as a substitution in Dopamine neurotransmitters by the hormone adrenaline in times of any emotional instigation.
With online gaming, the basic layout encompasses some sort of emotional instigation in its simulation of death-defying killing games, or excitement in challenging races against the clock. The obvious adrenaline rush that we all feel in times of those excitement based situations convinces the brain that it is actually occuring. The adrenaline rush acts exactly in the same way as it would in an actual real-life scenario. For many student players, this fake representation of emotion becomes a necessary need in emotional happiness nd physical relaxation in an intense and stressful school environment. Like cocaine, the ‘drug’ adrenaline becomes a way of escape and relieving stress, which for some becomes the easiest risk-free way of becoming happy. Sociologically, the main addiction in online gaming is a result of its endless goal-oriented layout, and its involvement with Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPG’s). Regular video games have high emotional instigation but become repetitive and eventually end and become boring. Online games, however, are endless in a continual looping of goals and scenarios.
Games like Everquest (also known as Ever-crack) and World of War Craft, pose an endless matrix of scenarios and possibilities that are never the same. The player becomes stuck in a virtual loop, moving from one goal to the next that has no ending. It is this aspect that ties in the idea of adrenaline as an addictive drug (Hayot 2004). The idea of adrenaline replacing the necessary dopamine levels is obvious in video game’s death-defying scenarios. By adding an endless supply of goals as a new property, an online game then endlessly produces adrenaline during all times of playtime.
The body continually displaces dopamine until the point that the body requires its substitution as essential to emotionally survive in the world. College students live in a highly socially active and complex computer-based culture, and are known to be “night owls” when it comes to schoolwork. Online gaming reflects this trend in that 41% of college students report playing after 9 p. m. , 8% before noon, while 37% play between 5 p. m and 9 p. m. This isn’t counting those who play all night and during classes (Brian 2005).
It is obvious that college students utilize game playing during all available spaces of free time, which takes place of the possibility of hanging out with friends or having a relationship. Between school and gaming, social interaction becomes only available in the form of virtual worlds (MMORPG’s). These programs, not only access an endless supply of addictive adrenaline hormones, but now supply social interaction for students that lack the time or experience of a social environment. This social interaction has gotten to the point, that even marriages and virtual currency sold as real money have been redefined through the internet’s ndless possibilities. The internet substitutes anything, at any space in time, allowing for a risk-free safe environment. The problem of online gaming, is that socially fearful and inept people become reliant on MMORPG’s as a source of all these necessary interactions of life; ultimately becoming their life (reference 5). Online gaming, takes biological in-balances of adrenaline and dopamine, and adds essential social interaction, as ways of trapping people in a collaborative virtual community, replacing the need for physical interaction and presence. What is Addiction?
What actually is addiction? Is it genetic? How do you get addicted? Webster’s concise dictionary defines addiction as “a habit so strong that one cannot give it up. ” It has been common to link addiction with the need for common drugs like alcohol, cocaine, nicotine, and crack. But as research has shown, a possible source of addiction is a result of a chemical in-balance involving the neurotransmitter Dopamine. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that take messages from one cell to another by attaching itself to receptors built into the cell’s outer structure.
Dopamine, being the most important neurotransmitter, deals with the control of human movement, attention, and the ability to experience pleasure, stress, and excitement. Common addictive drugs like nicotine, simulate a false stimulation of Dopamine by binding directly to the message receptors, blocking the actual dopamine from conveying its specific functions (reference 6) “As a result, more dopamine remains to stimulate neurons, which causes a prolonged feelings of pleasure and excitement” (reference 6) “One important aspect of drug addiction is how cells adapt to previous drug exposure.
For example, long-term treatment with dopamine antagonists increases the number of dopamine receptors. This happens as the nervous system tries to make up for less stimulation of the receptors by dopamine itself. Likewise, the receptors themselves become more sensitive to dopamine” (reference 6) . The drugs then become a substitute for human pleasure and excitement, causing people to crave and need the drug to relax and possibly achieve pleasure. As a result, the body creates a habit of relying on the drug as a cell communicator, and it becomes an essential need in which the body cannot give up.
Essentially, the need for dopamine or the lack there of, causes addiction as a result of the uncontrollable habits produced by addictive substances. Now that addiction has been linked biologically to physical addictive substances, where do non-physical addictions (gambling, over-eating, sex, working, exercising, etc. ) come into play? As defined before, addiction is essentially a habit that one cannot give up, and in the case of drugs, it becomes a habit of needed dopamine stimulation and simulation. Many people don’t consider situations such as exercising as a possible situation for addiction.
In fact, until recently it wasn’t even considered a problem, and people who experienced exercise addiction were either ignored or blamed for their actions. Tracing back to the idea of dopamine as the basis for addictive stimulation, adrenaline (a hormone that mimics the function of a neurotransmitter) acts in the same way to produce physical stimulation as well as emotional instigation. In situations of excitement, fear, anger, or any other form of emotional anxiety, adrenaline glands above the kidney’s naturally inject adrenaline as a coping mechanism to relieve the situation.
With exercising, the amount of adrenaline produced by the body creates a natural emotional “high” of excitement, which acts similarly to the function of cocaine’s displacement of dopamine. Like Cocaine, adrenaline in situations of over-production, take over as the main message communicator between cells. Adrenaline displaces dopamine, and may also produce the body to habitually need its stimulation as their its only form of excitement and pleasure. “It happens in the presence of a life-endangering situation [adrenaline may also be released during artificial life-endangering situations, such as by watching horror movies or computer games].
This chemical is adrenaline, which is meant to prepare the body for defense in the case of an emergency. ” (reference 7) Adrenaline also can be a way to emotionally and physically alter one’s immune system to defend against harmful or what appears to be harmful situations. This would explain the reason why people don’t feel pain at first in a heavy accident, because of the constant surging of adrenaline in the bloodstream. Or even when people are subject to a life-endangering situation, adrenaline acts like a ‘mind-altering drug’ in which the body uses to instigate extreme brain activity and intense physical power.
In relation to addiction, it is this bodily defense against potentially harmful situations in which adrenaline may attract people to become an addict. For instance, people who experience high volumes of stress and emotional depression are subject to an over-abundance of adrenaline. They rely on adrenaline as an emotional coping drug, to produce a natural “high” of pleasure or relaxation. Taking this natural form of an emotional and physical pain reliever, there is no doubt that people would turn to high-adrenaline activities such as exercise, sex, or gambling to deal with their depression or emotional pain.
Conclusion: College students while only making up about 8. 1% of the online gaming population, reflect a significant number of possible addictions and other types of various effects. Since students are known to stay up all night and be highly social and active, online gaming begins to reflect these factors. I discussed the growth of MMORPG’s into today’s information-based society and how social interaction became an integral part of its development. I then proved that addiction is a result of chemical inbalances with dopamine, in which adrenaline specifically acted as a neurotransmitter substitute.
Online gaming uses this availablity of adrenaline to simulate emotional “highs” as a result of virtual real-life scenarios. With games like Everquest and World of War Craft, the possibility of goal-oriencted structures and social interaction become addictive properties that lure college students, as a coping mechanism for a highly complex life and a stress-filled school life. Thus, online gaming proves as an easily available and widespread aspect of college life, in which addiction potentially becomes a serious threat.
Online game addiction, as a result, is as much of a threat as cocaine and other drugs, and exposure of its potential possibilites are essential in today’s information-based society. Project Info The main objective of this project is to prove that online gaming is a major source of addict ion while simultaneously exploring its influential involvement in the social life and school work of college students. I began by discussing a correlation between advancing technology and online game introduction, depicting the immersion of social interaction as an integral aspect of today’s game design.
I then introduced the idea of addiction, explaining its definition and potential source of creation through two specific chemical in-balances: Dopamine associated with physical addictive substances, and Adrenaline associated with emotional and physical anxiety. Online games present similar aspects of anxiety which call upon Adrenaline as a source of pleasure and excitement. I then depicted this correlation in similarity to other non-substance addictions ( gambling, over-eating, sex, working, etc. ) to argue that online gaming potentially can be addictive, and is a major concern that will only develop further in the future.
I then discussed the relationship between online game addiction and college students, and that social interaction had become the ultimate quality that made games addictive, in which especially effected college students who lived in a stress-filled complex social environment. My motivation for the creation of this project was to support my fear of advancing technology, and understand specifically how it has effected me. One of my old roommates got sucked into the computer world, and became addicted to online games. It got so out of hand, that I had to force him to get help.
It was a scary experience to realize that simple games could almost destroy someone, and I made it my personal goal to understand all aspects of technology and its inevitable influence on my future. Doing the research, I must say, was the best part of the project. I liked reading these articles because they are relevant to my life and future. Though, it was hard finding information on a topic that is so recent in today’s society. Information was sparse and rarely helpful, because online game addiction has not officially been recognized as a major type of addiction.
Though it was fun making up connections that support my hypothesis that Online Gaming is a major source of addiction in college life. The hardest part of the project was just sitting down and actually formatting the website, and figuring out a layout that works. Specifically, I had trouble getting the program to line up from page to page, and especially in different browsers. I had to play around with all the dimensions constantly to make sure the proportions were always right. References Ng, Brian . Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming. 005 Paul, Christiane. Digital Art: Themes in Digital Art. Thames & Hudson: London. 2003. Hayot, Eric (2004). Reading Game/text: Everquest, Alienation, and Digital Communities. Postmodern Culture: Volume 14, Number 2. Website References 1. http://www. csmonitor. com/2005/1013/p13s02-stct. html 2. Role-Playing and Multi-Player Computer Game Addiction: http://multimedia. design. curtin. edu/cache/g/0002/ 3. Computer Addiction: http://www-cse. stanford. edu/classes/cs201/Projects/computers-addiction/index. htm 4. Computer and Cyberspace Addiction: ttp://www. selfhelpmagazine. com/articles/internet/cybaddict. html 5. Video Games: A Source of Benefit or Addiction: http://serendip. brynmawr. edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/mschlimme. html 6. Dopamine- a Sample Neurotransmitter: http://www. utexas. edu/research/asrec/dopamine. html 7. Alcoholism http://www. internet-articles. com/health/alcohol. php 8. History of Online Gaming: http://www. intel. com/personal/gaming/history/history. htm references: www. wordiq. com/definition: http://www-users. mat. umk. pl/~rembol/eng/history. html