Excess and control : online gaming and the context of the player

Abstract

The amount of research on problematic use of massively multiplayer online role- playing games (MMORPGs) is growing rapidly, with research questions committed to a wide array of aspects. Several psychological studies focus on reward mechanisms and structural aspect of the games, or the psycho-structural characteristics of the play activity (Griffiths & Meredith 2009; King et al. 2009; King et al. 2010). Other studies describe how the social life within the games constitutes an important reason why people play excessively (Chappell et al. 2006; Cole & Griffiths 2007; Linderoth & Bennerstedt 2007; Taylor 2003, 2006). Much less attention has been on the real-life context of the player, although studies show that the physical and social context of the player influence playing in essential ways (Griffiths 2010a; Madden 2009).