Online gamers warned they face ‘pathological’ addiction
Gamers choosing to connect online with fellow players online are in danger of developing a ‘pathological’ addiction to their hobby, according to university researchers.
Academics at Cardiff, Derby and Nottingham Trent universities called on gaming firms to do more to police the sector after finding some players were spending as much as 90 hours a time in these virtual environments.
They cited the open ended nature of these online role playing titles is thought to be a key factor in the problem as players have no set ending to aim for, unlike conventional console games.
Published in the Addiction Research and Theory Journal the findings indicate that western governments may have to follow the lead of their Asian counterparts in limiting the time spent online.
In total some 11 per cent of gamers were identified as displaying ‘pathological’ symptoms.
One of the report’s authors, Dr Shumaila Yousafzai, called for warning messages to be displayed when games are overused, saying: "These warning messages also suggest that the online video game industry might know how high the percentage of over-users is, how much time gamers spend playing and what specific features make a particular game more engrossing and addictive than others.
"While they do not directly admit this, by showing the warning messages, they do take some responsibility into their own hands."