Psychiatrists' Perceptions of World of Warcraft and Other MMORPGs.

Video game use, particularly massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs) and massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), has been a focus of considerable research in recent years. However, little is known regarding how mental health workers perceive patients and clients who report playing them. The present study examines whether psychiatrists play MMOs/MMORPGs and how they perceive those who play them. Psychiatrists (N = 48) at a tertiary care centre in Canada completed a questionnaire assessing history of playing video games as well as whether they associate such use with psychopathology. Only 36.7 % believed there was an association between psychopathology and MMO/MMORPG use. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Hostility Is Associated with Self-Reported Cognitive and Social Benefits Across Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Player Roles.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) can sometimes be associated with patterns of play that are harmful to health and well-being. Hazardous MMORPG play has been linked to hostility (toward other people). However, little is known about how hostility, as a risk factor, relates to players' choices within games, or players' experiences of the positive aspects of MMORPGs. In this study, we surveyed 5,847 players of Jagex's RuneScape to examine how trait hostility relates to player roles that prioritize skill acquisition/improvement (Skillers), combat (Killers), or narrative challenges (Questers). Killers reported modestly higher levels of trait hostility than Skillers and Questers. The most hostile players reported the strongest importance of in-game relative to offline achievements, possibly indicating hazardous involvement. Critically, hostile players also report the strongest cognitive and social benefits. These include (i) skills acquired through MMORPGs that help players to achieve things in their offline lives and (ii) online relationships that benefit offline relationships. These findings offer a new perspective on the way that a previously reported risk factor for harmful MMORPG play relates to player engagement, possibly by offering a helpful space for hostile individuals to develop problem solving and social skills. This suggests that some individuals who might be vulnerable to developing harmful patterns of MMORPG play may simultaneously experience greater tangible benefits.

Corrigendum: Language Learning Enhanced by Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and the Underlying Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00095.].

What matters is when you play: Investigating the relationship between online video games addiction and time spent playing over specific day phases.

Online video gaming is now widely considered an activity possibly related to addictive behaviors, so that the diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is now included both in DSM-5 and ICD-11; however, there is still debate about some specific features of such disorder. One debated aspect is time spent playing: IGD gamers certainly play a high amount of time, but, on the other hand, also highly-engaged individuals or people working with video games (e.g.: eSports professional players) may play a lot without developing IGD. The literature agrees on the importance of deepening the role of time spent playing video games in IGD, to understand if it can be considered a symptom useful for the diagnosis, or not: one possibility is that time spent playing is not important in an absolute sense, but relatively to specific day phases. The present research involved 133 participants to test the relationship between average time spent playing over day phases (morning, afternoon, night; week, weekend days), age, game preferences and IGD. IGD score positively predicted time spent playing during weekend mornings, which are a day phase usually dedicated to other activities. Instead, time spent playing during afternoon was negatively predicted by age, according to this day phase being more related to youngsters' spare time, while night playing was related to preference for game genres which need dedicated time to organize multi-playing. Discussion deals with the utility of these preliminary results for future, more systematic research on IGD and its distinctive symptoms.

Language Learning Enhanced by Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and the Underlying Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms.

Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) have increased in popularity among children, juveniles, and adults since MMORPGs' appearance in this digital age. MMORPGs can be applied to enhancing language learning, which is drawing researchers' attention from different fields and many studies have validated MMORPGs' positive effect on language learning. However, there are few studies on the underlying behavioral or neural mechanism of such effect. This paper reviews the educational application of the MMORPGs based on relevant macroscopic and microscopic studies, showing that gamers' overall language proficiency or some specific language skills can be enhanced by real-time online interaction with peers and game narratives or instructions embedded in the MMORPGs. Mechanisms underlying the educational assistant role of MMORPGs in second language learning are discussed from both behavioral and neural perspectives. We suggest that attentional bias makes gamers/learners allocate more cognitive resources toward task-related stimuli in a controlled or an automatic way. Moreover, with a moderating role played by activation of reward circuit, playing the MMORPGs may strengthen or increase functional connectivity from seed regions such as left anterior insular/frontal operculum (AI/FO) and visual word form area to other language-related brain areas.

[Problematic internet use (PIN)--a review of assessment questionnaires and risk factors]. / Problematisches Internetnutzungsverhalten (PIN)--eine Übersicht zu Messinstrumenten und Risikofaktoren.

Internet is nowadays an integral part of our lives. However, excessive internet use, which is in many ways comparable to substance addictions and behavioral addictions, has become of growing interest in popular media, health policy and scientific research. Nevertheless, there is still considerable controversy with respect to diagnostic criteria and assessment questionnaires, and the diagnosis does not yet appear in any official diagnostic system such as the DSM-5 or ICD-10. Due to the lack of consistent diagnostic criteria for problematic internet use and both the use of different assessment questionnaires and classification systems, the reported prevalence rates vary significantly across studies. Thus, the comparison of study results is limited.In this review article a brief overview of the various diagnostic criteria and assessment questionnaires as well as the prevalence of problematic internet use (PIN) will be given. Furthermore, several usage-related and person-related risk factors of PIN will be discussed. With regards to the latter, the focus will be on both sociodemographic and psychiatric risk factors and on personality traits.

Usos da etnografia em mundos virtuais baseados na imagem / Uses of ethnography in image-based virtual worlds

A etnografia é uma técnica consagrada na pesquisa em ciências sociais, especialmente na antropologia. Contudo, os novos espaços de comunicação mediados pela tecnologia têm apresentado desafios à sua aplicação, face à desterritorialização, anonimato e registros limitados, em maioria, ao texto escrito. Esses novos formatos comunicacionais propiciaram o surgimento de diversas adaptações da etnografia para o meio online, abordando características típicas de websites, fóruns de discussão, redes sociais, chats e MUDs¹. Entretanto, os jogos massivos ²online, denominados MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing), incorporam fortemente a imagem em sua experiência interativa, apresentando avatares³ gráficos e interações gestuais entre personagens, ou seja, é uma experiência do mundo visual simulada em três dimensões. Além disso, pode-se ver a formação de identidades que se expandem além do jogo usando outros canais online, e até alcançando o off-line. Estas inovações abrem novas dimensões para o uso da etnografia (inclusive a antropologia visual) em mundos virtuais online, onde requer adaptações das técnicas existentes. Inicialmente, é feita uma revisão das principais técnicas etnográficas aplicadas ao meio online, depois se discute modificações que as características específicas dos MMORPGs imprimiriam a tais técnicas. Conclui-se que o aspecto imagético e ambientação baseada em uma interface tridimensional de tais jogos, de certa forma, possibilitam a aplicação das técnicas mais clássicas de etnografia.