communication technologies to be mediums through which communications take place. That is to say, the Internet is a tool for communication in lieu of face to face interaction, not an impetus or force which drives us to communicate. So then, when we push on to analyze the addictive natures often associated with Internet and other technology use, we must continue to view the Internet as a mechanism for addictive behavior, not the addictive provenance itself. We find on the Internet a multitude of activities that can lead to addictive behavior including shopping, gambling, gaming, and sex. What is to be remembered here is that the Internet is an avenue to these addictive venues and many (including all of the aforementioned) have been documented as problematic areas offline leading to compulsive and/or addictive behavior.
Understanding the above, we can begin to deseminate one of these Problematic Internet Uses (PIU), perhaps gaming, to understand why it is people experience compulsiveness and addictive behavior when going online. Simply to further our discussion, let us focus on a specific area of gaming: the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) genre that includes World of Warcraft, Everquest, and other titles. This genre is charactized by graphical interfaces into colorful and detailed fantasy worlds, in which players become adventurous hereos and heroines. Players create notoriety of themselves by improving their characters, amassing in-game wealth, and making allies & enemies alike. What is often most addictive of online games and that creates the lure to pull in newer players are the reward systems. As you play, your character gains experience allowing it to level up, gain new skills, wear new and better armors, explore new areas, battle new creatures, etc. Positive action causes positive reward early and often; however, as a player carries on, rewards are less frequent, more variable and harder to come by. However, a player has become used to these rewards, a feature of addictive vices known as operant conditioning according to Wallace and now must devote more time and energy to earn their reward. The time intensive focus of continued play is often the very source of the PIU associated with online game playing.
Further to the nature of these worlds and their reward systems, is their compositions which provide outlets for predisposed pyschosocial problems in the players combined with the enchanced affordances for addiction found on via the Internet as a communication device. We learned from Richard Bartle that online games with their social nature lend themselves to certain caches of people: achievers, explorers, socializers, and killers (Wallace 96). Of these four, I would believe the achievers and the socializers the most suspectable to PIU. Achievers are defined by their focus on game driven goals like collecting treasure, gaining character skills, or finishing quests. While, socializers primarily use the MMORPGs as social outlets to interact with other players and make friends. What we find with these types of players is a greater
pre-disposition towards the guile of compulsiveness related to their game play. Achievers innately desire to satisfy the need for higher levels, stronger armor, and better skills that most game systems provide (which was discussed earlier). However, when the game they are playing is online, their achievements are no longer personal, but public. They can be ranked verse other players-- known for their high level and awesome equipment. They can be revered by newer players for their great rank and success. This external praise only serves as a further reward for their problematic overuse of the game which takes away from other aspects of their life. Meanwhile, socializers find themselves with a different cannon of problems. Online popularity can be much easier to achieve then offline which feeds upon players with a pre-deposition to loneliness/depression, one of the four predictors of PIU (Davis, Flett & Besser). People often going online, play these games as their social outlet, and thus, they are eager to converse, share, and reciprocate. Once a socializer begins to develop strong bonds with their friends and allies in the gaming world, they often feel guilt by not logging in. They see themselves as neglecting their obligations online by focusing on their lives away from the screen. What we find is that the Internet often enchances the negative associations of gameplay by compounding pyschosocial
problems through exposure to other players. Troubled gamers develop an online presence by achieving or socializing and failure to log in quickly damages their stature. A cycle is bread in which as a player spends more time online, they feel greater need to continue their time online because of their previous time investments (poker players often call this cashing bad money with good).
In respect to the affordances for addictive or compuslive behavior provided by MMORPGs presence online, we can attribute two of Walther & Boyd's four dimensions of attraction to online social support: anonymity and interaction management as features which promote the addictive nature of gaming via the Internet. Anonymity can be key to a gamers comfortableness with compulsive play. By using an avatar and alias, no player is likely to have their offline self known to their online companions. Further, by playing under an alias, a player can distance himself from his offline problems by focusing on the virtual self held within the MMORPG. Secondly, the Internet affords oneself the ability to manage his or her interactions by self impression management, ease of striking up new interactions (there are thousands of other players in these worlds waiting to be talked to) or relieveing oneselfs from negative encounters (can close the program with one click), and even by starting over under a new name and with a new alias.
We mentioned before that the social nature of the online games provides extra affordances towards compulsive behavior by rewarding additional time online in the form of recognition and praise from peers. But, how exactly is it that anonymity and interaction management create additional externalities that would make gaming online more addictive towards the socializers and achievers? According to Caplan in his 2003 study on preferences for online interaction, certain types of people (in our discussion the aforementioned achievers and socializers) have negative perceptions of their own social prowness in Face to Face settings. They feel lonely, depressed (Davis, Flett, & Besser) or see themselves as deficit in some regard when attempting to build friendships offline. So, then, as the Internet provides these affordances towards impression management and anonymity, there is less pressure to perform socially and perceived anonymity which allows them to feel more comfortable online. Once these types of people go online, they fall into a cycle in which their previous offline deficiences become compounding by lack of attention and too much time online. This is especially true of the MMORPG in which players who strive to suceed by amassing great wealth or skill or a large social circle of friends and allies, find themselves neglecting their offline obligations. Those who would already feel anxious or unfit in social situtations offline feel better accepted online and their neglect to their duties only creates more problems which in turn makes interaction online all that much more welcome.
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