This document provides information on the history and research around video game addiction. It discusses how interest in video game addiction has increased in recent decades. In the 1980s, some of the first case reports of video game addiction appeared, describing issues like "space invaders obsessions." Research expanded in the 1990s and 2000s to examine addiction to online games. More recent research has identified negative consequences and factors associated with addiction. The document also shares information on organizations working in the field, research studies and their findings, statistics on symptoms and who plays video games. It provides an overview of the development of the topic and research around video game addiction.

1. CONTENT RESEARCH- VIDEO GAME ADDICTION

2. HISTORY- VIDEO GAME ADDICTION
• Gaming addiction has become a topic of increasing research interest and over the last decade there has
been a significant increase in the number of studies examining the various aspects of video game addiction
compared to preceding decades.
• However their has been a lack of consensus as to whether video game addiction exists and if it should be
referred as ‘addiction’, some researchers have instead used terminology such as ‘excessive’ or ‘problematic’
to denote the harmful use of video games.

3. HISTORY- VIDEO GAME ADDICTION
• Gaming Addiction in the 1980s: Following the release if the first commercial video games in the early 1970s,
it took until the 1980s for the first reports of video game addiction to appear in the psychological and
psychiatric literature. Researchers reported 3 cases of ‘space invaders obsessions’ and other researchers
described a similar phenomenon and called it ‘computer catatonia’. The first reference to ‘video game
addiction’ was in 1983 by Soper and Miller, who, based on their observations as school counsellors, claimed
the disorder was like any other behavioural addiction, consisting of; compulsive behavioural involvement, a
lack of interest in other activities, association and friendship circles mainly with other video game addicts,
and physical and metal symptoms when attempting to stop the behaviour.
• In 1989, Shotten published the first study specifically on video game addiction on a small sample of 127
people who described themselves as ‘hooked’ on video games for the past 5 years.

4. HISTORY- VIDEO GAME ADDICTION
• Gaming Addiction in the 1990s: in the 1990s there was a small but significant increase of research into video game addiction with
all these studies being carried out in the UK and mainly on young people in school settings. In contrast to research in the 1980s
studies, studies now assessed both video game players and non gamers. However, research was criticised for many reasons
such as ; small sample size, unrealistic settings, and one of the main problems was that all of the researchers assed video game
addiction using adapted versions of the DSM-III-R or DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling.
• Gaming Addiction in the 2000s: The 2000s saw a substantial growth in the number of studies on video game addiction particularly
as gaming expanded into the new online medium where games could be played as part of a gaming community (i.e., massively
multiplayer online role playing games [MMORPGs] such as World of Warcraft and Everquest). Approximately sixty studies were
published on gaming addiction between 2000 and 2010 [7] and a vast majority of these examined
• MMORPG addiction and was not limited to the study of young males. Furthermore, many of these studies collected their data
online and a significant minority of studies examined various other aspects of video game addiction using non-self-report
methodologies. These include studies using polysomnographic measures and visual and verbal memory tests medical
examinations including the patient’s history.
• Gaming Addiction- The present; Due to the increased number of research studies of the past years, researchers have now been
able to identify the negative consequences of excessive video game use, factors associated with video game addiction and the
treatments of video game addiction.

5. PROFESSIONAL COMPANIES/ORGANISATIONS
• Company Name: United Kingdom Interactive Entertainment (Ukie)
• Who are they? Ukie is a trade body that aims to support, grow and promote the whole of the
UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry. Founded in 2010 (although formerly
known as ELSPA), Ukie’s membership includes all the major UK and global games
publishers and the best of UK development talent.
• What do they do? Ukie represent all parts of the gaming industry on major government
groups and cross-sector debates and ensure that the games industry is heard on issues
such as tax breaks and the positive side of games. They run campaigns and initiatives that
benefits the wider UK games sector. They also represent the wider games industry and
arrange 1 to 1 meetings between game businesses.
• How do they do it/ people involved? They have 13 departments with a manager in each
department, who is in charge of that particular department and communicates to other
departments when necessary.

6. PROFESSIONAL COMPANIES/ORGANISATIONS
• Organisation Name: Mothers against videogame addiction and violence (MAVAV)
• Who are they? MAVAV is an organisation that was launched in December 2002 with high hopes of
raising awareness of the hidden dangers associated with video games. Their goal is to document the
harmful effects of video games.
• What do they do? This organisation publish almost blog like articles where they display their opinions
on recent video games that have been published and how it violent and inappropriate for children to be
playing. They have very strong opinions on video games and this is portrayed in their articles, for
example they refer to it frequently as an ‘epidemic’.

7. ARTICLE 1
• http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/5976/
• Title: Video game addiction: past, present and future
• Author: Griffiths, M.D., Kuss, D.J. and King, D.L (psychologists)
• Year Published: 2012 Last Modified: 23/8/16
• Summary: This is a highly credible article on the history of video game addiction, which was written by
psychologists from Nottingham Trent University. It explores how video game addiction research has
progressed from the 1980s to the future of video game addiction. For example, video game addiction first
became apparent in the 1980s following the release of the first commercial video game in the early 1970s. It
became referred to as ‘addiction’ as researchers claimed the disorder was like any other behavioural
addiction. The article also shows how research on video game addiction has improved as before self-report
techniques were used, which are unreliable compared to now where video game addicts are compared to
control groups and research follows a more scientific method. The article also references the future of video
game addiction. They predict that gaming addiction will soon be on the psychiatric disorder classification
(DSM, ICD).
• Impact: I found this article useful because it clearly showed me the development of video game addiction
and how it has progressed and become much more significant over the past years. It has given me
background knowledge on the issue which I had not known; such information which I could somehow
incorporate in my documentary.

8. ARTICLE 2
• http://www.techaddiction.ca/gaming-addiction-statistics.html
• Title: Gaming addiction statistics, facts, articles and research
• Author: By Dr. Brent Conrad (Clinical Psychologist for TechAddiction)
• Date Published: N/A Date modified: 27/10/16
• Summary: This article has a series of statistics on video game addictions, Which have been collated
from the findings of research studies. The research findings give a variety of facts on Addiction from
correlations between video game addiction and academics to the best form treatments for video game
addiction cognitive behavioural therapy. The information presented is rather credible as it gives the
researchers name and year the study was conducted, when you press this detailed information about
the aims, procedures and conclusions of the study are found.
• Impact: I found this article useful because it has very clear statistics and facts on video game
addiction, which are not just someone’s opinions but they are actual findings which have been
concluded from research studies, therefore making they reliable.

9. ARTICLE 3
• http://ukie.org.uk/research/#Who plays
• Title: Who plays
• Author: Ukie
• Date: N/A
• Summary: This is a short article summarising ‘who plays’ video games. The article presents a variety of
statistics which are also presented through graphs. The findings are from a company called ‘GameTrack’
and they estimate that there are 18.8 million people aged between 6-64 playing games in the UK, this
correlates to 40% of the population. This article also states that 58% players in the UK are male and 42%
female, with the largest single age/ demographic being 15-24 year-old makes, making up 16% of all players
(GameTrack 2016)
• Impact: I found this article useful because it provides many statistics on who plays video games, and the
information is also rather current with findings from2016. As well as this, as my documentary will be aimed
at parents, the article reinforces the idea that the documentary is relevant for parents to know as young
people have found to be the majority who play video games. Therefore, the article is useful for me.

10. ARTICLE 4
• http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/12/what-makes-games-so-addictive/
• Title: quiet killer: Why video games are so addictive
• Author: Mez Breeze
• Date: 12/01/13
• Summary: This article first provides 2 of many cases where individuals who have passed away due to playing
video games excessively. For example, one of the individual died due to playing 40 hours of video games
believed to be due to significant physical and mental strains associated with gaming that restricts physical
movement for long periods of time. The article also attempts to define what video game addiction is, but
highlights that the term ‘addiction’ is not used by everyone and people disagree about what it should be called.
The article also attempts to explain why video games are so addictive. One explanation being positive
reinforcement which suggests that video games are constantly played due to the positive rewards associated
with games. For example, If you win a certain reward for shooting someone, you are more likely to repeat this
behaviour to gain this reward. Such conclusions have been drawn from Skinners research. Other explanations
are similar to gambling addiction which suggests that games are continuously due to the ‘near-miss’
hypothesis. For example, if the player nearly won, they believe that if they try again than they will win very
soon.
• Impact: I found this article useful because it did not just inform me about facts and information about video
game addiction but provided me with explanations as to why people become addicted. Such information I may
incorporate into my documentary as it is information that people ay not know and so they may be intrigued by
it.

11. FACTS & FIGURES- RESEARCH STUDIES FINDINGS
• Chiu (2004) found that students addicted to video games have lower academic grades than their non-addicted
peers.
• Hussain (2009) found that 41% of people who play online video games admitted that they played computer games
as an escape from the real world. The researchers classified seven percent of these gamers as “dependent”. The
authors claim that the addicted gamers used video games to modify their moods, demonstrated tolerance, and
showed signs of relapse.
• Griffiths (2008) found that males are more prone to video game addiction than females. Boys tend to enjoy violent or
aggressive games and girls generally prefer puzzle games and platformers.
• King (2010) found that the most recommended and most common treatment orientation for video game addiction is
cognitive behavioural therapy.
• Ko (2009) found that the same regions of the brain that are activated when craving occur in alcohol and drug addicts
are also activated in video game addicts when they see images of computer games.
• Peukert (2010) found that in a German sample, 1.5 – 3.5% of teens who use the internet were found to demonstrate
symptoms of video game addiction. Video game addiction was also found to be correlated with a higher probability
of depression, anxiety, and poorer school grades.
• Mehroof (2010) found that people who have higher levels of trait anxiety, aggressive behavior, and neuroticism are
at a higher risk for video game addiction.

12. FACTS & FIGURES
• The average length of time spent playing video games was 20 hours per week
• An estimated 72 percent of American households play video games
• An estimated nine percent of the 3,034 participants in a study showed signs of video game addiction
• Four percent of percent of study participants were categorized as extreme users who played video
games 50 hours per week on average
• The online world of video games has opened up a whole new realm for video game addiction statistics.
As of 2013, “internet-use disorder” exists as a full-fledged diagnosis within the DSM-IV, or Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

13. FACTS & FIGURES- SYMPTOMS
•Sedentary lifestyle: weight gain, poor posture, and an increased risk of type
2 diabetes in children and teens.
•Lack of social engagement: Video games don’t prepare children for the
realities of socializing with their peers. Learning how to interact with others
in a real-world setting is an important social skill that may be neglected by
individuals who spend too much time gaming.
•Problems with concentration and attention: There is some concern that the
rapid movements and fast-paced action of video games promote a loss of
concentration in players.
•Increased aggression or violence: Children and teens who devote a lot of
time to playing video games that focus on combat, fighting, or violence may
display more signs of aggression than those who don’t play these games.
Parents must be aware of the content of video games, which are subject to a
rating system similar to the one applied to films.

14. FACTS & FIGURES- WHO PLAYS?
•GameTrack estimate there are 18.8m people aged between 6 and 64 playing games in the UK, or 40% of the population.
•On average, 11 to 64 year-olds spend 8.8 hours per week playing games
•24% (11.4m) play on consoles, 24% (11.2m) on computers, 21% (9.8m) on smartphones, 16% (7.8m) on tablets and 11%
on handhelds (5m)