Playing Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Dangerous Time-Consuming Leisure?
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Individuals are at risk when they use the Internet. Video gamers playing online games are at risk when they play too much. What is too much? The amount of time is often used for assessing the border between a safe and a potentially dangerous gaming practice. Quantitative research on addiction to video games uses the amount of time played as a strong indicator to foresee problematic behavior. Easy to measure and easy to ask, the amount of time played appears to be the perfect indicator for any potentially harmful practice. Gamers are even classified according to playing time. The scholarship strongly indicates a link between time played and prevalence of problems. However, the massive number of video gamers in today’s world does not coincide with a huge threat of gaming addiction. Why not? Among intense gamers, most drastically reduce the time played or even suddenly stop. Although time played is an indicator for problematic play, why do some gamers play intensely without encountering any issues? This chapter argues that intense gaming does not encroach upon gamers’ lives because gamers prioritize their activity according to their available time, their social life and their commitments. To better understand this moment of rupture in intense playing 20 in-depth interviews were carried out with intense and former intense players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG). Results showed that intense players handle their activity because video gaming is a passion resulting from a history of play. Then, the integration of their gaming into their lives is related to the overall amount of free time, not just the time played. Last, gamers strongly advocate for their autonomy to make choices and to commit to their engagements. Video gaming is a passion that is lived with ups and downs, that is as necessary as the air we breathe and that makes the players’ heart beat. |
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