Online gaming involvement and its positive and negative consequences: A cognitive anthropological "cultural consensus" approach to psychiatric measurement and assessment. (January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Snodgrass, Jeffrey G.; Dengah, H.J. Francois; Lacy, Michael G.; Bagwell, Andrew; Van Oostenburg, Max; Lende, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Computers in human behavior. Volume 66(2017)
• Page Start: 291
• Page End: 302
• Publication Date: 2017-01
• Subjects: Internet gaming disorder -- Internet addiction -- Engaged play -- Anthropology -- Cultural consensus analysis; Interactive computer systems -- Periodicals; Man-machine systems -- Periodicals; 004.019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.025
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0747-5632

Abstract

Abstract: We employed ethnographic methods more attentive to insider gamer perspectives to develop culturally-sensitive scale measures of online gaming involvement and its positive and negative consequences. Our inquiry combined relatively unstructured in-game participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, and a web survey. The latter derived from both ethnography and theory, and contained 15 involvement items and 21 each for positive and negative consequences items. Cultural consensus analysis revealed broadly shared understandings among players about online gaming involvement and its positive consequences, but less agreement about negative scale items. Our findings suggest the need for caution in employing current tools to assess "addictive" and "disordered" gaming, as our gamer respondents judged commonly used scale items, such as cognitive salience, withdrawal, and tolerance, as not fitting with their own understandings and experiences. We argue that our approach, rooted in gamers' actual experiences and also current theory, contributes to more valid psychiatric assessments of online gaming experiences, though more research is needed to refine the new measures we present. Highlights: Study employs ethnographic and mixed qualitative-quantitative methods. Culturally sensitive online gaming involvement and ± consequences scales. Scales are sensitive to actual gamer experiences and frames of meaning. Critique of problematic gaming studies based on drug or substance use models. Suggest the need for caution in employing current "addictive" gaming measures.