Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have evolved from traditional video games in that they embrace both the technology of the Internet and video games. The massive “exodus” from the physical offline world to online gaming communities brings with it not only a number of unique and exciting opportunities, but also a number of emerging and serious risks. This research set out to examine the unique opportunities and risks to vulnerable individuals, namely, young adults, teenagers and young children; all of whom are considered by many to be priority groups in the protection from harm. The purpose was to examine the reality of vulnerable individuals encountering these opportunities and risks. This research combined a number of methodologies supported by underpinning qualitative and quantitative theories. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus groups gathered information from teenagers, adults and children in order to critically examine the unique opportunities and risks encountered in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. The findings from these interactions identified specific examples of opportunities and risk posed to vulnerable individuals. The findings demonstrated that there was a need for a support and protection mechanism that promoted the identification and awareness of the potential risk among vulnerable individuals. Emerging from these findings was a set of concepts that provided the evidence base for a Novel Taxonomy of Opportunities and Risks in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game environments that was designed to assist in the assessment of risk. Validation of the proposed taxonomy was achieved by means of an ethnographic study of (World of Warcraft) online gamers’ behaviour and social interactions through unobtrusive video capture of gaming sessions. The Novel Taxonomy of Opportunities and Risks provided a basis for the development of a proof-of-concept Decision Support System; the purpose of which was to assist both social work practitioners and individuals to identify and reduce risks. Representatives from both user groups were consulted for evaluation of the acceptability of such an approach. Favourable responses from participants demonstrated acceptability of the aforementioned approach. The evaluation process also demonstrated how the prototype would serve as a useful tool to make individual users aware of potential dangers. This research presents three novel facets: (1) it advances understanding of the unique opportunities and risks within MMORPG environments; (2) provides a framework for the assessment of risks in MMORPGs through the Novel Taxonomy and (3) demonstrates a novel Decision Support System to assist in the identification and reduction of risk through a proof-of-concept prototype.

In clinical practice, sufficient attention is paid to the substance dependencies in many respects. Despite being similar to these dependencies, the issue of "activities, behavior, processes" is often left aside. This work deals with online computer games, mostly with the World of Warcraft (WoW), because there are players who may have a problem not only in relation to addictive behavior. The aim of the research was to describe the psychopathological characteristics of MMORPG players and describe the connection between their occurrence and the rate of reported addictive behavior. Participants were MMORPG active players recruited by self-selection based on addressing through online discussion forums, facebook pages and e-mail snowball. The minimum range of subjects was set at 100 players. Tool for gathering data was online questionnaire. The results were determined using descriptive- analytical and mathematical statistics with the help of SPSS software. The final group consists of 243 respondents, of which 216 are men (89%) and 27 women (11%). The age range of the respondents is between 10-56 years, the average age is 22 years. 185 respondents (76%) considered WoW as being their first choice game. Of 243 respondents 23 (it is about 10%) have shown addictive behavior (including 22 men and 1 woman)....

The aim of this study was to create an understanding through qualitative interviews with treatment providers, how their way of behaving towards young boys with gaming addiction affects the treatment. More specifically its aim was to find out how treatment providers help boys to break their ongoing gaming addiction and what kind of difficulties they have experiences from. The study's empirical material was obtained through semi-structured interviews with six treatment providers with experience of gaming addiction. Three themes were identified: difficulties, working methods and therapeutic alliance. The analysis was based on two different kinds of perspectives: symbolic interactionism and Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective. The first theme has highlighted the subject's complexity, perceptions and self-insight. The clearest result that emerged under the second theme is the importance of different types of conversations. The study shows that motivational interviewing has helped young boys gain insight into their situation. Prohibition is not an appropriate measure, however, restrictions are necessary. The main result that emerged from the third and last theme is that therapeutic alliance is an important basis for change.

The purpose of our study is to describe and understand whether, and if so, how social workers in school and in social services construct computer gaming adolescents as a social problem. We chose social workers who encounter adolescents with different problems. We have conducted qualitative interviews with vignettes to capture the social workers' reasoning about computer gaming adolescents and how they handle this in their work. The study shows that all social workers we interviewed had encountered adolescents with troubling computer gaming habits. In the study, all agree that computer gaming becomes a problem when it leads to deviant behaviour such as not going to school, staying up all night and so on. Social workers have adapted their work with computer gaming adolescents after their workplace policies, resources and make efforts to make it manageable to work with. One example of how they make it manageable is that they look at the problem in a context and focus on other factors than the excessive computer gaming such as poor family relationships. In the process of being established as a social problem computer gaming addiction is weak.

I det moderna samhället har internet och spelande av olika slag som sker genom internet blivit alltmer populära aktiviteter. I takt med den explosionsartade utvecklingen har även problematiskt beteende följt i form av onlinespelsmissbruk, som blivit ett så pass omfattande problem att det idag omnämns som diagnosen ”Internet Gaming Disorder”, IGD. Företeelsen har dock inte enbart blivit mer framträdande vad gäller aktiviteten i sig utan också gällande mängden forskning som görs inom området. Den population som studeras flitigast och där onlinespelandet är som mest framträdande är bland yngre människor och främst bland pojkar och män. Mycket av den forskning som genomförts har behandlat onlinespelandets påverkan på individen samt dess inverkan på skola och utbildning. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka huruvida onlinespelandet hos tredjeårselever på gymnasiet samvarierar med dennes självupplevda sociala umgänge samt skolprestation. Studien är genomförd utifrån en kvantitativ metod där en enkätundersökning utfördes inom åtta olika program på fyra av Norrköpings gymnasieskolor. Totalt besvarade 99 gymnasieelever enkäten. Studien analyseras med ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv för att söka förstå bakomliggande aspekter av onlinespelandet genom att diskutera sociala grupperingar och kategoriseringar som sker genom social interaktion. Studiens resultat stämmer ur flera avseenden överens med tidigare forskning där det tydligt går att se att killar spelar mer än tjejer. Studien visar även ett samband mellan onlinespelande och skola på så sätt att individer engagerade i spel bland annat visar en tendens till minskat intresse för studier.

Exaggerated gaming is a rising issue both in Sweden and internationally that has a negative effect on many lives. It can be a cause of isolation which leads to various social consequences. It can cause economic problems due to large amounts of money being spent on games or in-game purchases or because of prioritizing gaming before going to work or studying. Excessive gaming has been categorized as a disorder/addiction since mid-2018 by the World Health Organisation based on reviews done on the available evidence and consensus among experts from different disciplines. However, there are not a lot of studies regarding the kind of help that is available as well as how likely those that have gaming disorder seek help nor are there many studies about stigma around the phenomenon. The aim of our study was to investigate if perceived stigma has any effect on whether or not and to what extent people who have problematic gaming habits decide to seek help as well as where they turn, should they have gaming disorder. We also want to see if problematic gaming habits increase the level of perceived stigma. Our hypotheses were therefore the following: H1: the more someone’s gaming habits are close to those of someone with a gaming disorder, the higher the perceived stigma becomes around the phenomenon. H2: the greater the perceived stigma is, the less likely a person is to seek help for their problem H3: the greater the perceived stigma, the less likely a person is to turn to professionals for help. We constructed a survey and distributed it on forums that discuss gaming related issues hoping to reach as many gamers as possible and we got a total of 177 responses. After having done the analysis in SPSS, our result showed that there was a weak positive correlation between problematic gaming habits and perceived stigma. We also found that the level of perceived stigma did not influence whether they would seek help or not. When it came to seeking help from professionals, we found statistically significant data relating to stigma and seeking professional help in that the higher the perceived stigma was, the more likely the individual was to seek professional help.

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Dataspelsberoende är ett relativt nytt och växande problem bland barn och ungdomar, som kan innebära negativa konsekvenser för deras familjerelationer samt skolgång. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetar med och resonerar kring ungdomar som lever med dataspelsberoende. För att uppnå syftet har vi tillämpat en kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod. Sex intervjuer genomfördes. Det insamlade materialet har analyserats med en kroppsorienterad respektive en handlingsorienterad förklaringsmodell för drogbruk och beroende, ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på konflikter mellan sociala roller och institutioner, samt tidigare forskning om dataspelsberoende. Resultatet av vår studie är att socialsekreterare i stor utsträckning likställer dataspelsberoende med andra typer av beroendeproblematik. Orsaken till dataspelsberoende beskrivs som komplicerat och innefattar en kombination av sociala, psykologiska och biologiska faktorer. Behandling riktas främst mot de dataspelsberoende ungdomarnas föräldrar i form av stöd i föräldraförmåga och gränssättning av ungdomen. Socialsekreterarna uppger att de saknar kunskap om dataspelsberoende. / The purpose of this study is to examine how social workers work with adolescents with gaming addiction, and how the social workers talks about the adolescents. We have applied a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews as a method. Six interviews were held. The material has been analyzed using a body oriented model of explanation regarding drug use and addiction, an action oriented model of explanation regarding drug use and addiction, a theoretic framework based on conflict between social roles and social institutions, and former research. The result of our study is that social workers tend to equate gaming addiction with other types of addiction. The cause of internet gaming disorder is described as complicated, with a combination of social, psychological and biological factors. Treatment is mostly aimed towards parents, in order to support parental ability and boundaries. Social workers describe a lack of knowledge regarding gaming addiction.

BACKGROUND: Playing computer games is a favourite way to have fun since the end of the 20th century. The age of users rises together with the development of games and many gamers are nowadays middle-aged. Despite the growing number of research dealing with the issue of playing computer games, this phenomenon lacks a comprehensive definition and method of diagnosis. In some diagnostic tools, the conflict between gamers and a close person is the main and key criterion. AIM: The main aim of the research is to describe the symptoms of conflict in the close relationships of computer games players. A partial goal is to compare conflicts in close relationships in addicted or threatened by addiction gamers and non-addicted gamers. METHODS: The concept of the research is based on a qualitative research methodology. Respondents were recruited using the snow ball selection method and selected by targeted selection based on predefined criteria. The research sample consisted of 36 respondents. 18 were computer games players and 18 were close persons. All respondents took part in a semi- structured interview. The obtained data was analyzed using the pattern capture and comparison method. RESULTS: Symptoms of conflict in the close relationships of computer game players have been described by individual...

Många ungdomar spelar datorspel dagligen och trots att många spelar för underhållnings skull finns det dem som utvecklar problem likt missbruksproblematik. Datorspelsberoende är ingen diagnos men ingår i Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) som ett potentiellt nytt tillstånd som kräver ytterligare forskning. Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka vilka personlighetsdrag hos ungdomar som har ett samband med datorspelsberoende och som i sin tur har ett samband med psykisk ohälsa samt hur sambanden ser ut hos pojkar respektive flickor. Studiens övergripande syfte var att bidra med kunskap inom datorspelsberoende för att behandling för denna målgrupp ska kunna bli mer individanpassad. 123 gymnasieelever deltog i en enkätundersökning. Mediationsanalyser gjordes på datamaterialet, som bestod av specifika personlighetsdrag som prediktorvariabel, datorspelsberoende som mediator och psykisk ohälsa som utfallsvariabel. Inga mediationseffekter för det totala stickprovet uppmättes. Resultatet visade på tre medelstora mediationseffekter för pojkar och för flickor visades inget samband mellan prediktor-, mediator- och utfallsvariabel, varpå mediationsanalys inte utfördes på detta stickprov. Studiens resultat indikerar på att det finns en mediationseffekt av datorspelsberoende på relationen mellan specifika personlighetsdrag och psykisk ohälsa hos pojkar, men inte flickor. / Many adolescents play computer games daily and despite the fact that many play for the sake of entertainment, there are those who develop problems similar to addiction problems. Internet gaming addiction is not a diagnosis but it's part of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) as a potentially new state that requires further research. This study aimed to investigate which personality traits of young people that have a relationship with Internet gaming addiction and which in turn have a relationship with mental illness and how the relationships between the variables interact in samples with boys and girls. The overall aim of the study was to contribute knowledge in Internet gaming addiction to enable treatment for this target group to become a more individualized treatment. 123 high school students participated in a survey. Mediation analysis were made on the data consisting of specific personality traits as predictor variable, Internet gaming addiction as mediator and mental illness as outcome variable. No mediation effects for the total sample were measured. The results showed 3 medium mediation effects for boys and for girls there was no correlation between predictor, mediator and outcome variables, after which mediation analysis was not performed on this sample. The results of the study indicate that there is a mediation effect of Internet gaming addiction on the relationship between specific personality traits and mental illness for boys, but not girls.