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TheBantor edited this page Oct 30, 2018 · 8 revisions

In order to accurately establish design requirements for our prototype, we began with exploring and setting guidelines/scope for the design process through extensive research.

Background

According to Kuss et. al, Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) appeal to a large portion of gamers due to their social and psychological benefits. Players can easily make friends and bond over collaborative missions without having to reveal their identity. This acts as a facade, blurring the initial barrier that can be intimidating in traditional face to face interaction, making games inherently social spaces. In addition, players are also motivated to keep playing by achieving incremental game goals to advance while being immersed in the gameplay. Kuss et. al found that the game mechanics and structural characteristics have been claimed to reinforce the addictive qualities of games because of their contributions in initiation, development and maintenance of the game. Furthermore, due to their social benefits and anonymity, many players use games as a coping strategy to escape from real life (escapism), which is a form of mood modification that can lead to addictive behaviours. Other motivations associated with gaming addiction include: online relationships, mastery, control, recognition, completion, excitement, and challenge. Consequently, it was found that more dependent gamers prefer to spend time with their online friends than offline friends relative to non-dependent gamers and that their social needs are fulfilled better online than offline. (Kuss, 2013)

Gaming addiction as a disorder

Although gaming addiction is yet to be considered as a unique disorder, it is still recognised as a condition similar to that of pathological gambling addiction and substance abuse. According to the DSM-5 framework, gaming addiction refers to the “persistent and recurrent use of the Internet to engage in games, often with other players, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as indicated by the following five (or more) criteria in a 12-month period.”

  • a preoccupation with gaming,
  • withdrawal symptoms,
  • tolerance (ie, spending more time gaming),
  • lack of control,
  • loss of other interests,
  • use despite negative consequences,
  • deception,
  • mood modification,
  • losing a relationship, job, and similarly important aspects of life

Dupon et. al suggests a 5-step approach that anyone can use to assess and deal with gaming addiction. (Dupon, n.d) Firstly, the wellbeing of the subject should be assessed through a set of questions such as major life events and achievements to determine whether these factors have an impact on the subject’s behaviour. Secondly, the gaming behaviour is assessed through a series of questions based on the DSM-5 criteria. This data is then used to identify which of the gamer profile the subject might fit into in order to generate an accurate treatment approach. Thirdly, a set of communication & support guidelines is established to prepare the subject and their family for this ongoing issue and help the subject cope with it effectively. Next, underlying beliefs and thoughts that might have led the subject to adopt a negative/addictive coping strategy should be identified and redirected into a more positive one. Last but not least, a healthy coping mechanism that leads to behaviour change should be adopted alongside a penalty and reward system as incentives to motivate the subject. The full version of this manual can be found at http://www.sectorconnect.org.au/assets/28-2-How-to-deal-with-Video-Game-Addiction-A-manual-for-parents-and-professionals-edition1.pdf

Gaming addiction in adolescents and effective mediation

Among the gamers population, adolescents aged between 11 to 18 are the most vulnerable to gaming addiction because they have yet to develop sufficient self control and awareness of the risks they might be exposed to. In a research conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE UK), they found that children’s internet skills is the one of the most important factors in moderating their exposure to risky online behaviours and materials. This finding also requires parents to work closely and collaboratively with their child/children to not only prevent them from accessing such materials but also to educate both parties about the most effective approach to this issue. When parents and children communicate well with each other, they can reach a mutual understanding and allow both sides to openly and comfortably discuss about the issue at hand (Gentile et al., 2012). As a result, when parents consider using parental control services to monitor their offspring, they should discuss their motifs, intentions and settings that might affect their children’s privacy and mental wellbeing. This approach is known as active mediation, as opposed to the traditional controlling and restrictive measures, and it has been found to be the most effective way to reduce risks for children online while still allowing them to develop resilience, self-regulation and ability to make informed decisions depending on the context. Parents can also consider using a form of benchmark study, like that of SIP bench to help guiding them critically assessing available parental control tools (Zaman et al., n.d). Richardson et. al and Brown et. al have also found that the discussions and negotiations about the level of blocking are more important than the choice of tools available, while mediating the quality of the content is more effective than simply restricting access to online materials altogether (Richard et al., 2002) (Brown et. al, 2015). Furthermore, active mediation can also support a relationship of reciprocity between parent and child which invites parents to show interests in the activities their children want to engage in online. (Zaman et al., n.d)

Existing solutions

Currently, the role of parents in their child’s digital media use can be placed along two extremes of a spectrum: The parent as responsible actor in keeping children safe online The parent as a guide in their child’s self-exploration in the digital media use. Unfortunately, most existing parental control systems focus on the former and their current applications fail to support families in managing digital media use at home in a satisfactory and omnipresent way. At the moment, parental control systems currently afford 4 key functionalities:

  • Time restrictions
  • Content restrictions
  • Activity restrictions
  • Monitoring and tracking

However, it has been found that children often show discontent when their parents enforce such apps and would find ways to bypass or completely uninstall them, due to the lack of transparency in the design of such apps (Richardson, Resnick, Hansen, Derry, & Rideout, 2002). Likewise, the findings from Zaman et. al also suggests that parents are more likely to trust technology and intermediaries than their children’s own experience with digital media. Even when parents have access to data about their children’s online activities, they still struggle to make critical elaborations and take the necessary actions due to the lack of skills and knowledge (Hashish et al., 2014). This opposing perception on digital media use between parents and adolescents presents an opportunity to explore a domain of solutions to help bridging this gap. The findings also suggest designers to incorporate more collaborative mediation approaches such as participatory learning, active mediation, co-use mediation in conjunction with distant mediation to give both parties freedom and a common ground to work with instead of the more traditional and authoritative restrictive mediation approach.

Bibliography

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