Addiction to the Game

Being "In The Game" is a paper which explores the immersion of the gamer who is playing an online game. 'When gamers are involved in a game to the highest extent they often describe themselves as being "in the game".

An interesting point to highlight was the Mind/ Body Split extract from the paper, which discusses how the player doesn't see the avatar character on the game as a separate entity but that the game player is the avatar, "In the heat of the game, all is forgotten except the action. People playing a FPS say things like "I got him!" and "He's over here", rather than "My avatar was out of ammo" or "Your character shot my character".

The more time a player invests their effort and attention by learning the game, the more engrossed they become in the quests, visuals, stories, and challenges. Finally the gamer becomes totally immersed and detaches from reality and become less self aware and more like their avatar.

One player saw this immersion change happen to them "it's one of the reasons I quit for a long period of time up till now. (Got in the way of real life)".

There are many gamers who play long extensive hours on online games; this can range from a few hours a week to several hours per day. Some of the game players I interviewed have experienced side effects to their physical and psychological health:

  • Repetitive Straining Injury: using the mouse on repetitive tasks such as Rune crafting skill, back ache, tiredness and sore eyes. One player says "Well my back can start to hurt around the tailbone from bending over so long, and my eyes can start to hurt from the radiation from the screen, basic deals, and nothing too serious yet."
  • Dreaming: re-enacting what you are doing in the game. In the dream for example leveling a skill or killing some monsters, which some players consider normal for the amount of time spent playing the game.
  • Everyday conversation: in real life players use common phrases or words that are used in the game with other friends that also play Runescape, in their vocabulary e.g. noob meaning low level - stupid player.

How does Jagex consider gamers safety to ensure that players interact with the game in a safe environment and take care of their health?

Adam says that Jagex have invested heavily to make the site safe for all users and were recently awarded the 'Getting it Right Award' from Wiredsafety.org at the "International Stop Cyber bullying Conference" in New York, for their work on best practices to operate a safe and fun gaming environment.

"We operate an in-game chat filter which has been designed to block offensive chat and prevent players from using potentially offensive terms, as well as making it difficult to give out personal details such as email addresses and telephone numbers. The filter is updated regularly to ensure that it provides the best possible protection, however we cannot guarantee that players won't bypass the filter on occasion by using alternate spelling."

Players will need to take responsibility of their own actions, Chris says as a game developer "I think it is up to the individuals, what ever safeguard you put on a game to make it turn off after twelve hours, people will find a way around it."
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