ESA CEO Contests Recent Game Addiction Study
See Full ImageThere used to be a time when video game studies weren't scrutinized; the concerned parents merely accepted them as irrefutable fact. Well, no more.
A recent study stated that 8.5% of children were addicted to video games, but ABC's Gary Langer was quick to attack the results and according to Gamasutra, ESA CEO Michael Gallagher is about ready to join the fray, too. The study, conducted by Dr. Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University, said that "addicted gamers play 24 hours a week, twice as much as more casual players, and they show at least six symptoms of gambling addiction -- including lying about play habits, becoming irritable when not playing, and even stealing to support their habit." ...well, I don't know about anyone else, but after 25 years in gaming, I've yet to meet a single solitary soul who fits into this ridiculous description. Anyway, there are two major problems: 1. the "random sampling" of 1,178 American kids aged 8-18 wasn't random; they were invited to participate "via an opt-in online panel" that offered gifts in exchange for participation. 2. that 3% margin of error. Said Gallagher in a note to Psychological Science's Dr. Robert Kail:
"As you are likely aware, such a sample is not truly representative of a national population group. Thus the results cannot be projected onto the broader population of children in this country. And the sampling error of plus or minus 3% that Dr. Gentile cited in the study is also meaningless."
Gallagher wants Kail to include the fact that this study suffers from "methodological flaws" when it gets published, and that "it would be unfair and misleading for a respected publication to leave on the record such knowingly mistaken information." I've got an additional note: children aren't addicted to video games in this generation any more than they were addicted to Saturday morning cartoons, Fluffernutter sandwiches, and Kool-Aid in my generation. If you people can't stop trying to single out gaming as some sort of "especially dangerous" entertainment medium when it isn't a jot more "addictive" than tinkering with old cars or any other favorite hobby...then I'm just gonna lose it.
4/29/2009 Ben Dutka
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Comments (32 posts)
EddPm6
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:30:06 PM
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Powershifter
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 11:30:21 AM
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Also, whenever someone says some % of a total population falls into a certain category, be VERY skeptical. Unless the people who conducted the survey asked all students in the world, their conclusions are inaccurate. Especially considering that they only asked 1178 gamers out of millions. It's like during the elections and the news says that a certain candidate has 56% of the popular vote. I say, "Oh really? Well no one asked me.."
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GuernicaReborn
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 9:29:46 PM
6 people called in to my workplace after the Syracuse-Uconn game that went 6 OT's. Usually when someone misses work because of a hobby it's a sign of addiction, but nobody batted an eye.
Videogames still have that stigma. The hobby has come a long way, though. This article is proof, with organizations disagreeing over the study.
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MadKatBebop
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 11:38:42 AM
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Ultimadream
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 11:48:39 AM
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Highlander
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 11:58:58 AM
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cars
radio
jazz
rockabilly
rock and roll
punk rock
heavy metal/death metal/dhrash
rap
hip-hop
TV
color TV
Role Playing games (the kind with dice)
Internet newsgroups
Internet porn
regular print porn
Internet chat rooms
MySpace
Video Games have been attacked with accusations of being addictive before. Every meaningful study has shown that with the exception of those already prone to addictive behavior, video games are no more addictive than any other self gratification activity performed alone or in groups.
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Nynja
Thursday, April 30, 2009 @ 12:26:00 PM
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Ultimadream
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:06:44 PM
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Last edited by Ultimadream on 4/29/2009 12:06:56 PM
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opsdaddy
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:11:30 PM
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Unfortunately, it seems none of the reputable psychological community is willing to engage in a balanced study of gaming, but if they did, they'd find that it has no more and no less fanatics/lunatics than participants in any other human activity.
It seems there's a good deal of data-fitting going on, whereby those funding/behind these studies design them to ensure their foregone conclusions are borne out by the data. I wish these people would just grow up and study those areas of society that are causing genuine, not imaginary, problems for us all--like televangelists! heheh
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Highlander
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:29:25 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:32:14 PM
Nah. Easily found in Google images. :)
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Scarecrow
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:17:47 PM
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-Bad economy
-People fighting over being a Republican/Democrat
-War
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opsdaddy
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 12:59:18 PM
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BTNwarrior
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 1:19:34 PM
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NiteKrawler
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 1:23:33 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:09:43 PM
There are many studies that prove the positives of gaming, but the mainstream media isn't interested in that. It's always a rule: humans are only interested in reading evidence that supports their theory, and when the widespread popular theory is that games are bad, the media will only run stories to support the negative side...hence, traffic for the news source.
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NiteKrawler
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:17:28 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:31:23 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:01:07 PM
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If you are actually exhibiting addict behavior and stealing to support your habit yeah you have a problem, but I too have never met anyone like that. Don't let them tell you how much you can game! Like anything else if it isn't disruptive it's fine.
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BikerSaint
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 2:48:25 PM
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The #1 problem/reason for a kid to delevop any gaming addiction is....
"LAZY. UNFIT, NON-PARENTING SKILLED, PARENTS"!
Every day in my complex, I watch some raggity excuse for parents who don't know the first thing about children(or birth control), throw the kids outside at the crack of dawn with not one single solitary second of supervision, until it's time they go to bed.
And for those same parent's who haven't tossed their kids outside for the whole day, I'll give ya a million-to-one odds that they just shoved their kids over to the TV & the thier gameing console for the whole day instead.
And it's these same parent's that don't give a flying F*ck about their own kids by making them into midless zombie twits that some of them have become. Just like the kid last year who killed his playmate because he thought he had to emulate the game he just played for the last 17 hours.
These so-called parents who do this need to wise the f*ck up, because.....
"Gaming consoles "ARN'T" f*cking supernanny's"
Last edited by BikerSaint on 4/29/2009 2:55:28 PM
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NiteKrawler
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 6:08:21 PM
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GuernicaReborn
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 9:37:28 PM
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Jordahn
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 3:26:58 PM
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MadKatBebop
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 3:58:19 PM
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i402Merciless
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 4:12:52 PM
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bearbobby
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 4:27:04 PM
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Oyashiro
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 5:07:30 PM
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Alienange
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 7:05:43 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 8:05:42 PM
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coverton341
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 11:26:53 AM
I am studying psychology and any respectable doctor would know that this "random sample" is invalid but sadly most people are ignorant to those types of things and see Dr. in front of a name and take the person at their word. I'm just glad some people are standing up to BS like this.
But, on the other hand doesn't playing video games as a child mean you are going to turn into an injection drug user and give out sexual favors for Metal Gear tips when you get older?