BODY

Online gaming addiction is one of the most prevalent problems in the Philippine
society today. This problem is very serious that this issue is often hear in television and
newspaper because it affects one of the most crucial sector in the country, which is the
youth. A lot of Filipino youth are very addicted to online gaming that education in the
country is very much negatively affected because of this kind of addiction. Because of
this kind of threat that would not only affect the current education of the young Filipinos
but also the future of the country, it is the important to understand this kind of addiction
especially its causes. A lot of factors can be attributed to this problem of online addiction
but the most probable reason for this addiction is (1) current trend of online internet
connectivity and communication (2) the students psychological needs and motivations;
(3) online games as the everyday focus of the addicts; and (4) the interplay of real self
and virtual self.
The communication media virtually dominate every major activity of children and
youth today from play to leisure, family relations to schooling, socialization to
education. Indeed, media have become so powerful that they can shape and influence
the individuals attitudes, beliefs, values and lifestyles. The communication media
landscape for todays children and youth includes print, radio, television, video games,
computers and the on-line technology of e-mail and various Internet applications.
The findings of the 2006 McCann-Erickson Intergenerational Youth Study
corroborate the increased popularity among the youth of activities relating to virtual
connectivity. The study found that top leisure activities for teens after school remain to

be traditional media that is, watching TV and listening to the radio. However, there is an
emerging prominence of technology-related activities like use of cell phones and
Internet, indicating greater interest and participation in the so-called techno centric life.
New priorities among children and youth, therefore, are hinged on the popularity
of technology and connectivity. The coming of the Cyber Age in the Philippines has also
brought a digital divide. Only 7 percent of households owned personal computers, as
of 2003 (FLEMMS). The 4As Media Factbook (2004) cited that computer ownership
among households in Metro Manila was 17 percent and only 7 percent in Urban
Philippines. Personal computer penetration is estimated at 1.9 for every 100 persons.

As of 2006, there were 408 Internet Service Providers and an estimated 2 million
Internet subscribers (NTC 2006). In 2004, the International Data Corp. estimated that
there were 11.8 million Internet users in the Philippines but this is expected to increase
to 21.5 million users by this year. However, in April2007, Yahoo estimated that there
were 14 million Internet users in the Philippines (16% of population).
Ronald James Panis (2007) quoted Joey Alaralla, founding president of the
Asian Gaming Journalists Association, who observed that teens and twenty something
tend to patronize online games more. The same report noted that online gaming makes
up 80 percent of the total Internet use in the country.

Online gaming subscribers in the Philippines increased from 60,000 in 1994 to

350,000 in 2003. The International Data Corporation predicted that by 2009, there
would be 6.9 million Filipino gamers.
Online gaming is another favorite with almost 8 of 10 elementary and highschool
students who connect to the Net playing online games (Asian Institute of Journalism
and Communication). This can be attributed to visual and interactive characteristics of
online games. There are more grade school pupils than high school students who play
online. This is probably because high school respondents have other social activities
besides playing online games. Surprisingly, there are more girls than boys in
elementary grade playing online games as the latter may have other social activities
outside the house while girls may opt to play online at home. But as schoolchildren grow
old, there are more boys than girls playing online. Incidence of online gaming is highest
for Luzon and lowest for Mindanao. In Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao, more
males play online games than females.
According to Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication a little over onethird (35%) online gamers play 2 -3 times a week. Four of 10 online gamers spend at
least an hour. The top five favorite online games are Audition, Cabal Online, Ran/Ran
Online, DOTA and Counter Strike. Audition is the top choice for Metro Manila where
there are more girl children players. DOTA and Counter Strike are in the top three in two
survey areas. The youth of today no longer seem to spend their leisure activities like in
the olden days; outdoor games or playing with toys, instead, they spend their free time
in their homes, internet cafs or computer shops simply to satisfy their hunger; and that
hunger is online gaming. Online gaming has such a profound impact on not only the

young, but dynamically every age group as well. So far, virtually anyone is able to go on
a computer and punch through the keys and mouse in order to get a high score, chat
with players, get the rarest items, and level up as fast as possible. Yes, there seems to
be no restriction as to whom, how or what online gaming can extend to. As in any
situation where new technology is introduced, the social impact of the Internet is being
looked at. One social problem that has been observed is that the Internet caf has
become mainly game centers. About one-half to two-thirds of the computers in a typical
Internet caf, according to one study, are devoted to games (violent and gory games).
The use of the remaining computers was roughly split between browsing, email, online
chat, word processing and research. The Internet cafs have become not just game
centers. They are becoming centers off addiction among the youth, mostly boys,
including elementary school pupils. According to one concerned Internet caf
entrepreneur, Internet cafs are seducing youths to a new form of addiction, one which
may not destroy their bodies as drugs do, but which is certainly twisting their minds. To
the young play is reality and reality is play (Maslog, 1998).
Accordingly, there are more public school students who play online games than
those enrolled in private schools. Possible explanations are that they have more leisure
time as private school students mostly stay whole day in schools unlike in many public
schools. In some areas, public schools are in three shifts. Students enrolled in private
schools come from relatively economically well-off families. They can afford to provide
their children other digital toys for their entertainment such as iPods, MP3/MP4,
PlayStation, Internet-capable cellphones, etc.

Also, many of the favorite online games identified involve violence This is an
area of concern. While playing online games contributes to visual-spatial skills, some
psychosocial researches confirm that violent games can increase childrens aggression.
A little over three-fourth (77%) play online games, with Luzon respondents
reporting the highest (91%) incidence and Mindanao the lowest (66%) incidence. The
low incidence of online gaming in this area could be due to the fact that children are
already sick and tired of real wars as most of the male online games are war games
(Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication).
One of the causes of online game addiction is the current trend of internet usage
both for connectivity and communication because online games can be a portal towards
connecting to other people. Having a connection is very important among individuals
since this would fulfill the needs of being able to communicate and share ideas to others
and in return, this connectivity will be instrument in learning and growth among
individuals. Since Filipino society uses internet connection as a method of connectivity
compared with other mediums, internet connection is then one of the mode of
connectivity that would shape communication in the past decade and the current
decade. Online gaming which uses the internet for communication will be greatly
affected by this popular trend on communication.
Analysis of the findings of the about online game addiction indicated that
psychological needs and motivations could be categorized into the following seven
themes: (1) entertainment and leisure, (2) emotional coping (diversions from loneliness,
isolation and boredom, releasing stress, relaxation, discharging anger and frustration),

(3) escaping from reality, (4) satisfying interpersonal and social needs (making friends,
strengthening friendships, and generating a sense of belonging and recognition), (5) the
need for achievement, (6) the need for excitement and challenge, and (7) the need for
power (the sense of superiority, the desire for control, and facilitation of self-confidence)
(Chin and Wen, 2006).
Regarding self-reflections of online game engagement, the online gaming addicts
answered the survey of Chin and Wen, 2006 for questions such as to put it bluntly,
playing online games is simply and what do you think of yourself as being so addicted
to online games? are quite consistent to their motivations for playing online games,
which include entertainment and leisure, emotional coping: whiling away time and
diverting oneself from loneliness and boredom, releasing stresses, relaxing and letting
off emotions, interpersonal interactivity, excitement and challenge seeking, and
escaping from the reality. However, the need for power: the sense of superiority and
control was not mentioned, which might indicate that this need is only a secondary
superficial motivation, rather than a primary need and motivation for addicted online
game players. Moreover, from the perspective of psychodynamics (Freud, 1946) the
answers regarding the motivations suggest that the needs for achievement and power
in addicted players might be absent in the unconscious level. Even though some of the
addicted online game players consciously believe that online games could meet the
needs for achievement and power, this might be opposite to their unconsciousness.
This means that the needs for power and achievement in these addicted players might
actually be quite little; however, because of the censorship from the superego, the ego
consciously shows the needs for power and achievement through online games via the

defense mechanism of reaction formation. Therefore, the presence of needs for power
and achievement in the conscious level merely reflects their weak or absent existence
in the unconscious level.
In the study of Smahel et al. (2012), the more that young people engage in
friendship seeking or peer communication online, the more time they spend online, and
the more opportunity they could have to develop behavior patterns consistent with
Internet addiction. But the simple proportion of friends online is not the only factor likely
to be correlated with Internet addiction. A second possibility is age. Emerging adults
may be more susceptible to Internet addiction than early or middle adolescents
because, as young people grow older, adult oversight of their Internet use diminishes
(as do the restrictions placed on their Internet activity). With the transition from
adolescence to emerging adulthood (typically at the end of secondary school or
university), young peoples face-to-face interactions with peers diminish and time alone
increases, leaving them vulnerable to using the Internet to compensate for lost or
weakened relationships with peers. Without supervision, a young person can become
excessively involved in online activity (Douglas et al., 2008; Yen, Yen, Chen, Chen, &
Ko, 2007). An example of a heavily time consuming social online activity is gaming in
persistent virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft or Second Life, which are immensely
popular among adolescents and emerging adults. Average intensity of play per week is
approximately 25 hours (Griffiths et al., 2004; Smahel, et al., 2008), which corresponds
to average full-time high school attendance.
In one of the surveys of Chin and Wen (2006) regarding online addiction most of
the online games addicts stated that their life would be dark and boring if there were

no online games. Conversely, one interviewee suggested that life would be not much
different, whilst another suggested that life would be better! without online games.
Furthermore, concerning how do you think about being so addicted to online games,
the interviewees suggested that playing online games was only for feeling relaxed,
leisure activity, whiling away the time, escaping from reality, being slack, and not
feeling like studying, and the need for interpersonal relations. The texts of selfreflection, on the one hand, illustrate that playing online games is the focus of the
addicts life.
Also, the psychological texts study by provided by Chin and Wen, 2006 the
subjects suggest that their major needs for playing online games were for the four areas
of entertainment and leisure, emotional coping, excitement and challenge seeking,
and escaping from reality.Similarly, the subjects texts also suggested that online
games either provide them with a compensatory channel for unsatisfying needs or
motivations in their real life, or for the same things they are seeking in real life. Most of
the subjects reported that playing online games had become the focus of their life. The
experiences provided by the subjects suggest that, without online games, life would
become dark and bored. Why do people easily become addicted to online games?
The relationship between sense of control and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) might
provide insight into this pathological use of online games. Addicted players felt that they
could obtain the sense of control through playing online games. However, based upon
the perspective of the ambivalent motivations in individuals compulsive behaviors,
playing games compulsively might only serve as a coping mechanism, similar to the
incessant purification behavior of obsessive-compulsive patients such as hand washing.

Thus, they might become more likely to engage in online gaming for the purpose of a
temporary distraction. Follow the rationale, there should be the desire of not-wantingto-control and not-willing-to-determine in the unconscious level of addicted players.
However, this motivation is not accepted by the censorship of the superego (Freud,
1966). In order to reduce the neurotic anxiety resulting from conflict between the id and
the superego, addicts would have to constantly seek the virtual sense of control through
online gaming.
The answers indicated that a consistent or compensatory relationship existed
between the virtual self in online games and the real self, and this finding suggests that
the virtual self in the online games not only could extend the real self (self extension:
consistency), but also could serve as a compensatory function that might satisfy the
unfulfilled roles in real life. The consistent or compensatory relationship of virtual self
and real self was mainly reflected in the areas of need for interpersonal relations and
escaping from reality, and revealed that online games could provide the function of
role-playing. Griffiths et al. (2003) analyzed two sites of information on online game
players, and the results indicated that nearly three quarters of players engage in
roleplayat some point. The present study showed that at least eight subjects would use
identities different from that in real life, and some even played the role of the opposite
sex.
Also, their are five themes of need consisted of the following: (1) entertainment
and leisure, (2) emotional coping: whiling away times and diverting oneself from
loneliness and boredom, releasing stresses, relaxing and letting off emotions, (3) need
for interpersonal relations,(4) excitement and challenge seeking, and (5) escaping

from the reality. The subjects motivations for playing online games in the survey of
Chin and Wen, 2006 were compared with the answers for the following items: (1) how
is your interpersonal relationships in real life? (2) the relationship with peers in real
life, and (3) in real life, I like to seek . . . It was found that in the area of interpersonal
relationship needs, the interpersonal relationships in online games might serve as a
type of compensation and replacing satisfaction, or a type of extension for the quality
and needs of interpersonal relationship in reality. In other words, online games provide
the addicted players another channel for meeting their needs for interpersonal
relationships.
Accordingly, most of online addicts shows strong interests in role-playing of
online games, in which they often do things that they dare not to do in real life. In an
anonymous environment, online game players always appear with nicknames instead of
real names. Thus, many people who are addicted to the Internet might attempt to
escape from the limitations brought by real life in order to obtain the space for survival
and security (Suler, 2001). This indicates that online gaming brings an anonymous
environment with lower public self-awareness, and allows players to stop concentrating
on the self-consciousness in order to prevent becoming overly worried about what other
people would evaluate and judge the way they act in front of others (Shaffer, 1991).
From the perspective of psychodynamics (Freud, 1946) at the conscious level addicted
players might seek self presentation in an anonymous, relaxing, and secure space, but
unconsciously, they might actually have an unsatisfied need for self-presentation due to
their poor self-image in real life.

Addressing the theoretical implication, some studies of online gaming addicts

indicate that they had a reaction formation concerning the needs for power and
achievement in the unconscious level, resulting in the compulsive use of online games.
In other words, unconsciously, these addicted online game players should be motivated
to avoid pursuing achievements, power, and sense of superiority. Although this
avoidance could not be detected in the conscious level, the censorship of the superego
triggers the defensive mechanism of reaction formation, which results in the pursuit of
the virtual satisfaction of achievements and power in the online games. In online games,
the players might be pursuing the satisfaction of achievement and power on the surface;
however, in real life, they are not able to face these challenges, hence leading to
contradictions between their surface motivations and source motivations. From the
perspective of psychodynamics (Freud, 1946) when addicts would not be willing to cope
with the source motivations in the unconscious level, they would incessantly engage in
the heavy use of online games to reduce the neurotic anxiety coming from the conflict
between their superego and ego. Through an analysis of the psychological texts
provided by the addicted players, it was found that the pathological viewpoints of
psychodynamics for compulsive behaviors could be used to explain addicts source
motivation in the unconscious level, and these source motivations might be the dynamic
which motivates the players to engage in online games compulsively.
As to the practical implications of this study, in regarding to the addicted players
whose pathological use due to their reaction formation to unconscious motivations, the
counseling intervention could be employed by a psychoanalysis approach. Counselors
interpretation of the players neurotic anxiety would enable them to get insights into their

source motivations in the unconscious level, and thus break the chain of compulsive
Internet use. Concerning addicted players without the contradiction between surface
motivations and source motivations; online games only serve as a way for extending or
replacing satisfactions in the virtual world. Therefore, providing them with extending or
replacing alternatives with more benefits and less negative effects would result in a
decrease in their addictive use of online games.
Conversely, existing literature provides support for idea that one can use roleplaying techniques, in an MMORPG, to help explore ones identity, increase selfawareness and possibly provide positive therapeutic benefits to ones overall mental
health. The research also supports the view that the anonymous setting of an
MMORPG helps people role-play and carry out behaviors that would make them more
uncomfortable, or impossible, in real life situations. Studies indicate that people connect
to their characters online and often play them in ways that let them explore various
aspects of their identity and to gain social acceptance from those they interact with
online, leading to more confidence and acceptance of themselves in the real world.
There is also evidence that that many social norms and behaviors in the real world also
exist in the virtual world.
Another important study, completed by (McKenna & Bargh, 1998), showed that
people with concealable stigmatized identities found a place to belong in internet
newsgroups and that membership in these groups became part of that persons identity.
Their results support the view that internet groups obey general principles of social
group function and have real life consequences for the individual (Ibid, 2004). In the
second study of this paper, they showed that people in the newsgroups relating to

sexual identity not only came out to others in the newsgroup, but also came out to
friends and family. As McKenna points out, this is particularly remarkable because
sexual preferences are often formed early in life and the mean age of that sample
was 37 years (Ibid, 2004). This provides support to the view that people who are roleplaying in an online game could conceivably translate that behavior into real life results.
In the study by (Hussain & Griffiths, 2008) they showed that 34% of the gamers
surveyed indicated they used online gaming to change their mood and that the gamers
may have been using their online gaming as a means of coping with problems in their
everyday lives. This demonstrates a transfer of emotions between the virtual and real
world and supports the idea that ones virtual behavior could affect ones real behavior.
Some of the respondents to this study indicated they gender swapped as an
experiment. Participant 1 (Extract 21) said, That gender swapping enabled him to play
around with aspects of his character that would not be possible to explore in real life.
However, the study also indicated that gender swapping also occurred for a variety of
other reasons, for example to get treatment that is more favorable from other male
players here also exists research showing that nonverbal social norms carry over in
online virtual environments. A study by Yee et al. (2007) showed support to their
hypothesis that social interactions govern the same social norms as those in the real
world. For example that the closer two people were the less likely they were to look at
each other unless the two of them were talking and that people tended to respect each
others personal space.
Future research on online gaming addiction should include interviews with
adolescents from other countries as well as conduct cross-cultural analyses. Future

studies could consider conducting in-depth interviews over the Internet, rather than our
face-to-face interviews; participants might be more forthcoming and honest in the
anonymous environment of the Internet. Moreover, on-line interviews can be conducted
without the limitations of time and location, and each interviewees responses could
easily be recorded in digital format (Chou, 2001).