Chapter 1

Problem and its Setting

Background of the Study

Computer addiction is a new term pertaining to one’s dependency on

computers. It is not only limited to the use of personal computers but also to

video games and Internet usage. It affects a person’s life in different aspects.

The studies of students who become addict to online games have been

affected. These students would most likely to cut classes, go to computer

shops and spend their time in a virtual world of their own. This situation if not

stopped, would result to failing grades and eventually becoming dropouts.

Manaois (2008)

Furthermore, Aldous (2012) mentioned that the computer and video

game industry has grown considerably over the past decade. In 2005 a study

conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation: "Generation M: Media in the

Lives of 8-18 year-olds", showed that over 80 percent of teenagers had a

video game player in their home. The widespread use of video games has led

to a series of questions. The most common question discusses the effects

that the video/computer games have on the academic performance of the

gamer. Researchers have found that each situation should be handled

independently because the effects vary from individual to individual.

Hivner (2013) mentioned that in December 2008, former

FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate stated that online gaming, more

specifically “World of Warcraft,” was one of the top reasons for college

dropouts in the U.S. A commonly held notion about gaming is that it is bad - it
causes a disruption in the leisure time of today’s youth, barring them from

major responsibilities, such as homework and other important obligations.

However, there is little evidence found that supports this claim.

Lanuza (2003) cited that the Philippines was connected to the Internet

only in March 30, 1994.The Angus Reid study shows that there are more than

300 million Internet users worldwide. Today there is an estimated 750,000 to

1 million Filipino Internet users. In Metro Manila alone, ten percent of the

population is Internet users. As a result, more and more young people are

being hooked on to the Internet.

Moreover, Barredo (2009) mentioned that in Davao City, commonly

seen in many internet cafes especially during classes hours are students from

different levels of education. Most of these students are in high school and

college levels because these students have enough knowledge to understand

computer instructions as to how to play the games.

Today’s trend in technology provides a lot of virtual entertainment that

people are accepting it because it generates psychological pleasure. Indeed,

this pleasure if uncontrollable will result to addictive behavior. The

proponents of this study would like to partake to all readers specifically to

students that addiction to video/computer games can be destructive to one’s

self physically and mentally.

Statement of the Problem

This research study aimed to determine the effect of computer games

to the academic performance of Criminology students of the University of

Mindanao. Specifically, it will answer the following question:

 1. What are the profiles of the students-respondents of the

University of Mindanao in terms of :

1.1 Age;

1.2 Gender; and

1.3 Year Level?

2. What is the level of academic performance of the Criminology

students in terms of:

2.1 School attendance

2.2 Examinations; and

2.3 Interest in school activities?

3. As to what extent of time do the Criminology students spend in

playing computer games?

4. Is there a significant relationship between playing computer

games and the academic performance of the Criminology students?

Review of Related Literature

In this section of the study, related literatures relative to the research

of the proponents are arranged below to provide further details associated

with the discussion.

The popularity of video games has grown tremendously over the past

20 years. Video games now rival television and film as entertainment media

for leisure time use. Contemporary youth report watching between 2 and 3

hours of TV per day and playing video games between 23 and 60 minutes per

day (Marshall, Gorely, & Biddle, 2006). Video games are a fairly recent new

form of entertainment, the first metaanalyses (Anderson & Bushman, 2001;

Sherry, 2001) showed that there is a steadily growing body of research

looking at their impact on players. The prominence of violent content in many

types of games (Heintz-Knowles et al., 2001) and its potential association with

aggression has attracted particular attention (Griffiths, 1999, 2000).

Relatively little research has examined the relationship between video

game use and other behaviors like school performance. Before TV viewing

and other forms of media became mainstream forms of entertainment,

educators and parents expressed concern that this entertainment might begin

to compete for academic time and eventually decrease school performance

(Gentile & Anderson, 2003; Shin, 2004). As video games become more

prevalent, concerns are also being expressed about potential detrimental

relationships between video game play and school performance.

According to Jones (2002), technology nowadays has brought man to

an era of digital and advanced world of computers. Not only are computers

used in studies, research and work, it is now being used as part of leisure and

entertainment. Most of the youth today know how computers work and even a

3 year old child who is still yet to learn how to read and write knows how to

operate a simple computer. This is because the interactive element of a lot of

software that computers use excites and attract students and this makes them

learn to use and play with the computers. The higher level of involvement may

mean that violence in computer games has a much bigger impact than

violence on television (Dill & Dill, 1998, p. 411; Griffiths, 1999; Anderson &

Dill, 2000, p.772; Sherry, 2001, p. 411). A number of studies have shown a

negative association between amount of video game play and school

performance for children, adolescents, and college students

 The violent content of video games may be especially troublesome.

There is a negative relation between exposure to violent media and academic

performance (Huesmann,1986; Huesmann & Miller, 1994). Increased

exposure to violent video game playing may disrupt school performance by

increasing aggressive behavior (Anderson & Dill, 2000). Many current college

age students grew up playing video games, whereas twenty years ago this

would not have been the norm. Huesmann (1986, 1998) proposed that when

students observe violence in the mass media, they learn aggressive scripts.

Scripts define situations and guide behavior: these scripts are oftentimes

invented by mostly college students because these students were already

well-versed in video games. The person first selects a script to represent the

situation and then assumes a role in the script. Once a script has been

learned, it may be retrieved at some later time and used as a guide for

behavior. This approach can be seen as a more specific and detailed account

of social learning processes. Scripts are sets of particularly well-rehearsed,

highly associated concepts in memory, often involving causal links, goals, and

action plans.

Peek (2013), pointed out that the allure of video games seems to be

stronger among men than women. Although women appear to play games

just as much as men, men are far more likely to play games on consoles such

as the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. A 2008 Pew Internet & American Life

Project report reveals that 35 percent of men play console games, compared

to just 21 percent of women.

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 café has become mainly game centres. About

one-half to two-thirds of the computers in a typical Internet café, according to

one study, are devoted to games (violent and gory games). According to one

concerned Internet café entrepreneur, “These competer or video games 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. (Maslog C.

(1998)

In relation, youth, especially students who are most likely exposed to

entertainments, are the ones who were affected worst. These students fall to

be on the stage of addiction in online games. Research and analysis to these

games is nascent, but critical. Games play to such excess that they die in the

worlds, which is having the potential to draw almost everybody. Compulsive

game playing kills the role-playing variety, they tend to have risk failing grades

and withdrawal of financial results from tuition-paying parents. Thus, online

gaming does interfere some aspects in our life- including academic

performances. On school days, keen boy who intend to play online games

appear to have less time reading than those who didn’t (Sciencedaily, Cyber

Psychology & Behavior, Vol. 10, 2007 issue July 4, 2007).

On the other hand, according to Pearson (2012) that research

published in the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology found that

students who play computer games more frequently get poorer grades in

college. However, some computer game promoters argue that video games

contain elements that can increase student learning. Since computer games

motivate students more than learning by itself, these computer games might

be harnessed for educational purposes in the future.

 The Philippines is not free from such kind of addiction. In an article

(Killing Time Online, October 2006) which appeared in the Asian edition of

Readers Digest, Cebu journalist Mars W. Mosqueda, Jr. explored the story of

an 18-year-old computer science student who flunked from most of his

exams, thus failing to graduate on schedule. For almost three years, the

student compulsively logged on to play Ragnarok an online role-playing

adventure game based on Norse mythology until he suddenly realized that he

was no longer living his own life, to quote the words of Mosqueda. He had lost

contact with friends, failed behind in his studies and had spent about 100,000

pesos playing online games more than enough to finance a year of his

education.

According to Briones (2012) that in less than 10 years, Filipinos fully

utilized the internet and started benefiting from it. It has advanced

communication, education and industrialization paving the way for a new

source of income. It is the business of selling internet consumptions through

internet cafés. There are 114 million people around the world who play online

games and most of them come from Asia, according to research firm DFC

Intelligence. Tacio (2009) also cited that in the Philippines, more and more

teenagers most of them students (high school and college) and even

elementary pupils are hooked on online games as internet cafe’s, which are

readily accessible day and night, are proliferating not only in the cities but in

far flung areas as well.

Dado (2012) mentioned that the growing problem of video games

addiction of students can be observed especially in almost all internet cafes in

Davao City. Widely known game DOTA which is played online is just one of
these video games that made students become addicted to playing video

games. Most students found inside the internet cafes do not go there for the

purpose of research studying but instead to play online games. Majority of the

students who are addicted to playing computer/video games have low

academic grades and worse, some have resulted to dropped-out of school.

Balanza (2012) cited that internet cafes are major causes of

absenteeism and poor performance students. Most often than never, these

students always come home past midnight because they spend time in

internet cafes after school. Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said if the situation

comes to worse, City Hall may be forced to close down internet cafes. Duterte

agreed that many students are addicted to playing games in internet cafes as

others are addicted to drugs. Many of them go home in the wee hours of the

morning, said Duterte to illustrate the situation.

With the growing problems related to video game addiction of students,

the proponents believe that there is a need to conduct a research study

regarding this concern. Through this study, this will serve as an eye-opener to

each and every one of us the effects of video game addiction to students and

the proponents were optimistic that this study will contribute suggestions and

recommendations to the school administrators, teachers, parents and

students relative to the effect of computer/video games towards the students’

school performance.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

This study is anchored on three theories of Chambers & Ascione

(1997), which are based on the Social Cognitive Theory, scholars hypothesize

that symbolic violence explicitly justified during game playing is easily

internalized by players and can be substantially transferred to the real world,

because players tend to identify themselves with the game characters.

Another popular explanation for the effects of violent games on aggression is

the excitation transfer of residual excitement from a previous game playing

may serve to intensify a later emotional state of a game player. According to

this explanation, playing violent games increases accessibility to a subset of

cognitions specifically related to violence and aggression, which later can be

transferred to real world aggressive behaviors.

Media use and selectivity often focuses on single aspects of media

related behaviors, e.g. the (absolute or relative) amount of use of certain

media or content, the choice between a given set of options, or the strategies

of choice applied in concrete reception situations. Media repertoires can be

understood as integral part of lifestyles, they have to be interpreted with

regard to their practical meaning. Moreover, the collective roots of habitués

lead to milieu specific lifestyles with typical patterns of action which are also

reflected by patterns of media use (Michel, 2003).

The schematic diagram of the study shown in Figure 1, displays the

interrelationship of the independent variables (Computer games) and

dependent (Academic performance of Criminology students) variables of the

study. According to the theory of Chambers & Ascione, that video or

computer games can cause aggressiveness mentally, physically and

emotionally. Hence, the proponents made an investigative study as to how

computer games affect the study of the Criminology students.

 Independent Dependent

Academic performance of
the Criminology students

• School Attendance
Computer/Video Games
• Examinations

• Interest in school activities

Moderator Variable

Profile of the students-

respondents

• Age
• Gender
• Year Level

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the study

Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will be significant to the following:

School Administrator. The results of the study will serve as

informative guidance to the school administrator in motivating the students to

focus more in their studies than wasting precious time playing computer

games and to provide information drive to all students and

teachers/professors the negative effect of prolonged hours of playing

video/computer games.

Teachers/Professors. With the study, the proponents are hopeful that

teachers/professors/instructors will be able to give proper information and

guidance to their students about the effects of computer games towards their

studies.

Parents. It is important first and foremost that parents should be

informed that their children especially the students should be properly

monitored when playing computer games. Parents should be the more careful

and

Students. The findings of this study will serve as a guide to all

students of College of Criminal Justice Education that computer games,

although it is very entertaining might cause problems mentally, physically and

emotionally when one is already hooked on playing in prolonged hours.

Researchers. The proponents of this study are optimistic and hopeful

that this study can be useful as sources of reference for future study.

Definition of Terms

The following operational terms were used in this study in giving

meaning through how it is used by the proponents.

 Video/Computer game. An entertaining simulation game which can be

played using a computer and a console such as desktop personal computer,

laptop, PSP, XBOX and etc.. This game can be played either without internet

connection or through MMORPG

Online Game. A virtual game played through the use of internet

connection so that players can play with their opponents from any place in

the world.

Academic performance. This refers to the academic performance of

College of Criminal Justice Education students of the University of Mindanao.

 Chapter 2

METHOD

The following methods and procedure used in this study are the

research design, research environment, respondents of the study, research

instrument, data gathering procedure and data analysis so as to come up

with a valid and consistent interpretation of the data provided by the

proponents.

Research Design

The study made use of a descriptive – correlation design in the conduct

of the research which is designed to gather information about the

characteristics of the variables of the study. A descriptive correlation method

is one that helps to determine if two or more variables are associated with

each other by explaining their relationship but not necessarily implying that

this relationship is also a cause. The focal point of this research study is to

determine the effect of computer games to the academic performance of

Criminology students.

Research Subjects

The proponents randomly picked sixty (60) Criminology students of the

University of Mindanao regardless of the student’s year level and gender.

Research Instruments

The researchers used the following instruments:

 1. A letter request for the dean of the College of Criminal Justice

Education to allow the proponents to conduct survey to randomly-picked

students of Criminology of the University of Mindanao.

2. Two sets of proponents-formulated questionnaire distributed sixty

(60) students-respondents: and,

3. The researchers used the internet in supplying related articles to

provide necessary data needed to further present useful information related to

the subject study.

Statistical Treatment of the Data

The following statistical tools were used by the researchers provide

support and accuracy of data presented in this study.

Likert Scale - is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research

that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling

responses in survey research, such that the term is often used

interchangeably with rating scale, or more accurately the Likert-type scale,

even though the two are not synonymous.

The questions were measured in a five (5) Likert scale. Likert scale is

a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that

employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling

responses in survey research, such that the term is often used

interchangeably with rating scale, or more accurately the Likert-type scale,

even though the two are not synonymous.

To determine the respondent’s responses to the variable, the following

parameter was used.

Scale Parameter Descriptive Verbal Interpretation
Of Limits Equivalent

5 4.50 – 5.00 Very High If the level of academic

performance of the
respondents described in
the item were manifested at
all times.

4 3.50 – 4.49 High If the level of academic

performance of the
respondents described in
the item were manifested in
many but not the majority of
the cases.

3 2.50 – 3.49 Moderate If the level of academic

performance of the
respondents described in
the item was manifested in a
few instances.

2 1.50 – 2.49 Low If the level of academic

performance of the
respondents described in
the item was manifested in
some instances.

1 1.00 – 1.49 Very Low If the level of academic

performance of the
respondents described in
the item was manifested in
some instances.

Percentage. A percentage is a proportion between two quantities

expressed in hundredths. It is often used to define a portion as a fraction of a

whole. It's widely used in statistics, and finance to define probability, rate of

return etc.

Frequency. is an arrangement of the values that one or more variables

take in a sample. Each entry in the table contains the frequency or count of
the occurrences of values within a particular group or interval, and in this way,

the table summarizes the distribution of values in the sample.