Project Work

Gaming Addiction
Done by: Chua Haoyan
Teh Wen Bin
Chuah Jin Wei
Benny Koh

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2
Introduction................................................................................................................ 3
Rising issue................................................................................................................. 4
Genres of computer games........................................................................................6
Action...................................................................................................................6
Adventure............................................................................................................6
Construction and management simulation..........................................................8
Massively multiplayer online role-playing............................................................8
Signs and Symptoms (children and teenagers)........................................................10
Most of non-school hours are spent on the computer or playing video games.
............................................................................................................................ 10
Falling asleep in school, Not keeping up with assignments, Worsening grades. 10
Lying about computer or video game use.........................................................10
Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather than see friends,
Dropping out of other social groups (clubs or sports).........................................10
Signs and Symptoms (adults)...................................................................................11
Computer or video game use is characterized by intense feelings of pleasure
and guilt.............................................................................................................. 11
Hours playing video games or on the computer increasing, seriously disrupting
family, social or even work life............................................................................11
Experience feelings of withdrawal, anger, or depression when not on the
computer or involved with their video game.......................................................11
Fantasy life on-line replaces emotional life with partner....................................11
Number of hours spent playing computer games..............................................12
Favorite Genres of Games..................................................................................13
Service Learning .....................................................................................................14
Recommendation..................................................................................................... 15
Reflection.................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
“When time spent on the computer, playing video games or cruising the Internet reaches a point
that it harms a child's or adult's family and social relationships, or disrupts school or work life, that person
may be caught in a cycle of addiction.” - http://theaddictionhelp.com/Computer-Addiction/Computer-
Addiction-Definition/

With the advancement of modern technology, many electronic gadgets and computers have
become a must in many of our lives. Gaming Addiction has been and will be a problem for many years to
come in most modern cities until it is resolved. Gaming is a major factor in many teenagers’ life,
developers have created different games to attracted different types of people. Teenagers normally will
have an own set of time to play their games, but many of them abuse this opportunity and becomes
addicted to games. Gaming had caused many unfortunate incidents, including family issues, physical
problems and in worse cases, death. Victims of gaming addiction have neglected their family, friends and
sometimes even themselves. Gaming addiction has raised concerns of many world leaders and many
have already taken a rather futile approach on it. There are thousands of games in the world and the
reality of the games is evolving with time. Some genres are action, adventure, first-person shooter,
simulation, role-playing, and strategy. Examples of rather addictive games are World Of Warcraft, Left 4
Dead 2, Maplestory, and DotA. In these games, players are either served with high-detailed graphics, or
the opportunity to feel almighty, therefore, the increasing number of addiction cases.

Our group, Addictorz has thus deicided to embark on this project. The main purpose of our
project is to increase awareness and provide viable solutions for this overwhelming problem. Thus, our
group plans to address this worldwide problem and try to find a best way to reduce the amount of people
getting addicted to computer. We have collected many surveys on the average amount of time spent by
each person using the computer a day. We have done a brochure on how to prevent gaming addiction.
There is a software called K9 Web Protection which can prevent people from using computer for too long.

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Rising issue
Gaming addiction has become a rising issue after a number of death reports concerning
computer gaming.

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=D8D2BBTO2&show_article=1

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 In this article, we can clearly feel the mood that gaming addiction is no longer a trivial matter.

Gamers are playing too aggressively that gaming affects their lives, like according to Jun, the 27-year-old
who was able to kick the habit of playing computer games, "You have no life, you only focus on gaming,
putting off everything, like getting a haircut," Gamers are so addicted to gaming that easy tasks like
cutting their hair is a big bother to them.

Gamers are isolating themselves at home and disrupting the family communications and ties.
Since one of the obvious symptoms is neglecting friends and family, family problems are rising at the
cause of gaming addictions. Teenagers are not the only source of gaming problems, nowadays even
adults are having gaming problems. Adults are neglecting their family and instead, they spend more time
on the computer. One perfect example would be the Korean couples starving their baby while nurturing a
virtual baby.

(March 5) -- A South Korean couple addicted to the Internet left their 3-month-old
daughter to starve to death while they raised a virtual daughter online during 12-
hour bouts at a cyber cafe, police said.
The husband and wife had been on the run since their baby, born prematurely,
died five months ago of severe dehydration and malnutrition, police said. They
were arrested this week near their home south of the capital Seoul and charged
today with child abuse and neglect. Police say the couple left their infant alone in
their apartment and rushed back from the Internet cafe just once a day to feed
her. South Korea's official Yonhap news agency first reported the arrests, quoting
police. A South Korean couple was accused of leaving their infant unattended
while they played the online game Prius for hours on end. This is an image from
the game. The case highlights what experts say is as a growing trend of Internet
addiction in South Korea, which has the highest broadband penetration per
capita in the world. (AOL news, contributed by Lauren Frayer)

Through this incident, we can see that gaming addiction does not only include the
children but also the adults, who actually commit crimes through the addiction of gaming.

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Genres of computer games
Action
An action game requires players to
use quick reflexes, accuracy, and timing to
overcome obstacles. It is the most basic of
gaming genres, and certainly one of the
broadest. Action games tend to have
gameplay with emphasis on combat. There
are many subgenres of action games, such as
fighting games and first-person shooters.
Examples are Street Fighters and Marvel
versus Capcom.

Platform is a subgenre of action,

usually requires players to use tactics to reach
a certain objectives. A perfect example would
be a classic game called Super Mario Bros.

ht Source:

http://www.fileshack.com/images/finclude/images/0
92005_killemall.jpg

Adventure
Adventure games are not defined by
story or content. Adventure games do not
have any reflex challenges or action. They
normally require the player to solve various
puzzles by interacting with people and the
environment in the game. Adventure games
normally do not have any pressure on the
players so this kind of games are more
suitable for people that do not play much of
games.

Source:
http://static.4players.de/premium/ContentImage/bf/74/28
171-bild.jpg

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Shooter
A shooting game can be divided into 2 subgroups, first-person shooter and third-person shooter,
according to the camera perspectives.

First-person shooter video games, commonly known as FPSs, emphasize shooting and combat
from the perspective of the character controlled by the player. This perspective is meant to give the player
the feeling of "being there", and allows the player to focus on aiming. Most FPSs are very fast-paced and
require quick reflexes on high difficulty levels. Most FPSs are also filled with gore, and thus, they are
addictive towards gamers. Examples are Blackshot, Soldier Front.

Third-person shooter video games, known as TPSs or 3PSs, emphasize shooting and combat
from a camera perspective in which the player character is seen at a distance. Furthermore, third person
shooters allow for more elaborate movement such as rolling or diving, as opposed to simple jumping and
crouching common in FPS games. Greater interaction with the player's environment is often possible.
Examples are Grand Theft Auto series and Gears of War.

Source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/647804276_e0e7d437a7.jpg

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Construction and management simulation
Construction and management simulation games (or CMSs) are a type of simulation game which
task players to build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources. Perhaps
the most known game of this type is SimCity, which is still popular and has had great influence on later
city-building games. SimCity, however, also belongs to the God Games genre since it gives the player
god-like abilities in
manipulating the world, thus
players would feel god-like,
and would be addicted to
the game.

Source:

http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/learning/habitat/HABITAT4/simcit
y2.gif

Massively multiplayer online role-playing

Massively multiplayer online role-playing
games, or MMORPGs, emerged in the mid to late
1990s as a commercial, graphical variant of text-
based MUDs, which had existed since around
1979. The massively multiplayer concept was
quickly combined with other genres. Examples are
MapleStory and World of Warcraft.

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Source: http://www.vistawallpaper.com/data/media/5/maplestory.jpg

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Signs and Symptoms (children and teenagers)
These are some symptoms for children and teenagers:

• Most of non-school hours are spent on the computer or playing video games.

• Falling asleep in school.

• Not keeping up with assignments.

• Worsening grades.

• Lying about computer or video game use.

• Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather than see friends.

• Dropping out of other social groups (clubs or sports).

Most of non-school hours are spent on the computer or playing video games.
This includes buying in-game money with real cash. This suggests the addiction of gamers is
beyond the control. Addictors’ uncontrollable playing will cause them to lose track of time, leading to less
time to do homework and revision for school. This symptom can be further worsen when addictor skip
lessons or co-curriculum time activities so that he or she can go home and play computer games.

Falling asleep in school, Not keeping up with assignments, Worsening grades.

These are the aftereffects of the first symptom when addictors start to spend most of the non-
school hours on the computer. Addictors would realize that 16 hours per day, excluding sleeping, is not
enough, so they would start to play computer games on their sleeping time. With not enough sleep, they
will not be able to stay 100% focus during school hours. Naturally, they would not be able to keep up with
assignments, this is when parents start to be disappointed. When it comes to examinations, the similar
incidents will happen and the grades will be horrendously poor.

Lying about computer or video game use

When addictors start to get poor grades, parents will take measures to stop
them from deeper addiction. The most direct way will be stop them from using the
computer. This is when addictors will find all kinds of excuses to use the computer,
but actually they want to play the games. This will eventually cause family disputes.

Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather than see friends, Dropping out of other
social groups (clubs or sports)
This is when the social problem comes. Addictors would prefer playing computer than friends and
co-curriculum activities. They will slowly be isolated by their friends, and psychological problems will
slowly rise.

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Signs and Symptoms (adults)
When the problem is not solved when young, the symptoms will further worsen. These are some
symptoms for adults:

• Computer or video game use is characterized by intense feelings of pleasure and guilt.

• Obsessing and pre-occupied about being on the computer, even when not connected.

• Hours playing video games or on the computer increasing, seriously disrupting family, social or
even work life.

• Lying about computer or video game use.

• Experience feelings of withdrawal, anger, or depression when not on the computer or involved
with their video game.

• May incur large phone or credit bills for on-line services.

• Can't control computer or video game use.

• Fantasy life on-line replaces emotional life with partner.

Computer or video game use is characterized by intense feelings of pleasure and guilt
Addictors will be controlled by their intense feelings of pleasure and guilt to play computer games.
They seldom can control themselves to use the computer, this is the first step towards addiction.

Hours playing video games or on the computer increasing, seriously disrupting family, social or
even work life.
This is a similar to a symptom for the teenagers’, however, adults have family and work life.
Neglecting family can be a serious matter as shown in the article previously, where the Korean couple
starved a baby to death while they raised a virtual child. Addictors playing violent games will also be
affected and maybe be violent towards family members or friends.

Experience feelings of withdrawal, anger, or depression when not on the computer or involved
with their video game.
This is a symptom of psychological problems, as they are having feelings towards the game when
they are not even playing. This can be dangerous too, as the people around him do not know what is he
thinking.

May incur large phone or credit bills for on-line services

This can be a problem if the addictors cannot pay up the bills, through the influence of the games
they played, they may have intentions to commit crimes to get money to continue playing the games.

Fantasy life on-line replaces emotional life with partner.

This when one loses interest in his or her partner, the most serious case
would be a breakup or divorce.

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What We Do
We did a survey for 70 people, 36 girls and 34 boys, for the number of hours
they play.

Number of hours spent playing computer games

From the graph, we can see that there is trend in the boys, the number of hours and
the number of boys are linearly related with a positive gradient. In the girls, the
number of hours and the number of girls are linearly related with a negative
gradient. This suggests that boys tend to be more addicted to computer games and
would spend more hours playing if necessary and most of the girls often play 1 or 2
hours, basically for leisure only. However, note that this is only computer games
and not the use of computer.

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 Favorite Genres of Games

This is another survey we did with the same people. This shows their favorite genre of games.

For the boys, there is high number of boys choosing shooting and MMORPG games, and only 1
chose construction and management simulation. For the girls, there is a high number of girls choosing
MMORPG and construction and management simulation. However, there is a common favorite among
the boys and girls which is MMORPG games. So, from the graph and the graph before, I can infer that
shooting games are rather more addictive compared to construction and management simulation games,
as boys are relatively more addictive and their favorite games are mostly shooting games.

Most of the people who indicated long hours of gaming time played MMORPG. This is probably
due to the fact that when playing MMORPGs, the game and characters are ever growing. Therefore,
parents should take note of these type of games which require more hours to play.

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Service Learning
We did a survey on one of our parents on: “What is the definition of Gaming Addiction to you?”

And “What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of gaming?”

We also did a brochure and gave it out to parents.

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Recommendation
In the brochure, we include a recommendation called the K9 Web Protection.

It has good features that would help addictors or family of addictors. That include:

• Content Categories - (able to block contents through categories)

• Safe Search - (able to block offensive searches)

• Personal firewalls and Internet security products

• NightGuard - (able to disallow web access in a particular time range)

Furthermore, if an addicted person tries to end the process, he or she will not have any internet
access until he or she restarts the computer.

However, this only works if the addicted person are using non-administrative account on the
computer, or else he or she can easily delete the program file of K9 Web Protection.

Some parents have already started using this product and feel that its very useful in restricting
their children’s playing time.

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Reflection
Throughout this project work which spans over half a year, our group has faced

many difficulties and learnt many new things both on the informative and on the moral side.

One of the problems we faced was that the free time we had always had to clash.

The weekends were mostly untouchable due to the need for family time. Monday,

Wednesday and Friday were filled with CCA trainings and practices. Tuesday and

Thursday were the only days available. Since we don't have the spare time to meet every

week, most of the work was done during project work and IT period.

Despite the long period of time to do this project, our group still encountered the

problem of time management. This was mostly due to the fact that we were occupied with

our homework and CCA during the school holidays. Therefore, most of our initial plans did

not fall into place.

Another problem we faced was that our group failed to execute the service learning

portion of the project work properly. The surveys were not regarded with respect thus, the

results were deemed to be invalid and not of proper quality.

One of the many things we learnt were thought to us by our mentors and this is the

most important thing we learnt throughout the project work. Halfway through the project,

our group lost its strive for excellence and slacked for a long time to the absence of our

mentor for a few weeks. When he came back, we updated him of our project and he later

questioned us on our initial plans. We told him that it was due to the lack of prizes and the

need for a second presentation if our project is of the highest quality in the class. Mr. Aldrin

Thomas told us that even if there is no prize, we should continue to afirm the highest

perculiarity. After that incident, we assured that the essence of our project was kept intact.

Another thing we learnt was how to work together as a team. In terms of ideas, we

had to come up with a common consensus, listening to whatever other people have to say.

Some of us were rather upset that they did more work. This was resolved by distributing

work evenly, based on what our strengths are.

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