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Video Game Addiction Akin to Aspergers

Posted by Matt Butrovich | Apr. 03, 2008 11:33AM PST | 1136 views | 4 comments

FILED UNDER: News. Games, Science.

Though video game addiction has yet to be accepted as a true medical disorder, that hasn't stopped researchers from presenting a study at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference that comes to a rather unsurprising conclusion: people who are addicted to playing video games exhibit personality traits that are similar to those with Aspergers syndrome. I'll let the press release do a bit of the heavy lifting.

The researchers questioned 391 computer game players, 86 per cent of whom were male. They considered relationships between addiction, ‘high engagement’ and personality.

They found that the closer the players got to addiction the more likely they were to display negative personality traits. And that as players showed more signs of addiction they were increasingly characterised by three personality traits that would normally be associated with Aspergers, a variety of high functioning autism. These were neuroticism, and lack of extraversion and agreeableness.

Dr. John Charlton of the University of Bolton went on to say:

“The thinking in the field is that there is a scale along which people, even those considered to be ‘normal’, can be placed upon. And that people such as engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists are nearer to the non-empathising, systemising, end of the spectrum, with people with Aspergers syndrome even further along again."

“Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming.”

What does this all mean? When you get right down to it, any behavior when indulged to an excess degree has the potential to be harmful to normal social interaction. It's no surprise that an activity that can provide an escape from the real world could cause a gamer to become detached if played too much. Moral of the story kids: go outside every once in a while.

Tags addiction, research

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Comments (4)

gylesk said
Apr 05, 2008 12:34 PM | Hide Comment | Collapse Thread
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The question is, do heavy gamers develop the personality traits similar to Aspergers because of the gaming, did they have those traits prior to becoming involved in gaming and that is what drew them to gaming?

abby said
Apr 06, 2008 05:19 PM | Hide Comment
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I personally think the gamers had those traits and they just become more prominent the more they play games.

batsamus said
Apr 11, 2008 06:24 PM | Hide Comment | Collapse Thread
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I am an instructional aide worker in the Long Beach USD with experience working with all kinds of kids with cognitive disorders. The "spectrum" of autism is far-reaching and all-encompassing. Theoretically, the next person you see walking down the street will have some kind of trait that qualifies them on the spectrum of autism (e.g. inappropriate social interaction, sensitivity to outside stimuli, etc.). Does this mean they are autistic or have Asperger's? Absolutely not; the chemical makeup of every person is unique, yet every person shares the same basic components.

With games as involved as they are today, (Mass Effect comes to mind) of course they are going to keep people glued. A game like Mass Effect demands a certain investment of time and attention. Giving a game this time means that social interaction goes the way of the Dodo - unless you are playing it with an equally involved friend. To simplify, this research is stating that playing videogames makes people anti-social. It varies from person to person.

gylesk said
Apr 13, 2008 05:09 PM | Hide Comment
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Thanks for the extra information. You make a lot of sense.

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