Motivational differences in problem video game play

Abstract

Self-determination theory states that motivation plays an important role in initiating, developing and maintaining involvement within an activity. The present study applied this theory to video game playing and surveyed 399 video game players, 82 percent of which were male with a mean age of 20.3 years old, on measures of video game playing involvement, motivation to play video games and problem video game play. Participants were obtained from various video game retail outlets, Internet cafes, and LAN gaming businesses. The results showed that extrinsic motivations to play video games, such as tension release, social approval and external regulation by in-game rewards, and amotivation, or playing without a sense of purpose about the activity, were significant predictors of problem video game playing. The results were discussed in terms of their application to identifying and assisting young people with potentially problematic levels of video game playing.

Full text

J o u r n a l o f C y b e r T h e r a p y & R e h a b i l i t a t i o n
S u m m e r 2 0 0 9 , Vo l u m e 2 , I s s u e 2
© Vir t ua l R e a l i t y M e d i c a l I n s t i t u t e
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D
aniel King
1
a
nd Assoc. Prof. Paul Delfabbro
1
Self-determination theory states that motivation plays an important role in initiating, developing and maintaining involvement
within an activity. The present study applied this theory to video game playing and surveyed 399 video game players, 82 percent
of which were male with a mean age of 20.3 years old, on measures of video game playing involvement, motivation to play video
games and problem video game play. Participants were obtained from various video game retail outlets, Internet cafes, and LAN
gaming businesses. The results showed that extrinsic motivations to play video games, such as tension release, social approval
and external regulation by in-game rewards, and amotivation, or playing without a sense of purpose about the activity, were sig-
nificant predictors of problem video game playing. The results were discussed in terms of their application to identifying and as-
sisting young people with potentially problematic levels of video game playing.
,>=58+9 Motivation, Video Game Play, Behavioral Addiction, Self-Determination, Problem Involvement
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The notion that excessive video game playing may represent a
problematic activity in its own right has received increased aca-
demic attention (Griffiths, 2008; Griffiths & Davies, 2005;
Salguero & Moran, 2002). In the last decade, researchers have iden-
tified a subgroup of players, particularly players of online role-play-
ing games like World of Warcraft, who report playing over 50 hours
per week (Griffiths, Davies & Chappell, 2003). Numerous other
studies have identified high use of video games, although the meth-
ods used to classify heavy or excessive use have varied greatly
(Charlton & Danforth, 2007; Christakis, Ebel, Rivara & Zimmer-
man, 2004; Chui, Lee & Huang, 2004; Fisher, 1994; Fleming &
Kraut, 2007; Ladouceur & Dube, 1995; Ng & Wiemer-Hastings,
2005; Phillips, Rolls, Rouse & Griffiths, 1995; Salguero & Moran,
2002; Yee, 2006). Nevertheless, it is generally agreed by a number
of researchers that such high levels of involvement are likely to
have deleterious effects on individuals if they are maintained over
time. In addition to having impacts on a person’s psychological and
physical functioning, shown in lack of sleep and exercise or limited
mobility, excessive playing may also compromise work and study
commitments and decrease opportunities for other social activities.
However, the more controversial element of this area of research
is whether or not excessive playing should be treated similarly to
recognized behavioral addictions such as pathological or problem
gambling (Griffiths, 2008a).
In a number of papers, Griffiths advances the view that video game
playing is a form of addictive behaviour because it shows similari-
ties to gambling (Griffiths, 1991a; Griffiths, 2008a; Griffiths, 2008b;
Griffiths & Wood, 2000). As with gamblers, video game players
find it difficult to resist the urge to participate, find it difficult to
cease the behavior, become preoccupied with playing, and, as indi-
cated above, can experience psychological, physiological and social
harm if they participate excessively. However, this view has been
challenged on a number of grounds by several authors. For example,
Jaffe (1990) has argued that the application of the term “addiction”
to non-chemical repetitive behaviors may be indiscriminate, which
may de-emphasize the importance of identifying specific mecha-
nisms which maintain certain problem behaviors. Similarly,
Blaszczynski (2006) has argued that researchers must avoid the trap
of accepting self-reported accounts of addiction from computer-
users as a basis for the validity of technological addictions, and sug-
gested that the field needs empirical evidence of neuro-adaptive
changes in addition to psychological dependency and lack of control
before these appetitive behaviors may be accepted as bona-fide ad-
dictions. Schaffer, Hall & van de Bilt (2000) and Wood’s (2007) re-
views of the literature on computer and video game “addiction”
have each concluded that there is insufficient evidence to suggest
that so-called computer-based “addictions” exist as a singular, pri-
mary disorder, and they posit that excessive involvement may in-
stead reflect an underlying psychopathological condition. Warden,
Phillips and Ogloff (2004) also warned of the various legal conse-
quences of formally recognizing technological addictions such as
Internet addiction, particularly with regard to how these technolo-
gies could be subject to various legislative controls, and the greater
admissibility of technological addictions as a valid form of psycho-
logical evidence in the legal system.
Despite the controversies concerning the term “addiction” when
applied to video games, most researchers, including critics, are
nonetheless willing to accept that excessive video game playing
can have deleterious consequences and is therefore a topic worthy
of research. For this reason, it is likely that useful advances in this
area might be best served by an approach that examines excessive
VG play, not as an identifiable diagnostic category, but as an end-
point of a continuum of playing that has an extensive normal
range, but a potential to become problematic or for harm to de-
velop. Accordingly, to understand the phenomena requires the
Corresponding Author:
Daniel King, School of Psychology, Hughes Building, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Daniel.King@adelaide.edu.au.
¹School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide
139

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Motivational Differences in Problem Video Game Play

identification of predictors, correlates, or risk factors that co-vary
with higher levels of involvement and, in particular, those which
typically lead to reports of harm. In light of this, the aim of this
paper was to examine the extent to which recent developments in
motivation and self-determination theory, previously applied to
gambling, might reasonably be extended to examine video game
play. The strength of this approach is that it does not make the pos-
sibly unfounded assumption that excessive video playing is a
bona-fide addiction. It also provides a way in which to conceptu-
alize how normative and healthy video game playing might be dif-
ferentiated from behavior that has a greater likelihood of leading
to harm.
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A theory which has yielded some useful insights into variations in
other repetitive and potentially harmful behavior is the self-deter-
mination theory. The self-determination theory attempts to explain
why some individuals demonstrate highly-committed, autonomous
and self-motivated behavior, referred to as high self-determination,
whilst others engage in passive, indolent and apathetic behaviors,
or low self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The theory con-
ceptualizes all human behavior as a motivational consequence and
suggests that an individual is self-determined when he or she is in-
trinsically motivated. In contrast, a person lacks self-determination
when their behavior is primarily extrinsically motivated. Self-
determination has been associated repeatedly with increased psy-
chological functioning in a number of contexts, including
education (Vallerand, Blais, Briere & Pelletier, 1989), interper-
sonal relationships (Blais, Sabourin, Boucher & Vallerand,
1990), work (Blais, Briere, Lachance, Riddle & Vallerand,
1993), sport (Ingledew, Markland & Sheppard, 2003) and leisure
(Losier, Bourque & Vallerand, 1993). Recently, the theory has
also been used to conceptualize problematic behavior, such as
behavioural addictions (Clarke, 2004), and predict how individ-
uals will respond to addiction therapy (Leblond, Ladouceur &
Blaszczynski, 2003; Wild, Cunningham & Ryan, 2006).
The self-determination theory is largely concerned with motiva-
tional orientation. Motivation involves both internal and external
forces that trigger, direct, develop and maintain involvement in
an activity (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Three main types of motivation
have been proposed (Chantal & Vallerand, 1996). The first type
is “intrinsic” motivation, when an individual behaves in response
to some internal state, such as a desire to learn, or be pleased or
excited, or seek some other kind of inherent satisfaction. The
second is “extrinsic” motivation, when an individual is acting
primarily in response to external forces, such as rewards of some
kind, like money, or by the influence of others, such as peers or
persons of higher authority. The third type is “amotivation,”
which refers to behavior that is neither intrinsically nor extrinsi-
cally motivated, characteristic of a person who has lost their
sense of choice and control over their behavior (Chantal &
Vallerand, 1996).
In the first-published application of self-determination theory to
behavioral “addictions,” Vallerand, Chantal, Vallerand and Val-
lieres (1995) hypothesized that highly intrinsically motivated
gamblers – those who played for positive feelings of efficacy,
curiosity, interest and enjoyment – would report greater involve-
ment in gambling than extrinsically motivated gamblers, who
played for the rewards of gambling, such as money and social
recognition. The results showed that high self-determination, a
function of high intrinsic motivation and low extrinsic motiva-
tion, was significantly positively correlated with gambling in-
volvement. However, it was not clear from their results whether
motivational orientation differed between problem and non-
problem gamblers. A follow-up study by Ladouceur, Arsenault,
Dube, Freeston and Jacques (1997) surveyed 110 gamblers using
measures of gambling involvement, problem gambling and the
motivation to gamble. The researchers found that probable
pathological gamblers (N = 30) scored significantly higher on
the GMS subscales for intrinsic motivation for excitement, ex-
trinsic motivation for introjected regulation and amotivation.
Similar findings were also obtained by Clarke (2004), who sur-
veyed 147 New Zealand university students and found that be-
yond gambling frequency, number of activities and parents’
gambling, motivation explained a substantial proportion of vari-
ance in SOGS scores. Also, the strongest predictors of problem
gambling included amotivation and the motivations for accom-
plishment and tension release. Clarke and Clarkeson’s (2007)
study of 104 older adult gamblers showed that the strongest mo-
tivational predictors of problem gambling were intrinsic moti-
vation to experience stimulation and amotivation.
These results led to the suggestion that problem gambling may
be influenced by the dual-process of positive and negative rein-
forcement (Clarke, 2004). Problem gamblers are positively re-
inforced by the excitement of wins delivered periodically on
variable-ratio reinforcement schedules inherent within games of
chance, but also by the way in which gambling relieves feelings
of guilt or tension. These motivations to obtain stimulation and
to relieve tension override any intentions to reduce or stop gam-
bling. Ladouceur et al. (1997) has suggested that problem gam-
blers will continue to gamble despite the adverse consequences
of doing so because the person does not always perceive the re-
lationship between their gambling behavior and the conse-
quences or “amotivation.”
Given the many similarities between gambling and video
game playing, particularly with regard to the structural char-
acteristics of both activities (Fisher, 1994; Griffiths, 1991a;
Gupta & Derevensky, 1996; Johansson & Gotestam, 2004;

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
L
adouceur & Dube, 1995; Wood, Gupta, Derevenksy, & Grif-
fiths, 2004), it is not difficult to apply a gambling model of
motivation to problematical levels of video game playing.
Problem video game playing may be conceptualized as a mal-
a
daptive motivational consequence characterized by low self-
determination and thus poorer psychological functioning.
T
able 1 presents the conceptual definitions of all seven types
of motivation as they relate to video game playing. Table 1
shows that it is possible to define each type of motivation in
the context of video-gaming, so that findings obtained previ-
o
usly with gamblers can be investigated using a similar
methodology.
King and Delfabbro
Motivation type
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Video game playing for the pursuit of knowledge about the game, including
learning, exploring and understanding all of the elements of the game.
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Video game playing for the internal need to finish the game or overcome its
challenges, as well as improve one’s skill at the game.
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Playing video games for the pleasure and
excitement associated with the activity.
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Playing video games for a release of tension or guilt.
Paradoxically, it may be that these negative feelings are caused by
the excessive amount of time spent playing video games.
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Video game playing for internal values such as social recognition.
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Video game playing for the rewards, items, or
achievements in the video game.
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Playing video games to play to relieve the feeling of boredom but without
any purpose, apathetic, mentally disengaged and with little sense of meaning.
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5:, Extrinsic motivation involves being part of a positive and negative reinforcement schedule: receiving or avoiding something
(i.e., the player is being influenced by a reward system).

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Motivational Differences in Problem Video Game Play
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The present study employed the self-determination theory to in-
vestigate the relationship between motivation and problem video
game playing. Previous research suggests that problem gamblers
are distinguished by high levels of intrinsic motivation to expe-
rience stimulation, extrinsic motivation for identified regulation
and amotivation. That is, they are more likely to gamble to fill
an emotional need rather than to gamble for a specific purpose,
such as to enhance knowledge or skill. Accordingly, this study
had two hypotheses. The first was that greater involvement in
video game playing would be associated with higher levels of
all types of video game playing motivation. The second was that
intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, extrinsic motiva-
tion for identified regulation and amotivation would predict ad-
ditional unique variance in problematic video game playing
scores beyond the video game playing variables.
In addition, because males often report higher levels of video
game playing and are over-represented in studies of problematic
video game play (Griffiths, Davies & Chappell, 2004a, 2004b;
Griffiths & Hunt, 1995; McClure & Mears, 1984; Yee, 2006), it
was reasoned that any analyses conducted would control for gen-
der differences prior to testing other, more specific hypotheses
relating to motivation.
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Participants were obtained by visiting various video game retail
outlets, Internet cafes, and LAN gaming businesses in the city of
Adelaide, South Australia. This sampling method was based on
previous research that has investigated excessive gambling
among patrons of gambling venues (Griffiths, 1991b; Ladouceur
& Dube, 1995). This approach was particularly useful for identi-
fying frequent players. Participants were informed of the purpose
of the study and told that their responses would be completely
confidential. Participants who agreed to take part in the study
signed a consent form and were given a paper-and-pencil survey
to complete on their own.


A total of 399 participants completed the survey, including 328
males and 71 females. The mean age of the participants was 20.3
years old (SD = 5.1). The majority of the participants were single
(N = 249) and reported having a white, English-speaking back-
ground (N = 371). In general, participants were studying towards
or had completed their secondary school education (N = 209) or
undergraduate degree (N = 114) and were unemployed (N = 112)
or working on a casual basis (N = 198). In terms of video game
playing variables, the average respondent had approximately 10
years (SD = 5.6) experience playing video games and reported to
play three different video games concurrently in the last month.
A typical week of video game playing was consisted of 17.8 hours
on either a personal computer and/or dedicated games console
with an average playing session lasting two hours (SD = 1.4) on
a weekday and 2.9 hours (SD = 2.3) on the weekend.
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This survey measured a person’s duration of play (in hours) on
different video game systems for each day of the week in a typ-
ical week in the last three months. This measure yielded an over-
all number of hours spent each week playing video games.
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The PVGT is a modified version of Young’s (1998) Internet Ad-
diction Test, a 20-item questionnaire designed to measure prob-
lematic aspects of Internet use. Each item on the test was modified
to accommodate problematic video game playing. One item, for
example, asks “Do you feel preoccupied with video games when
not playing?” All questions refer to problems experienced for a
period of at least three months. Each item was scored on a five-
point Likert scale, ranging from one representing “never” to five
representing “always.” Thus, total scores ranged from 20 to 100.
In the present study, the PVGT demonstrated excellent internal
consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .93. Validation by King
and Delfabbro (2008) showed that the PVGT shows high internal
consistency and moderate convergent validity, and the measure
corresponds well with the components model of addiction.
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The VGMS is an adapted version of the Gambling Motivation
Scale (Chantal, Vallerand & Vallieres, 1994), a 28-item meas-
ure of a person’s motivation to gamble. Each item is scored
on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from “not at all” to “ex-
actly.” The VGMS measures seven types of motivation (see
Table 1). Higher scores on each motivation subscale indicate
greater motivation. Eighteen items were kept identical to the
original version because the operant term “game” was appli-
cable to both gambling and gaming activities. However, be-
cause video game players play for points and other in-game
rewards instead of money, ten extrinsic motivation items were
modified. For example, the original item “to make a lot of
money” was changed to “to get a really high score.”
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Males and females differed with respect to how long they
played video games in a typical sitting. Male participants re-
ported playing for an average duration of 2.3 hours (SD = 1.4)
on a typical weekday session and 3.3 hours (SD = 2.3) on a
typical weekend session. By comparison, female participants
reported playing for an average duration of 1.1 hours (SD =

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
King and Delfabbro
1.1) on a typical weekday and 1.7 hours (SD = 1.6) on a
weekend session. Male participants also reported having
played video games for significantly longer in their lifetime
than female participants (Males: M = 11.3 years, SD = 5.4,
Females: M = 7.9 years, SD = 6.1) and males reported playing
significantly more video game titles concurrently than fe-
males (Males: M = 4.2, SD = 3.5, Females: M = 2.6, SD =
1.5). Male participants tended to prefer first-person shooters,
role-playing games and real-time strategy games, whereas fe-
male participants reported to prefer puzzle games, action-ad-
venture and simulation games.
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Given these broad differences in terms of video game playing
patterns and video game preferences, it was reasoned that
males and females may also differ in terms of their motiva-
tions to play video games and the extent to which they play
problematically. Table 2 presents the mean motivation sub-
scale scores and overall problem play (PVGT) score for male
and female participants.
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Motivational Differences in Problem Video Game Play
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A hierarchical multiple-regression analysis was then con-
ducted to identify the strongest motivational predictors of
problematic video game play. Because of their strong rela-
tionship with the PVGT score, gender and total hours spent
playing video games each week were entered on the first
step. The two other playing variables, mean weekday and
weekend session duration, were not selected due to con-
cerns regarding multi-collinearity due to the strong associ-
ation (r >.80) with total weekly hours played each week.
On the second step, all seven motivation variables were
entered. Table 4 presents the results of the regression
analysis.
King and Delfabbro
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* p < .01, ** p < .001
5:,R2= .19 for Step 1; ΔR2 = .18 for Step 2.

JCR
Motivational Differences in Problem Video Game Play

Controlling for gender and total weekly hours spent playing
video games, the extrinsic motivation and amotivation factors
emerged as the strongest predictors of problematic video game
p
lay, explaining as much unique variance in PVGT scores as
gender and time spent playing video games each week. The
strongest motivation factors were ‘EM – identified’ and amoti-
vation. None of the intrinsic motivation variables emerged as
significant predictors of problematic video game play. The sec-
ond regression model explained an additional 17 percent of the
total variance in PVGT scores, an amount that was almost
equivalent to the gender and total weekly use variables. There-
fore, the second hypothesis was partially supported.

!
The present study found that intrinsic motivation to experience
stimulation, extrinsic motivation for identified regulation and
amotivation were the strongest motivational predictors of
problematic video game playing. Controlling for gender and
total hours spent video game playing each week, the regression
analysis revealed that these factors explained 17 percent of the
unique variance in problematic video game playing (PVGT)
scores. This finding was highly comparable with studies of
problem gamblers (Clarke, 2004; Clarke & Clarkson, 2007;
Ladouceur et al., 1997). While gambling research has consis-
tently identified intrinsic motivation (IM) to experience stimu-
lation as a significant predictor of problem gambling (Clarke,
2004; Ladouceur et al., 1997), none of the three IM factors
were significant predictors of problem video game playing in
this study.
Consistent with previous studies of the demographics of video
game playing populations (Griffiths et al., 2004a), the results
showed that males reported playing for longer periods on both
weekdays and weekends, predominantly playing shooting,
role-playing and strategy video games, having a longer life his-
tory of playing video games, and having a higher degree of
problem video game playing in general. In addition, males re-
ported higher levels of intrinsic motivation for stimulation and
accomplishment and external motivation for identified regula-
tion. Therefore, future studies of video game players’ motiva-
tions should consider the effect of gender to avoid overstating
any observed relationship between motivation and video game
playing.
While the self-determination theory has been used to explain
the general appeal of video game playing (Ryan, Rigby &
Przybylski, 2006), the present study also demonstrates the the-
ory’s utility in explaining problematic involvement in video
games. Problem video game playing and, by extension, video
game addiction, appear to be a maladaptive motivational con-
sequence. Problem players report being motivated by extrinsic
motivation for introjected regulation, such as playing video
games for a release of tension or guilt, identified regulation,
such as playing for internal values like wanting to be dynamic
a
nd important in the eyes of others, and external regulation,
when playing is reinforced by the intermittent reward systems
within video games. Problem players are also ‘amotivated,’
which means that they play with a sense of apathy and mental
disengagement as the activity increasingly lacks meaning
(Chantal et al., 1994).
Shifting player motivation may underlie the development of
problematic video game playing. It is possible that problem
players do not initially play video games in order to relieve
tension or for some other extrinsic purpose, but play video
games because of their intrinsic appeal. Subsequently, as the
player’s pattern of use becomes increasingly excessive, the
motivational orientation shifts to more extrinsic and amotiva-
tion factors. However, this model is purely speculative because
this study offers only a limited snapshot of the association be-
tween motivation and behavioral “addiction.” Future research
should employ longitudinal research methods in order to deter-
mine whether motivation causes or reflects problematic in-
volvement in video games, and assess to what extent other
social and psychological variables mediate this relationship.
This research has implications for helping individuals who
play video games excessively. Clarke (2004) suggested that
motivational orientation may be “re-directed” in order to assist
problem gamblers. He claimed that problem gamblers could
learn relaxation techniques which could help reduce tension
and thus eliminate the need to gamble for this reason (intro-
jected regulation). Further, problem gamblers could seek out
alternative sensation-seeking activities, including team-based
sports and recreation, which can satisfy internal needs for ex-
citement, accomplishment, and knowledge about an activity, as
well as provide opportunities for social approval and other re-
wards. Similar recommendations may be put forward to help
problem video game players. In addition, this research sug-
gests that, from a therapeutical viewpoint, it may be useful for
problem video game players to consider what keeps them mo-
tivated to play video games. A better awareness of those moti-
vation factors which underpin excessive playing may enable
individuals to manage their video game playing habits to en-
sure more self-determined and intrinsically rewarding experi-
ences.
The present study had a number of strengths, including psy-
chometric tools comparable with gambling research and a
large sample drawn from video game outlets, but this study
was not without some limitations. First, this research was cor-
relational and therefore cannot make statements on the causal
relationship between video game playing motivation and fu-

JCR

ture involvement in problem video game playing. Second, as
Charlton (2002) has suggested, video game players sometimes
t
end to overestimate the amount of time that they spend play-
ing. Third, players may not always be consciously aware of the
various motivations which lead them to play and remain in-
volved in a video game. Similarly, some respondents may not
b
e able and willing to provide an objective account of their
problem video game playing behaviors. Lastly, whilst respon-
dents were surveyed at a range of locations in different socio-
economic areas, it is possible that the sampled population may
not represent some types of video game players.
The present study applied the gambling model of motivation to
problem video game playing, and provided further support for
the theory that motivational orientation may be a key determi-
n
ant of problematic behavior. For video game players, particu-
larly those players of online role-playing games who are at
greater risk of problematic involvement, this information is of
significant educational value. Players may benefit by identify-
i
ng, and subsequently redirecting or reducing, those motiva-
tions which contribute to potentially problematic playing
styles. Psychologists should encourage problem players to play
video games for the positive experiences of enjoyment, learn-
ing and having a sense of accomplishment because these expe-
riences produce greater self-determination and increased
psychological functioning.
King and Delfabbro

JCR
M
ot
i
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ona
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