CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

Being a technology-dependent country, the rise of the internet use has led to many

changes in our daily lives. And this rise has not been made up only through the social

networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or any other but mostly,

of Online games. Online game refers to any game that a person plays through the use of

internet over a computer network; this is played by multiple players in different scopes

around the world. Particularly, online games are computer software programs that can be

used without the limit of time and is free. And these games were often written in Java

languages because they play up simpler than games that require downloading.

The popularity of online gaming has spread at an increasing rate since its introduction.

However, given the increasing number of studies on the phenomenon of problematic

gaming, there have been growing concerns about negative consequences for a small

minority. These gamers spend more time with gaming than planned while ignoring other

important activities causing negative effects on their performance, social relationships,

and withdrawal symptoms. There are different names present regarding this phenomenon

in scientific literature. The phenomenon is referred to as addiction, problematic use,

excessive game use or engagement. However, all these authors – irrespective of the
name – agree in that there exists an excessive form of online gaming that shows a

problematic pattern and that is related to behavioural addictions. The present authors

propose to use the name problematic gaming. This term describes both the epitome of

the phenomenon (i.e., that the behavior is not only excessive but gaming-related

problems are also expected to be present), while avoiding the notion of dependency (as

the exact definition and diagnostic criteria have not yet been clarified or agreed).

Nowadays, people see online games having a good impact for students and kids

considering it as an effective mind exercise. This also shapes a student’s ability to think

and react faster as they do in gaming. A research shows that a child playing online games

becomes more active and can change your brain to be smarter (C. Shawn Green,

University of Wisconsin). Online gaming plays a major role for a teen’s involvement to

modernization and preparation for the 21st century. However, we should not lose sight of

the negative impacts it may bring to us. Online gaming is one of the most blamed issues

by the media why teenagers today becomes violent and commit extreme anti-social

behaviour which they probably adapt from the things happening on the virtual world.

The concerns appear to be grounded as a growing number of studies indicate that Internet

gaming addiction is associated with various negative consequences. The psychological

consequences include the following: sacrificing real-life relationships, other pastime

activities, sleep, work, education, socializing, and relationships, obsession with gaming

and a lack of real-life relationships, lack of attention, aggression and hostility, stress,

dysfunctional coping, worse academic achievement, problems with verbal memory, and

low well-being and high loneliness. Moreover, psychosomatic consequences have been

found in a number of studies. These included problems with sleeping, seizures, and
psychosomatic challenges. This long list indicates that Internet gaming problems must be

taken seriously as they can affect the individual negatively in a variety of ways.

The respondents of our study is grade 11 TVL students in Lipata National High School.

They are the ones who have enough knowledge to answer the problems posed in our

study. They answered the questionnaire that we gave to them which supplies the

information that we need. We need at least 20 grade 11 students to become our

respondents in our study.