Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Introduction

Rationale of the Study

Computer games are the most popular entertainments in modern societies and they
target a variety of people in different ages. The addiction to the rivalry and excitements of the
games make them the most common recreational programs for today's teenagers, so that they
do anything to reach a higher level of the game, they immerse in the game so much that they
completely separate from their surroundings. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a
higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them anxious.
With the fast development of mobile technology, many functions of desktop computers
have been transferred to mobile devices like ipad and smartphone, which is especially the case
for game applications. Mobile video games refer to games played by either single or multi
players via online mobile devices.
In the 2000s, online games became popular, while studies of Internet gaming addiction
emerged, outlining the negative consequences of excessive gaming, its prevalence, and
associated risk factors.
Internet gaming is a booming market. In 2012, more than one billion individuals played
computer games, which fuelled the 8% growth of the computer gaming industry in the same
year. A recent report by the market research company Niko Partners has estimated the
People’s Republic of China’s online gaming market at $12 billion in 2013. Massively Multiplayer
Online games (MMOs) offer the possibility to play together with many other players and can be
differentiated based on game content and player experience.
Internet game addiction is characterized by cognitive and emotional deficits. Previous
studies have reported the co-occurrence of Internet addition and depression. People cope with
their emotional distress by playing online games, but the excessive use of online games for a
long time may separate individuals from real-life relationships, thus causing severer mental
health problems, such as depression. Therefore, in this study, we would expect a positive
relationship between mobile game addition and depression.
Nowadays Online gaming is a major trend all over the world. One can play games if
he/she has an internet access. There are games which gives us opportunity to compete with
people that we haven’t met yet and also it is very possible to develop talent. Through online
gaming we can also keep in touch with our friends. Online games are splendid because there
are games that we can earn from. Even though online gaming is very pleasurable experience for
many but it may also have pros and cons. online gaming is constructive because it can evade
people especially youths from getting involved in the dangerous behaviour such as drugs and
joining youth gangs. Online gaming exhilarates people and galvanize for competing with others.
And also it makes player mentally vigorous and sharper too. At the same time online gaming
may have more harmful effects than good. New generations may face lots of health issues
mainly due to lack of physical movements. Online gaming may cause addiction and can
consume time that meant for other activities. Online games may lead to online abuse. Mainly
children playing are cornered in this. They may also download games from sites that may
contaminate computers with virus..
This study aimed to investigate the level of addiction to computer games and its effects
on physical and mental health of students.
The increasing prevalence of computer games among children and adolescents have
made many researchers to determine the levels of addiction and its effects on players.
Considering the increasing rate of addiction to computer games among Filipino adolescents and
youth, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of addiction to computer
games on physical and mental health including physical health, anxiety, and depression and
impaired social functioning.
We mainly aim to study the level of online gaming addiction among youth. By solving
this problem, we can regain our younger generation and make them more socialize with the
society. Now because of this new inventions, the teenagers are more addicted to the system
which includes online games and they just get into their own world of fantasies and then they
become less socialize. We can use gaming detoxification as a solution.
Mobile Game Addiction Scale was employed in this research study. This scale was
specially developed for the measurement of level of mobile game addiction. Each item was
rated on a Likert-type scale from 1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree.