My Strange Addiction: The wonderful world of the weird

In a previous blog, I examined a case of so-called ‘hair dryer dependence’. The source material for this blog came from one of the people who had appeared on the TLC (The Learning Channel) documentary television series My Strange Addiction. Immediately after I had written the blog I was emailed by one of the researchers on the show asking if I could help getting people on the show for the next series (Season 4).

For those who have no idea what I am talking about, My Strange Addiction is a US TV documentary show that features stories about people with unusual behaviours. Very few of the behaviours they have featured so far would be classed as addictions in the way that I define them. However, some of the behaviours are genuine obsessions and/or compulsions while others have not been the focus of any kind of medical and/or psychiatric diagnosis.

So far, the show has featured people with various obsessive-compulsive disorders (some of which I have examined in my blog) including body dysmorphic disorder, pica (the eating of non-food such as paper, mud, glass, metal), exercise bulimia, trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling), dermatillomania (compulsive skin picking), thumb-sucking, furry fandom, excessive laxative use, urine drinking, paraphilic infantilism (being an adult baby), and dating cars.

MY STRANGE ADDICTION: A CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

If anyone out there thinks they have an interesting story that My Strange Addiction might like to hear about, the show’s producers would really appreciate any help they can get in reaching people who may be good potential candidates for their TV show.

• Are you currently struggling to overcome a strange obsession, addiction or compulsive behavior that is taking over your life?
• Do you spend countless hours obsessing about something or engaging in behavior that others would say is strange?
• Have you drained all of your finances into this obsession?
• Are your friends and family members concerned about your wellbeing?
• Would you like to regain control of your life and your health?

If you found yourself answering yes to any of these questions, you may qualify to be a participant in a major documentary series that offers professional assistance for those struggling with a strange obsession, compulsion, or addiction.

For consideration, please reply to this advert with your name, age, contact information, and brief explanation of how a strange addiction is taking over your life. You can also contact us directly at 312-467-8145 or 20westcastingteam@gmail.com. All submissions will remain confidential. Thank you for sharing your story.

Postscript: Alternatively, if you would like to tell me your story as part of my own academic research, then feel free to contact me at my academic email address: mark.griffiths@ntu.ac.uk.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading and viewing

Griffiths, J. (2011). Review: My Strange Addiction. US Weekly January 25. http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/review–my-strange-addiction-2011251#ixzz1tYHsItPh

Internet Movie Database. My Strange Addiction. Located at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1809014/

My Strange Addiction Official Website. Located at: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/my-strange-addiction

TV.com. My Strange Addiction. Located at: http://www.tv.com/shows/my-strange-addiction/

Warming Glow. The 10 strangest addictions from  ‘My Strange Addiction’. http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2012/02/10-strangest-my-strange-addictions#page/1

Wikipedia. My Strange Addiction. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Strange_Addiction

Wikipedia. List of My Strange Addiction episodes. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_My_Strange_Addiction_episodes

Tech’s appeal: Is there a relationship between addiction to video games and slot machines?

Back in 1987, I began my PhD on slot machine addiction, and one thing that I began to notice as I spent the first few hours of (100s of hours) doing observational research in amusement arcades that there were many similarities between arcade slot machines and arcade video game machines. It wasn’t until 1991 that I finally did a comparative analysis of slot machine gambling and video game playing and published my observations in the Journal of Adolescence. In the intervening years I have published many papers examining the commonalities and similarities between these two behaviours and it wouldn’t surprise me if I am still writing about these issue in many years to come.

My initial insights into the existence of video game addiction arose out of the research I had been doing on slot machine addiction. Both slot machines and video game machines may be considered under the generic label of “amusement machines”. The main difference between the playing of video games and the playing of slot machines are that arcade video games are typically played to accumulate as many points as possible whereas slot machines are played (i.e., gambled upon) to accumulate money. In my 1991 paper, I (somewhat paradoxically) claimed that playing an arcade video game could be considered as a non-financial form of gambling.

Both types of machine require insertion of a coin to play, although the playing time on a slot machine is usually much less than on a video game machine if starting with the same amount of money. This is because on video games the outcome is almost solely due to skill, whereas on slot machines the outcome is much more likely to be a product of chance. However, the general playing philosophy of both slot machine players and video game players is to stay on the machine for as long as possible using the least amount of money. I have also argued that regular slot machine players play with money rather than for it, and that winning money is a means to an end (i.e., to stay on the machine as long as possible). This is exactly what arcade video game players do too.

Besides the generic labeling, their geographical juxtaposition, and the philosophy for playing, it could be argued that on both a psychological and behavioural level, slot machine gambling and video game playing share many similarities (e.g., similar demographic differences such as age and gender breakdown, similar reinforcement schedules, similar potential for “near miss” opportunities, similar structural characteristics involving the use of light and sound effects, similarities in skill perception, similarities in the effects of excessive play, etc.). The most probable reason the two forms have rarely been seen as conceptually similar is because video game playing does not involve the winning of money (or something of financial value) and therefore cannot be classed as a form of gambling.

However, the next generation of slot machines is starting to use video game graphics and technology. While many of these relate to traditional gambling games (e.g., roulette, poker, blackjack, etc.) there are plans for developing video gambling games in which people would win money based on their game scores. This obviously gives an idea of the direction that slot machines and the gaming industry are heading.

Furthermore, there are a growing number of researchers who suggest that video games share some common ground with slot machines including the potential for dependency. On 1995, Dr Sue Fisher and myself edited a special issue of the Journal of Gambling Studies and wrote a paper examining trends in slot machine gambling. We pointed out that arcade video games and slot machines shared some important structural characteristics, these being:

• The requirement of response to stimuli that are predictable and governed by the software loop.
• The requirement of total concentration and hand–eye coordination.
• Rapid span of play negotiable to some extent by the skill of the player (more marked in video games).
• The provision of aural and visual rewards for a winning move (e.g., flashing lights, electronic jingles).
• The provision of an incremental reward for a winning move (points or money) that reinforces “correct” behaviour.
• Digitally displayed scores of “correct behaviour” (in the form of points or money accumulated).
• The opportunity for peer group attention and approval through com- petition.

As with excessive slot machine playing, excessive video game playing partly comes about by the partial reinforcement effect. This is a critical psychological ingredient of video game addiction whereby the reinforcement is intermittent – that is, people keep responding in the absence of reinforcement hoping that another reward is just around the corner. Knowledge about the partial reinforcement effect gives the video game designer an edge in designing appealing games. Magnitude of reinforcement is also important. Large rewards lead to fast responding and greater resistance to extinction – in short to more “addiction.” Instant reinforcement is also satisfying.

Video games rely on multiple reinforcements (i.e., what I call the “kitchen sink” approach) in that different features might be differently rewarding to different people. Success on video games comes from a variety of sources and the reinforcement might be intrinsic (e.g., improving a personal high score, beating a friend’s high score, putting a name on the “hall of fame,” mastering the machine) or extrinsic (e.g., peer admiration). As early as the 1980s, Dr. Thomas Malone reported that video game engagement is positively correlated to (i) a presence or absence of goals, (ii) the availability of automatic computer scores, (iii) the presence of audio effects, (iv) the random quality of the games, and (v) the degree to which rapid reaction times enhance game scores.

In 2007, Dr Jonathan Parke (Salford University, UK) and I developed a new taxonomy of structural characteristics related to gambling, listing all the known structural characteristics that have been shown to influence gambling behaviour in some way. All the 60+ structural characteristics were grouped into one of six types of characteristic:

• Speed and frequency characteristics: Factors relating to the frequency, duration and expediency of the game or reward.
• Playability characteristics: Factors that make gambling fun, interaction and/or engaging.
• Payment characteristics: Factors that relate to how one pays to gamble
• Reward characteristics: Factors relating to how one receives financial rewards or winnings.
• Educational characteristics: Factors that educate, protect, or provide information to players.
• Ambient characteristics: Factors that may influence the immediate situation of the game or may contribute to other factors already mentioned (e.g., the use of colour and sound).

Using this typology, Dr Parke and I argued that future research and policy initiatives may be to focus on regulating structural factors relating to payment (spending) and player awareness/education and focus less on structural factors relating to playability (which may also include reward, ambient, and speed characteristics). In this way, slot machines can continue to be fun, exciting, and play inducing, but with the eventual aim of minimizing harm.

It wasn’t until 2010 that I – along with Dr Daniel King and Dr Paul Delfabbro (both at the University of Adelaide, Australia) – developed a separate taxonomy of structural characteristics related to video game playing (published in the International Journal of Mental health and Addiction). We used some earlier empirical work that I had done with Dr Richard Wood (GamRes Ltd, Canada) back in 2004 and published in the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior. We devised a list of structural features by (a) playing a variety of video games, (b) examining and comparing known gambling structural characteristics, (c) discussing these features with players of video games, and (d) examining relevant research in the area of video game design. Our framework included the following characteristics:

• Sound, including sound effects, speaking characters and background music.
• Graphics, including high-quality realistic or cartoon-style graphics and full motion video (FMV).
• Background and setting, including whether the game is based on a story, film, or television program, and the use of realistic or fantasy settings.
• Duration of game, referring to how long the game usually takes to complete.
• Rate of play, referring to how quickly the player “absorbs” or “gets into” the game. & Advancement rate, referring to how quickly the game play advances.
• Use of humour in the game.
• Control options, referring to what the player can control in the game (including sound, graphics, and skill settings, choice of control methods, and physical feedback). &
• Game dynamics, including exploring new areas, elements of surprise, fulfilling a quest, skill development, AI interactions, collecting things, avoiding things, surviving against the odds, shooting, different ending options, different modes of transport, solving puzzles, beating times, cheats/Easter eggs, solving time limited problems, building environments, mapping, and linear/non-linear game format.
• Winning and losing features, referring to the potential to gain or lose points, finding bonuses, having to start level again, and ability to save regularly.
• Character development, referring to character development over time and character customization options.
• Brand assurance, referring to brand loyalty and/or celebrity endorsement.
• Multiplayer features, referring to various multi-player options, communication methods, building alliances, and beating other players.

Using this paper, and the gambling structural characteristics taxonomy, we developed our new video game structural characteristics taxonomy comprising five types of feature. These were: (a)

• Social features (i.e., social aspects of video game playing)
• Manipulation and control features (i.e., the role of user input in influencing in-game outcomes)
• Narrative and identity features (e.g., the role of character creation and interactive storytelling)
• Reward and punishment features (i.e., the ways in which players win and lose in video games)
• Presentation features (e.g., the visual and auditory presentation of video games).

Since developing the taxonomy, we have started to test it out empirically. Dr. King, Dr. Delfabbro and myself recently published a study investigating our structural characteristic taxonomy among 421 video game players (aged between 14 and 57 years). Our results showed that the reward and punishment features, such as earning points, finding rare game items, and fast loading times, were rated among the most enjoyable and important aspects of video game playing. There was some evidence that certain structural characteristics were stronger predictors of problematic involvement in video games than factors such as gender, age, and time spent playing. This included the use of adult content in the game, earning points, getting 100% in the game, and mastering the game. Our latest research supports the notion that some structural characteristics in video games may play a significant role in influencing problem video game playing behaviour.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Fisher, S.E., & Griffiths, M.D. (1995). Current trends in slot machine gambling: Research and policy issues. Journal of Gambling Studies, 11, 239-247.

Griffiths, M.D. (1991). The observational analysis of adolescent gambling in UK amusement arcades. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 1, 309-320.

Griffiths, M.D. (1991). Amusement machine playing in childhood and adolescence: A comparative analysis of video games and fruit machines. Journal of Adolescence, 14, 53-73.

Griffiths, M.D. (1995). Adolescent gambling. London: Routledge.

Griffiths, M.D. (2002). Gambling and Gaming Addictions in Adolescence. Leicester: British Psychological Society/Blackwells.

Griffiths, M.D. (2005). The relationship between gambling and videogame playing: A response to Johansson and Gotestam. Psychological Reports, 96, 644-646.

Parke, J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2007). The role of structural characteristics in gambling.  In G. Smith, D. Hodgins & R. Williams (Eds.), Research and Measurement Issues in Gambling Studies. pp.211-243. New York: Elsevier.

Griffiths, M.D. (2011).  A typology of UK slot machine gamblers: A longitudinal observational and interview study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 606-626.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H., Derevensky, J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2012). The classification of video games with gambling themes and content: An Australian perspective. International Gambling Studies, in press.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Video game structural characteristics: A new psychological taxonomy. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 90-106.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). The convergence of gambling and digital media: Implications for gambling in young people. Journal of Gambling Studies, 26, 175-187.

King, D.L., Delfabbro, P.H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2011). The role of structural characteristics in problematic video game play: An empirical study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 320-333.

Malone, T.W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333–369.

Video game playing, addiction, and the role of context

Over the past few years I have spent time researching the excessive playing of online games like Everquest and World of Warcraft (WoW). If you have read one of my earlier blogs, you will see that I view addictive behaviour as any behaviour that features what I believe are the six core components of addiction (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse). Online gaming involves multiple reinforcements in that different features might be differently rewarding to different people. In video games more generally, the rewards might be intrinsic (e.g. improving your highest score, beating your friend’s high score, getting your name on the “hall of fame”, mastering the game) or extrinsic (e.g. peer admiration).

In online gaming, there is no end to the game and there is the potential for gamers to play endlessly. This can be immensely rewarding and psychologically engrossing. For a small minority of people, this may lead to addiction where online gaming compromises everything else in their lives. However, playing excessively doesn’t necessarily make someone an addict. Last year, I published two case study accounts of two males who claimed that they were gaming for up to 80 hours a week. They were behaviourally identical in terms of their game playing, but very different in terms of their psychological motivation to play.

The first case was an unemployed single 21-year old male. His favourite online game was World of Warcraft and that since leaving university he had spent an average of 10 to 14 hours a day playing WoW. He claimed that WoW had a positive influence in his life and that most of his social life was online and that it increased his self-esteem. He also argued that he had no other commitments and that he had the time and the flexibility to play WoW for long stretches. Gaming provided a daily routine when there was little else going on. There were no negative detrimental effects in his life. When he got a job and a girlfriend, his playing all but stopped.

The second case was 38-year old male, a financial accountant, married and had two children. He told me that over the previous 18 months, his online playing of Everquest had gone from about 3-4 hours of playing every evening to playing up to 14 hours a day. He claimed that his relationship was breaking down, that he was spending little time with his children, and that he constantly rang in sick to work so that he could spend the day playing online games. He had tried to quit playing on a number of occasions but could not go more than a few days before he experienced “an irresistible urge” to play again – even when his wife threatened to leave him. Giving up online gaming was worse than giving up smoking and that he was “extremely moody, anxious, depressed and irritable” if he was unable to play online. Things got even worse. He was fired from his job for being unreliable and unproductive (although his employers were totally unaware of his gaming behaviour). As a result of losing his job, his wife also left him. This led to him “playing all day, every day”. It was a vicious circle in that his excessive online gaming was causing all his problems yet the only way he felt he could alleviate his mood state and forget about all of life’s stresses was to play online games even more.

I argued that only the second man appeared to be genuinely addicted to online gaming but that the first man wasn’t. I based this on the context and consequences of his excessive play. Online gaming addiction should be characterized by the extent to which excessive gaming impacts negatively on other areas of the gamers’ lives rather than the amount of time spent playing. For me, an activity cannot be described as an addiction if there are few (or no) negative consequences in the player’s life even if the gamer is playing 14 hours a day. The difference between a healthy enthusiasm and an addiction is that healthy enthusiasms add to life, addictions take away from it.

Despite the potentially negative side of online gaming, there is lots of evidence suggesting that gaming can have very positive effects in peoples’ lives. The immersive and dissociative experience of gaming can also be very therapeutic and help people deal with every day stresses and strains. Our research shows that many gamers love the fact that playing games leads to time loss. This is more positive than drug use, drinking alcohol or other activities like gambling. Simulated environments online also allow people to explore their personalities (e.g. gender swapping) and test out boundaries, something that would be difficult to do offline.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Further reading

Griffiths, M.D. (2010). The role of context in online gaming excess and addiction: Some case study evidence. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 119-125.

Video game addiction: An unpublished interview (Part 3)

Interviewer: Do you feel that online gaming poses more of an issue than offline?

Mark Griffiths: Yes, but in most cases only to those that have a vulnerability or susceptibility in the first place. The key difference is that in offline gaming a player can typically pause and/or save the game and come back to it a point of their choosing. Online games continue even when the player has logged off and that can lead to some people playing excessively because they ‘don’t want to miss anything’ in a 24/7 playing environment. I’ve argued in a lot of my work that the internet can enhance and/or facilitate the acquisition, development and maintenance of online addictions – but the crucial factor is that somebody would have to have some kind of addiction predisposition in the first place.

Interviewer: Do you feel that ratings systems such as the PEGI system are useful tools to help parents understand the games their children are playing?

Mark Griffiths: Given I was very vocal in the early 1990s for such ratings to be on all games, I am very pleased to see the evolution of ratings over the last two decades. Overall, I am very happy with the PEGI rating system as it is simple and straightforward, and parents can instantly assess whether a game they are buying for their children includes violence, sex, swearing, racism, etc. However, ratings systems can sometimes be a double-edged sword in the sense that putting an age rating on a game makes it more attractive to children who are too young to play it.

Interviewer: Do you feel that the ‘technological generation gap’ can be narrowed and how?

Mark Griffiths: Given that the vast majority of children nowadays play some kind of video game, the ‘technological generation gap’ will naturally disappear over time as the child gamers of today will become the adults of tomorrow. One of the reasons I am pro-gaming with my own kids is that I remember how much fun I had playing Donkey Kong on my Commodore 64 back in the mid-1980s. To eliminate the gap in the short-term, parents need to be educated about the positives of gaming and what it can bring to family life. I’m sure that playing the Wii has brought families together and changed parental attitudes towards gaming in an instant!

Interviewer: Are there any potential problems, in your field or otherwise, that could arise from the rapidly expanding user base of video games?

Mark Griffiths: Obviously this depends on the types of game played and their content. As I said earlier, any activity that has the potential to enhance or facilitate excessive play can lead to potential problems. Depending on the types of game played, this could be in the form of medical effects (repetitive strain injuries, headaches, eye-strains, etc.), chronic health conditions (e.g., obesity), psychobiological effects (e.g., addiction), or alleged behavioural effects (e.g., increased aggression). The good news is that most of these potential effects occur in a very small minority of players and that reducing the time spent playing will almost always alleviate or eliminate such problems.

Interviewer: One of the primary areas you consult on is ‘social responsibility’, what does this involve?

Mark Griffiths: Social responsibility is primarily about gaming companies providing players with as much information as possible so that they can make an informed choice about whether they want to play a particular game in the first place. It is also about designing and non-exploitative way. This has happened in the gambling industry and I think the video gaming industry will follow the same path over the next decade. Video gaming is a consumptive activity that in extreme cases can cause medical, health, psychological and behavioural effects. The video game industry needs to promote responsible playing in the same ways as the gambling industry and alcohol industry. Drinking alcohol and playing on a slot machine are socially acceptable activities. However, most people would freely admit that a minority of people can become addicted to alcohol or gambling. This does not mean that the activities are bad – only that people should be aware that in extreme cases, excessive consumption can occur that may in some cases lead to addiction.

Interviewer: You’ve mainly consulted with the gambling industry, what do you feel your consultancy has achieved?

Mark Griffiths: Things have come a long way since I first started my gaming research in 1987. I was probably perceived by many sectors of the gaming industry as ‘Public Enemy No.1’ because my main research area was gambling addiction. I also think that the industry saw me as ‘anti-gambling’ because my research focus was on problematic players. However, I am pro-responsible gaming and have never been anti-gambling in my life. The thing that interests me is how and why people can become addicted to certain behaviors such as gambling and video gaming. My colleagues who research into alcoholism are never accused of being ‘anti-drinking’! My consultancy has grown exponentially over the last few years and is related to the fact that governments and gaming regulators won’t provide gaming licenses to operators unless all the social responsibility infrastructures, policies and procedures are in place. This means that gaming companies from all around the world now beat a path to my door asking for help and advice into player protection, harm minimization, and social responsibility best practice. This has led to the development of various social responsibility tools that I have co-developed (such as GAM-GaRD – a tool that is now used by many gaming companies all over the world to help them design safer games). I’m incredibly proud of the work that I have done that changes how gaming companies go about their day-to-day working practices, and am so pleased that my research is put into applied practice.

Interviewer: What benefits do you feel that your consultancy can bring to the video games industry?

Mark Griffiths: Obviously I now have a long history of successful consultancy with gaming companies from all over the world. Some of the issues that have been faced by the gambling industry are similar to those experienced by the video game industry – particularly in relation to problematic play by a small minority of players. At the moment, my perception is that the video game industry does not believe ‘gaming addiction’ is an issue and that, even if it exists, the industry feels that the problem lies within the individual and not in the games themselves. This was the position taken by the gambling industry until relatively recently. Although I am the first to admit that individual addiction predispositions exist, the gaming industry still has a responsibility to make sure that vulnerable and susceptible players are not deliberately exploited in terms of how the games are designed or how they are marketed. I am ideally placed to help the video game industry take forward the social responsibility agenda. If they don’t start being pro-active on this issue, my guess is that they will be forced to do it in the not too distant future.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Video game addiction: An unpublished interview (Part 2)

Interviewer: Could you give a bit more of an overview of what the six core components you mention? Are they all required in order to classify something an addiction?

Mark Griffiths: I operationally define anyone as an addict if they display all my six core components of addiction. As with all operational definitions, there may be a few people who you could class as ‘addicted’ without necessarily having fulfilled all the criteria but if someone fulfilled all six I would be confident that they are genuinely addicted. In relation to videogame addiction, I would expect they following.

* Salience occurs when videogame play becomes the most important activity in the person’s life and dominates their thinking (preoccupations and cognitive distortions), feelings (cravings) and behaviour (deterioration of socialized behaviour). For instance, even if the person is not actually playing on a videogame they will be thinking about the next time that they will be.

* Mood modification refers to the subjective experiences that people report as a consequence of engaging in I videogame play and can be seen as a coping strategy (i.e., they experience an arousing “buzz” or a “high” or paradoxically tranquilizing feel of “escape” or “numbing”).

* Tolerance is the process whereby increasing amounts of videogame play are required to achieve the former mood modifying effects. This basically means that for someone engaged in videogame playing, they gradually build up the amount of the time they spend engaged in the behaviour.

* Withdrawal symptoms are the unpleasant feeling states and/or physical effects that occur when videogame play is discontinued or suddenly reduced (e.g., the shakes, moodiness, irritability).

* Conflict refers to the conflicts between the videogame player and those around them (interpersonal conflict), conflicts with other activities (job, schoolwork, social life, hobbies and interests) or from within the individual themselves (intrapsychic conflict and/or subjective feelings of loss of control) which are concerned with spending too much time engaged in videogame play.

* Relapse is the tendency for repeated reversions to earlier patterns of videogame play to recur and for even the most extreme patterns typical of the height of excessive videogame play to be quickly restored after periods of abstinence or control.

Interviewer: Gambling led you in to your studies on videogame addictions. Do you still find that the two overlap?

Mark Griffiths: There is a huge overlap conceptually and behaviourally between video games and some types of gambling – most notably slot machines. Slot machines and video game machines share a number of structural elements in common. Both feature (a) the requirement of response to stimuli that are predictable and governed by a software loop, (b) the requirement of total concentration and hand-eye coordination, (c) rapid span of play negotiable to some extent by the skill of the player, (d) the provision of aural and visual rewards for a win, (e) the provision of an incremental reward for a winning move, (f) digitally displayed scores of ‘correct’ behaviour, and (g) the opportunity for peer group attention and approval through competition.

Interviewer: You speak about the debates around addiction taking place in public spheres, such as in pubs and in the media, and you yourself have been interviewed about your work in a variety of media. What do you feel the value of bringing work like yours to a wider audience?

Mark Griffiths: To be honest I have always wanted to disseminate my work to the widest audience possible. I really don’t see the point of spending months doing a piece of research only for a few other academics to read about in a scientific journal. That is one of the reasons I do a lot of freelance journalism as a way of disseminating my work and ideas to those who I think should hear about it – whether that’s the general public or policymakers. I am very lucky to have won a number of national awards for communicating science to the general public but they have been a successful by-product of what I love doing. I think it’s important for research to be accountable to the wider public and my dissemination strategies help in getting key messages over.

Interviewer: The controversy point is an interesting one; videogames addiction is a fiercely debated topic, a recent example being the ‘Panorama’ documentary on which you appeared as an expert. The documentary presented videogames addiction as a fairly significant problem, do you agree that it is?

Mark Griffiths: Not at all. If you listen to my soundbites that were aired I just said that there was a small minority of players who appear to be genuinely addicted to online gaming and also explained a few of the psychological processes (such as operant conditioning) that help explain the addiction process. I was interviewed by ‘Panorama’ for well over an hour and they aired less than two minutes of my interview. They chose the bits that best fitted the story they wanted to tell. I stand by the things I said but the soundbites weren’t contextualized. Thankfully, most of the feedback about the things I said were positively viewed by the gaming community.

Interviewer: The documentary drew criticism for its lack of understanding about videogames and their players. Do you feel that there is a gap between what players and non-players (including the media) understand videogames to be?

Mark Griffiths: Absolutely. I find this most apparent in the emails and telephone calls I get from parents who tend to ‘pathologise’ their children’s gaming behaviour because they don’t understand it and don’t play themselves. I’ve written about this ‘technological generation gap’ between players and non-players. However, the media have their own agenda. I have probably written as much about the positives of playing videogames as the negative. However, every time I put out a press release that is a ‘good news’ videogame story, it only gets one-tenth of the publicity in the national or international press compared to what I would call a ‘bad news’ story. I can’t stop this but am very aware of it. That’s one of the reasons I prefer live radio and television interviews to pre-recorded ones as I am in total control of how my comments will be received by the listening or viewing public.

Interviewer: So a person could spend a great deal of times playing games without being an addict? Can these excessive behaviours be a problem even though they’re not linked to addiction?

Mark Griffiths: For some people, definitely. Any behaviour that is done to excess – even if it is not an addiction – can potentially take away time from other important things such as job, relationships, and other hobbies. This will depend on the duties, constraints and context of the person in question. A 21-year old man with no partner, no children and no job may have time to play 8-10 hours a day without any negative detriment on their life. However, a married man with three children and a full-time job would find it very hard to play 8-10 hours a day without it seriously compromising some other aspect of their life.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Video game addiction: An unpublished interview (Part 1)

A few months ago I was interviewed by a video game industry insider. For reasons unbeknown to me, the interview was never published so I thought this might be an opportune moment to publish the unedited transcript over three parts.

Interviewer: The focus of your work is mainly behavioural addiction, could you start by giving a brief overview of what behavoural addiction is?

Mark Griffiths: Behavioural addictions are those addictions that do not involve the ingestion of a psychoactive substance such as alcohol, nicotine or heroin. Some people believe that a person cannot become addicted to something in the absence of a psychoactive agent, but it is my passionate belief that people can (and do) become addicted to non-chemical behaviours. I have written a number of papers over the last 20 years that have tried to show that some behaviours when taken to excess (e.g., gambling, video gaming) are no different from (say) alcoholism or heroin addiction in terms of the core components of addiction (e.g. salience, tolerance, withdrawal, mood modification, conflict, relapse etc.). If it can be shown that a behaviour like pathological gambling can be a bona fide addiction (and I believe that it can), then there is a precedent that any behaviour that provides continuous rewards (in the absence of a psychoactive substance) can be potentially addictive. Such a precedent ‘opens the floodgates’ for other excessive behaviours to be considered theoretically as potential addictions (e.g. exercise, sex, eating, computer games, the internet) which is what I’ve been examining in some of my research.

Interviewer: Whilst most of your work is around gambling addictions, you also do work on videogames and internet addiction. What drew you to this area of research?

Mark Griffiths: I suppose the ‘classic’ behavioural addiction is gambling, and it was this type of behavioural addiction that fuelled my interest in other forms of non-chemical addiction such as videogame addiction. Many people might think it’s obvious why a psychologist would be interested in studying behavioural addictions such as videogame addiction. It’s a ‘sexy’ subject, it’s media-friendly, the general public find it interesting, and almost everybody from all walks of life has some kind of view on it, whether it’s rooted in personal experience or in a finely argued theoretical perspective. However, my own interest came about somewhat accidentally.

Like a lot of people, my main research interests developed over time and were not pre-planned. It was during my PhD (1987-1990) that I began to see excessive slot machine playing as theoretically no different from chemically-based drug addictions. Although I am still very much involved in the psychology of gambling, it is the theoretical basis of my work on gambling addiction that inspired me to take a more thorough look at other excessive behaviours such as internet and videogame playing. To some extent, my research has been a natural progression which has seen me go from fruit machine addiction to arcade video game addiction, and then to technological addictions more specifically (e.g. home computer game addiction, internet addiction, television addiction) and to behavioural addic- tions more generally (e.g. exercise addiction, sex addiction).

Now that I appear to be firmly entrenched in this research area, my motivations for continuing are also diverse. I like the fact that my research may be seen by some psychologists as controversial (for instance, many people reading this may think addictions to the internet or exercise are spurious) because this brings with it the chance to debate widely about the theoretical underpinnings of what it is to be addicted to something. My research also brings psychological issues to a wider audience, because the debates surrounding addiction often take place outside academic circles, whether it be in the pub on a Friday night or on a popular television show. I hope that the kind of research I undertake will continue to stimulate the debate – even if people do not agree with what I have to say.

Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, UK.