A Qualitative Study On The Cause and Eff
A Qualitative Study On The Cause and Eff
A Qualitative Study On The Cause and Eff
Submitted to:
Prof. Reginald Pabico
2019
Chapter I: The Problem and Its Background
Technology has come a long way. With the invention of computers, cellular phones,
and the Internet, it is inevitable to avoid gaming with the use of these modern devices.
Most people tend to use their vacant hours on playing online/video games for fun
and entertainment. Others are freeing their time from loads of paper and legworks.
Specifically, those students who are piled with school works and needing a break. They
tend to engage themselves in online/video gaming and this may lead to gaming
addiction.
the Philippines ranked #29 worldwide in terms of game revenues with a total of 29.9
Insights on the same year, 18% of male and 16% of female in the age group 10-20
In the age group of 10-20, most of them are students ranging from late elementary to
early college stage. With this, students may be addicted to gaming for self-satisfaction
addiction, or even excessive play on portable systems) has received increased attention
not only from the media, but also from psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health
It wasn’t officially classified as a disorder then, but on January 2018 the World Health
characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over
other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily
Gaming addiction is serious problem as it tends to affect the students in their overall
Earlier studies show that gaming can affect a gamer either positively (Granic, Lobel,
et al., 2014) or negatively, especially students (Wang, Zhu, 2011). Some students fail in
their academic performance while some defect their social skills within their family and
All of these ideas point to the significant effects of gaming. Therefore, it is viewed
that we must know why gaming is addictive and how does it affect a student in Senior
High School.
The main objective of this research is to find the causes of gaming addiction and its
Knowing the reasons and the effects of gaming addiction can easily help the
students manage their time, to be more accountable in school and to focus on their
studies.
This is mainly for the purpose of knowing the cause and effects of gaming addiction
among senior high school students, and to help them avoid being addicted to it.
and effects of gaming addiction for Senior High School Students at Universidad
addiction, mobile gaming addiction). This research aims to answer the following
questions:
3. How does the addiction of playing video games affect the study of the
4. How does the addiction of playing video games affect the lifestyle of the
students?
5. How much time does the students spend on playing video games?
6. Do the students think twice when they realized that they spent too much
8. What are the skills do the students get from video games?
The study will focus on the causes and effects of video gaming among the Senior
High School (SHS) Students of the School Year 2018 – 2019 of Universidad de Manila,
This study will observe the common objectives on why students play video
games and will elaborate its effect on the students’ study and lifestyle.
the 50 participants, in which 25 will come from Grade 11 students and the remaining 25
will be from Grade 12 students. Data gathering will be from the start of September until
The results of the study will greatly benefit the SHS students by knowing how
they can reduce their gaming addiction and recognize its effects on their life.
The findings of the study will redound to the awareness of the society to gaming
addiction and its causes and effects considering that gaming has become rampant
since the beginning of digital gaming. Society has increased awareness on gaming
Gaming mainly targets teenagers’ attention to entice the teenagers to spend their
time to gaming rather than spend it on useful tasks. Students who are addicted to
For the researchers, the study will help them discover missed causes and effects
of past researches. Thus, the uncovering of the study on gaming addiction will help
teens (mainly students) to avoid the excessive habit of playing video games.
Chapter II: Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
We are living in a digital world, where almost everything depends on the usage of
the Internet. After the invention of the Internet, gaming sites and video gaming became
more popular to the people, especially to the younger generation. For this, the
excessive time for playing video games is introduced, which may lead to gaming
addiction.
According to the USA Today Network (2018), the World Health Organization says
that compulsively playing video games now qualifies as a new mental health condition;
in a move that some critics warn may risk stigmatizing too many young players.
Also, in the article of Kimberly Young (2009), excessive gaming has been identified
as a specific subtype of Internet addiction (Block, 2008). “Video games may look
innocent, but they can be addictive as gambling or drugs and just as hard to kick,”
Another worthy article by The Guardian (Przybyliski and Orben,2018), Video games
played on smart phones, tablets, computers and consoles have been a popular form of
leisure for some time now. In Europe, recent figures indicate that games are played by
more than two thirds of children and adolescents, and a substantial number of adults
now play games – 38% in the UK, 64% in France, 56% in Germany and 44% in Spain.
1.2. Local Literature
According in the Pinoy Gamer forum, “As gamers; gaming is a form of leisure, a
hobby or an escape from the harsh world we have in Philippines. We are not saying this
is not serious issue, but we feel as gamers that the media is being biased with this. So
instead saying gaming is an addiction takes a look why people are getting addicted from
a threat to public health - a new epidemic. Although they pose no direct physical
danger, they take a toll on the mental wellbeing of players. This disease is as equally
debilitating as an addiction to drugs or alcohol. The article also posed that the effects of
While in the article of Center Courses (2016), they listed the top online games listed
as; DOTA 2, LOL, WOW, Crossfire, Counter-strike, Hon, Dragon Nest, and Band
Master. These games are the ones who are so popular for the gamers in the
Philippines.
According to the study of Ko, Yen, et.al. (2005), Adolescents in Taiwan have been
and Tsai (2002) reported that 11.7% of high school students have developed addiction
to Internet use, which can impair academic performance, psychological well-being, and
interaction with peers and family members (Whang et al., 2003). Adolescent
Also, in the study of Wittek, Finseras, et. al. (2015), Video gaming is one of the most
has played video games (Ipsos MediaCT 2012), and that 56 % of young adult
Norwegians (aged 16–40 years) play video games regularly (Mentzoni et al. 2011).
survey showing that 97 % of Americans aged 12–17 years play video games (Lenhart et
al. 2008).
tried to cutback the time they spent on the Internet to avoid these addiction-related
problems could not. Young concluded that users do become addicted and that there is a
potential for more addictive applications in the future. With the availability of three-
representations of the once text-only MUDS. Now, users are able to see and interact
with others in virtual worlds. These massively multiplayer online role-playing games
"heroinware" by many of its users, as they contain all of the addictive elements of IRC
and MUDS. MMORPGs, which are run continuously in real time, feature social and
videogames end at some point or become repetitive and boring, MMORPGs are
endless, because the main feature of MMORPGs is its system of goals and
achievements.
In the Philippines, a study by Rayo (2012), majority of the gamers of the country are
playing DOTA and regarding it as their specialty compared to playing games like
Ragnarok, Tantra, etc. These factors make playing DOTA to become a ‘booming’
In the study of Lumbay et. Al (2017), majority of the computer gamers had already
been playing computer games while they were still a junior high school student, and
most of them plays DOTA this result strongly suggests that computer gaming exists not
only among college students but also amongst high school students. Most of the
gamers were good performers in the academe, this supports the belief of Prensky
(2006), that video and computer game playing, done appropriately, is actually very
beneficial to today's "Digital Native" kids, who use them to prepare for life in the 21st
century. The rest of the results compliments with the results of the previous studies
cited in the review of related studies in this study (e.g. all of the gamers were males,
Also, according in the study of Cortes et. al (2012), studies indicate that children who
play computer games can improve visual intelligence skills. Parents believed that
computer use is related to better academic performance of the children. It was found
that high school students who used educational software at home scored significantly
higher on computer literacy tests than other students. Computer use at home is also
associated with improvements in general academic performance. Other studies also
found that students who own computers at home had higher over-all grades, particularly
This study is designed to assess the cause of gaming addiction among senior high
school students and its visible and significant effects in the academic performance and
lifestyle of the students. This study also expects to identify the commonly used games
This study is dependent to the assumption that the students will answer the
online games.
F) Definition of Terms
time.
● Digital Native- a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology
and therefore familiar with computers and the internet from an early age.
● Excessive gaming- unnecessary time for playing games; too much time spent
on playing.
● Heroinware- an addictive computer game, especially one played to the extent it
games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction and online chat.
which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual
world.
● DOTA- Defense of the Ancient is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod
for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III:
lunched on March 16, 1999. It was the first commercially successful MMROPG to
developed and published by Riot game for Microsoft Windows and MacOS.
role-playing game set in the Ultima universe. It is known for its extensive player
PROCESS
Analysis of data through:
A) questionnaires
INPUT
B) informal interviews
Profile of SHS gamers
C) statistical treatment
A) age
B) grade level
C) video game that they are
playing
Schedule of SHS gamers
A) school
B) home
C) gaming time OUTPUT
Known cause and effects
Data Collection of gaming addiction to SHS
students.
This study aims to know the cause and effects of gaming addiction; hence this
chapter will elaborate the methods and techniques that are used in this study. This
A) Research Design
discusses the meaning of the perceived experience or the interpretation of the said
This research design is appropriate in this study as the data collection involves
subjective data and also involves experiences which were analyzed and interpreted.
The technique involves handpicking subjects that is usually suit very specific intentions.
The process of selecting the respondents is non-probability sampling in which not all the
The researchers will select 40 participants as the size of the sample. Divided into
4 groups, 10 participants each, group 1 for STEM, group 2 for ABM, group 3 for ICT and
attitudes and opinions (Good,1991). Also, this study mainly focuses on the behavior of
the respondents thus the questionnaire is the best instrument for this study as it will
gather data effectively and completely and is commonly used for behavioral and social
The questionnaire is written subjectively for the purpose of getting the opinion
and experiences of the respondents. In the questionnaire it is included there the name
of the student (optional), age, their section and strand that is needed specifically. The
questionnaire provided 5 questions that suggests the respondents the game they are
playing, the time span, and the cause and effects of their gaming that is needed to be
D) Statistical Treatment
To fully analyze and interpret the data collected from the questionnaires, this study
will use the statistical treatment, Percentage Frequency Distribution wherein this will
determine the frequency counts and distribution of the answers of the respondents.
Where:
% is the percentage
F is the frequency
Chapter IV: Presentation and Analysis of Data
Table 1.1:
In this table, it shows that among the 40 respondents, the most game that is
followed by Rules of Survival and other games with 30%, followed by DOTA 2 and
Clash of Clans with 27.5%, next is World of Warcraft with 17.5%, and Dragon Nest with
15% and the last game is Arena of Valor with 7.5%. In this table, it shows also that ICT
students tend to play more online games followed by ABM, STEM and GA respectively.
Table 1.2:
This table shows that most of the respondents tend to play games for 1-2 hours
and 3-4 hours. It is followed by 2-3 hours and 5 or more hours with 15% Next is 0-1
hours with 12.5% and last is 4-5 hours with 7.5%. This can also interpret that in the
strand ABM most of the respondents tend to play longer than STEM, ICT and GA
respectively.
Table 1.3:
Interpretation 1.3
This table shows that most of the respondents are in school from 1pm to 8pm.
Table 1.4:
Schedule in
STEM ABM ICT GA
Home/House
7am to 1pm
7 3 2 5
(Morning)
1pm to 8pm
0 1 2 0
(Afternoon)
8pm to 7am
8 6 5 4
(Night)
Interpretation 1.4
This table show that most of the respondents are in their home from 7am to 1pm
Table 1.5:
Do you think you are addicted in gaming? (Reasons why or why not)
STEM ABM ICT GA PFD
YES 9 6 8 2 62.5%
Fun and 55%
8 4 9 1
exciting
Urge to 32.5%
progress in 7 3 3 0
the game
Online friends 1 2 4 0 17.5%
The game is
6 4 6 0
addicting 40%
I gain certain
skills from 4 3 3 1 27.5%
gaming
▪ Way of
procrastina 7.5%
▪ Stress ▪ Stress
Others: tion (1) -
reliever (1) reliever (1)
▪ Creativity
(1)
Interpretation 1.5
thinks that they are addicted in playing games. 55% of them stated that they are
addicted in gaming because it is 'fun and exciting," while 40% says that the 'game is
addicting., and 32.5% says that they are playing because of the urge to progress in the
game, 27.5% of them says that , I gain certain skills from gaming, 17.5% of them says
that the game is addicting because of their' online friends, and 7.5% have their own
Table 1.6:
Interpretation 1.6
In this table it is stated that out of 40 respondents, 37.5 % says that they are not
addicted in playing games with the reasons, 22.5%% focus in academics, 12.5%
love/social life, 10% gaming is boring and no time in playing games, 7.5% family time
Give the positive and negative effects of gaming in your life and in school:
PFD
Positive STEM ABM ICT GA Total
80%
Stress reliever 9 9 10 4 32
37.5%
Gaining more friends 3 6 5 1 15
77.5%
More strategic thinking 10 9 7 5 31
45%
Gaining analytical skill 6 6 5 1 18
Being knowledgeable in
4 6 7 3 20
technology 50%
Gaining more skills that
4 7 4 1 16
are applied in real life 40%
Others: - - - - 0
Interpretation 1.7.
This table shows all the positive effects gaming has done to the respondents as
stated by themselves. The effects are as follows: 80% stress reliever,77.5% more
thinking, 40% gaining more skills that are applied in real life, and 37.5% gaining more
friends. It is clearly stated that most of the respondents play online games due to the
Others: - - - - 0
Interpretation 1.8.
specified as, 72.5% lack of sleep, 7.5% spending more money, 42.5% unable to comply
in school requirements, 40% physical pain and illness, 37.5% lack of time with family
and friends, and 35% skipping meals. In this table it is evident that the most negative
A) Significant Findings
According to the study conducted by Przybylski (2014) to the children aged 0-15
years on the time they spend playing electronic games these are the following results;
Low levels (1 hour daily) as well as high levels (3 hours daily) of game engagement was
with higher life satisfaction and prosocial behavior and lower externalizing and
internalizing problems, whereas the opposite was found for high levels of play. No
effects were observed for moderate play levels when compared with non-players.
Regarding with the data that the researchers gathered it is also shown that the
respondents gaming time also ranges form 1-4 hours resulting variety of effects.
Also, in the article of Kimberly Young (2009), excessive gaming has been
identified as a specific subtype of Internet addiction (Block, 2008). "Video games may
look innocent, but they can be addictive as gambling or drugs and just as hard to kick,"
In the study conducted, 25 out of 40 participants said or admitted that they are
'addicted' in playing online games, with the reasons it is fun to play, and it serves as
While in the article of Center Courses (2016), they listed the top online games
listed as, DOTA 2 LOL, wow, Crossfire, Counter-strike, Hon, Dragon Nest, and Band
Master. These games are the ones who are so popular in the Philippines.
With the study conducted, MMROPGs are also the one who are so popular
among the respondents. The following games are as follow, Mobile Legends League of
Most of the gamers were good performers in the academe, this supports the
belief of Prensky (2006), that video and computer game playing, done appropriately, is
actually very beneficial to today's "Digital Native" kids, who use them to prepare for life
in the 21st century. The rest of the results compliments with the results of the previous
studies cited in the review of related studies in this study (e.g. all of the gamers were
Supporting this, the respondents answered the questionnaires with more positive
effects on their life than the negative ones. Such as stress reliever gaining more friends,
more strategic thinking, gaining analytical skill, being knowledgeable in technology and
Also, according in the study of Cortes et. al (2012), studies indicate that children
who play computer games can improve visual intelligence skills. Parents believed that
computer use is related to better academic performance of the children. It was found
that high school students who used educational software at home scored significantly
higher on computer literacy tests than other students. Computer use at home is also
found that students who own computers at home had higher over-all grades, particularly
With the collected data, the researchers came up with the following conclusions:
that the reason why students engage themselves in video gaming is because
the students find gaming fun and exciting, and how the game itself is
designed to be addicting.
gaming. This can cause why some of the respondents said that they
b. The researchers noticed that the reason why some respondents of the study
are addicted to gaming is because of how they want to progress in the game
they are playing like ranking up or leveling up. This is because of the game
i. Most of the respondents voted that they play Mobile Legends and
Crossfire, different genre of game but are design to entice the players
ii. The illusion of leveling up and getting better in the game with the use
c. The main reason of how video games affect the study of the respondents is
stated in the Table 1.8 from Chapter IV. The researchers inferred that the
main effect of gaming addiction in their study is the failure to in school
requirements.
i. But, some respondents got around the problem, yet they faced a new
Some faced physical pain and illness like headache and eye strain
ii. Though, gaming addiction really affect the students in their academic
d. The researchers conclude that video games also have a direct effect on the
lifestyle of the students. It is because of how they skip meals and spend more
money just in playing video games instead of just fulfilling their hunger. They
3.35 hours. This amount of time considering the schedule of the students in
school and in their house, can cause lack of sleep if they spent those hours in
after midnight. But, if they spent those hours in the morning, their love life and
f. In Table 1.2, the researchers noticed that only some students think twice
when they realized that they spent too much time on playing video games.
Some students said they spend more than 2 hours of playing video games
which is not healthy anymore. The healthy number of hours in gaming is just
hours means that most of them don’t think twice when playing too much.
since they cause happiness and stress relieving sensation from playing. But,
can cause eye strain and headache, lack of sleep, and direct negative effect
amounts.
h. Despite of the negative effects of gaming, the researchers gathered data from
the respondents that says that gaming can be a source of new knowledge or
new skills. Some gained analytical skills in gaming and some gained actual
skills that are applied in real life like Mathematics. 20 of the respondents said
game itself with its game design and from the gamer with their willingness to play more
and more and urge to progress in the game. These causes are strong enough to cause
gaming to be excessive easily by some gamers who cannot think twice when they
Gaming addiction has a direct effect on the gamers’ lifestyle, health and
academic performance. The researchers inferred that they lack time with their family
and friends, lack sleep and lack compliance in school requirements, based from the
collected data.
All in all, gaming addiction affect gamers negatively. Though, gaming just in itself
doesn’t affect much negatively, but positively. The causes of gaming are just based on
how they use gaming: too much gaming, negative; enough time of gaming, positive.
C) Recommendation
With the outcome of the study, the researchers recommend the following:
gaming addiction. This is to give more light to others that gaming addiction
reasons why gaming is addictive. With more specific points like game design,
game advertising, music design, etc. Since gaming addiction can come from
help the future studies greatly and help the awareness of others to gaming addiction
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8 Video game addiction is a mental health disorder, WHO says, but some
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who-classifies-video-game-addiction-health-disorder/709574002/