The relationship between game genre, monetization strategy and symptoms of gaming disorder in a clinical sample of adolescents | Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences
Background: Gaming disorder (GD) has been introduced as a new diagnosis in the International Classification of Disease 11 (ICD-11). Currently, there’s limited understanding of how various video games may differentially contribute to the risk of developing GD. The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between individuals’ game genre preferences, their preferred games’ monetization strategies, and GD Symptoms.
Methods: A total of 85 patients undergoing treatment for GD at a child and youth psychiatric clinic were included in the study. Their preferred games were classified into five novel genres based on gameplay similarities and objectives, and further categorized based on their monetization strategy.
Results: Symptom burden of GD, measured with Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GASA), was highest for those playing Free-to-Play (F2P) games and lowest for Pay-to-Play (P2P) players. Players of Competitive Games endorsed higher GD symptom burden, whereas players of Story-driven games reported lower GD symptom burden. Symptoms of GD were associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis in males.
Conclusions: This study reveals that game genre preference is influenced by sex, age, and certain psychiatric diagnoses. The categorizing of games into genres is increasingly complex and our research introduces a novel categorization in a developing research field. The result of this study suggests that the monetization model is important to consider while trying to understand the relationship between game characteristics and GD symptoms.
Methods: A total of 85 patients undergoing treatment for GD at a child and youth psychiatric clinic were included in the study. Their preferred games were classified into five novel genres based on gameplay similarities and objectives, and further categorized based on their monetization strategy.
Results: Symptom burden of GD, measured with Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GASA), was highest for those playing Free-to-Play (F2P) games and lowest for Pay-to-Play (P2P) players. Players of Competitive Games endorsed higher GD symptom burden, whereas players of Story-driven games reported lower GD symptom burden. Symptoms of GD were associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis in males.
Conclusions: This study reveals that game genre preference is influenced by sex, age, and certain psychiatric diagnoses. The categorizing of games into genres is increasingly complex and our research introduces a novel categorization in a developing research field. The result of this study suggests that the monetization model is important to consider while trying to understand the relationship between game characteristics and GD symptoms.
- André, F., Bore, P., Toresson, T., Andersson, M., & Claesdotter-Knutsson, E. (2024). The relationship between game genre, monetization strategy and symptoms of gaming disorder in a clinical sample of adolescents. Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, 129, e10386. https://doi.org/10.48101/ujms.v129.10386
背景 ゲーム障害（GD）は、国際疾病分類11（ICD-11）に新たな診断名として導入された。現在のところ、様々なビデオゲームがGDの発症リスクにどのように異なる寄与をしているかについての理解は限られている。本研究の主な目的は、個人のゲームジャンルの好み、彼らが好むゲームの収益化戦略とGD症状との関係を調べることである。
方法 児童・青少年精神科クリニックでGDの治療を受けている患者85名を対象とした。彼らの嗜好するゲームをゲームプレイの類似性と目的に基づいて5つの新規ジャンルに分類し、さらにマネタイズ戦略に基づいて分類した。
結果 Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents（GASA）を用いて測定したGDの症状負荷は、Free-to-Play（F2P）ゲームをプレイする者が最も高く、Pay-to-Play（P2P）プレイヤーは最も低かった。対戦型ゲームのプレイヤーはGDの症状負荷が高いことを支持したが、ストーリー主導型ゲームのプレイヤーはGDの症状負荷が低いことを報告した。GDの症状は、男性の注意欠陥多動性障害（ADHD）の診断と関連していた。
結論 本研究により、ゲームのジャンル嗜好は性別、年齢、特定の精神医学的診断に影響されることが明らかになった。ゲームのジャンル分類はますます複雑化しており、本研究は発展途上の研究分野に新たな分類を導入した。本研究の結果は、ゲームの特性とGD症状の関係を理解しようとする際に、マネタイズモデルを考慮することが重要であることを示唆している。