Psychological Motives and Online Games Addiction: ATest of Flow Theory and Humanistic Needs Theory for Taiwanese Adolescents

Obviously, the negative impact of online games has received much attention as well as having become a popular research topic. This research explored, from flow theory and humanistic needs theory, the psychological motivations of Taiwanese adolescents who are addicted to online games. The purpose of Study 1 was to investigate the relationship between players' flow state and their online games addiction. The results indicated that flow state was negatively correlated with addictive inclination and it was not a significant predictor for players' subsequent additive inclination. Findings also revealed that the addicts' flow state was significantly lower than the nonaddicts. Thus, flow state might not be the key psychological mechanism of players' addiction. In Study 2, the results showed that the psychological needs of players of online games were close to the two-factor theory which depicts satisfaction and dissatisfaction dimensions. Addicted players' need-gratification was similar to the feature of dissatisfactory factor. That is, the absence of playing online games is more likely to generate sense of dissatisfaction; the addicts' compulsive use of online games seems to stem from the relief of dissatisfaction rather than the pursuit of satisfaction. In contrast, online games tend to provide the nonaddicts with a sense of satisfaction rather than a sense of dissatisfaction.

[1]  M. Csíkszentmihályi.  Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life , 1997 .

[2]  M. Csíkszentmihályi.  Beyond boredom and anxiety , 1975 .

[3]  Wen-Bin Chiou,et al.  Why Are Adolescents Addicted to Online Gaming? An Interview Study in Taiwan , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[4]  Rolf T. Wigand,et al.  Optimal experience of Web activities , 1999 .

[5]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  Analysis of Attitudes Toward Computer Networks and Internet Addiction of Taiwanese Adolescents , 2001, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[6]  Viktor Brenner.  Psychology of Computer Use: XLVII. Parameters of Internet Use, Abuse and Addiction: The First 90 Days of the Internet Usage Survey , 1997, Psychological reports.

[7]  Kimberly Young,et al.  Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder , 1998, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[8]  John Suler,et al.  To Get What You Need: Healthy and Pathological Internet Use , 1999, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[9]  M. Csíkszentmihályi,et al.  The effect of perceived challenges and skills on the quality of subjective experience. , 1996, Journal of personality.

[10]  Wen-Bin Chiou,et al.  Using Cognitive Dissonance to Induce Adolescents' Escaping From the Claw of Online Gaming: The Roles of Personal Responsibility and Justification of Cost , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[11]  Andrew Thatcher,et al.  Online flow experiences, problematic Internet use and Internet procrastination , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[12]  Chih-Chien Wang,et al.  Physical Interpersonal Relationships and Social Anxiety among Online Game Players , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[13]  S. Deshpande,et al.  Task Characteristics and the Experience of Optimal Flow in Human—Computer Interaction , 1994 .

[14]  Jonathan J. Kandell,et al.  Internet Addiction on Campus: The Vulnerability of College Students , 1998, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[15]  Jinwoo Kim,et al.  Why People Continue to Play Online Games: In Search of Critical Design Factors to Increase Customer Loyalty to Online Contents , 2004, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[16]  Sandra Rasmussen,et al.  Addiction Treatment: Theory and Practice , 2000 .

[17]  Mark D. Griffiths,et al.  Does Internet and Computer "Addiction" Exist? Some Case Study Evidence , 2000, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[18]  S. Parker.  Work and the Nature of man , 1969 .

[19]  James G. Phillips,et al.  Potential determinants of heavier internet usage , 2000, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[20]  L. Delbeke.  Quasi-experimentation - design and analysis issues for field settings - cook,td, campbell,dt , 1980 .

[21]  J. Webster,et al.  Flow in Computer-Mediated Communication , 1992 .

[22]  Edward Shih-Tse Wang,et al.  A Study of the Perceived Recognition Affecting the Adoption of Innovation with Respect to the Online Game in Taiwan , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[23]  T. Cook,et al.  Quasi-experimentation: Design & analysis issues for field settings , 1979 .

[24]  Donna L. Hoffman,et al.  A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce , 1997, Inf. Soc..

[25]  Peter M. Wiemer-Hastings,et al.  Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[26]  Chin-Lung Hsu,et al.  Why do people play on-line games? An extended TAM with social influences and flow experience , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[27]  Adam Acar,et al.  Testing the Effects of Incidental Advertising Exposure in Online Gaming Environment , 2007 .

[28]  J. Webster,et al.  The Dimensionality and Correlates of Flow in Human-Computer Interactions. , 1993 .

[29]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  Internet Addiction among High Schoolers in Taiwan. , 1999 .

[30]  A. Maslow.  Motivation and Personality , 1954 .

[31]  J. Suler.  Identity Management in Cyberspace , 2002 .

[32]  D. Hoffman,et al.  Measuring the Flow Experience Among Web Users , 2000 .

[33]  K. Young,et al.  Psychology of Computer Use: XL. Addictive Use of the Internet: A Case That Breaks the Stereotype , 1996, Psychological reports.