A vacation from your mind: Problematic online gaming is a stress response

We present ethnographically-informed survey and interview data suggesting that problematic online gaming in the World of Warcraft (WoW) can be conceptualized as a response to pre-existing life stress, which for highly stressed individuals magnifies rather than relieves their suffering. In particular, we explore how relaxing and arousing in-game experiences and activities provide forms of cognitive diversion that can lead to problematic play among more highly stressed individuals. Our research supports what has been called a ''rich get richer'' model of problematic Internet use. In this instance, less stressed individuals manage to play WoW so as to enhance their offline lives. By contrast, more highly stressed players further magnify the stress and suffering in their lives by playing problematically the online game within which they sought refuge from their offline problems.

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