What you really play when it’s free to play
Abstract Go, Linus (2014). What you really play when it’s free to play: An Assessment of Personal Computer (PC) gaming addiction levels among high school students in Metro Manila. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
The study aims to provide a baseline research of the Gaming addiction phenomenon in the country. It provides basic information on the key players in the phenomena and the basic characteristics displayed by the gamers. This study measured the addiction rate of high school students in Metro Manila and their motivation differences with non addicted gamers. The study employed Griffiths Gaming Addiction Scale (GAS) to quantify the number of addicted gamers in Metro Manila. It has been found out that there is an alarmingly high (8.9%) rate of addiction among high school students. Furthermore, the study discusses the different types of motivations for different player types. The research categorized gamers into three types, the Addicted, the Casual and the Enthusiastic Gamer. These categorization is based on their addiction score and amount of time spent on playing computer games. It has been found out that Addicted gamers are highly escape motivated. This means that they are more likely to play due to their need to escape real life problems and situations in their personal lives. Enthusiastic gamers on the other hand are more socially motivated. This means that these types of players enjoy long playing time do to the need to socialize and relate to fellow gamers. Casual gamers on the other hand are not strongly motivated in a specific type of motivation but rather plays on different reasons.