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Social Psychology and Society
2015. Vol. 6, no. 3, 109–119
doi:10.17759/sps.2015060308
ISSN: 2221-1527 / 2311-7052 (online)

Social Psychological Aspects of Addiction to Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

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T.Y. Marinova, O.V. Zaretskaya

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Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of how massively multiplayer online role¬playing games (MMORPG) affect the behavior of players. Basing on a series of research, the paper analyzes how massively multiplayer online role¬playing games are created and highlights their specifics that possibly contribute to the development of psychological addiction to such games. The authors describe the outcomes of their own research on motivation in persons with gaming addiction aged 18 and up, with over 1 year of gaming experience. These out-comes suggest that current traditional criteria developed for assessing gaming addiction cannot be applied to this particular form of addictive behavior.

General Information

Keywords: massively multiplayer online role-playing games, psychological addiction, addictive behavior, Internet resources, motivation

Journal rubric: Applied Research and Practice

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2015060308

For citation: Marinova T.Y., Zaretskaya O.V. Social Psychological Aspects of Addiction to Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games . Sotsial'naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo = Social Psychology and Society, 2015. Vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 109–119. DOI: 10.17759/sps.2015060308. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Tatiana Y. Marinova, PhD in Biology, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Social Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-1391, e-mail: marinovatu@mgppu.ru

Olga V. Zaretskaya, Graduate student of the Faculty of Social Psychology of the Department of Theoretical Foundations of Social Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: ovzaretskaya@mail.ru

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