Motives of Problematic and Nonproblematic Online Gaming among Adolescents and Young Adults

The aim of the present research was to explore the motives of playing online multiplayer games that leads toward either problematic online gaming or nonproblematic online gaming behavior. A sample of 357 online gamers (298 boys and 59 girls with mean age = 16.8 years) was selected from schools, colleges, and universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire-Short Form (Papay et al., 2013) and Online Gaming Motivation Scale (Yee, Ducheneaut, Nelson, 2012) were used to measure problematic online gaming and motives to play online games, respectively. One hundred and ninety participants were identified as problematic gamers, while one hundred and sixty five participants were identified as nonproblematic gamers. Results indicated that all motives (achievement, socialization, and immersion) had significant positive relationship with online gaming behavior. Results indicated that problematic gamers had higher motivation for socialization, achievement, and immersion than nonproblematic gamers. Regression analysis indicated that time of playing online games, socialization and immersion motives act as significant positive predictors of online gaming.