Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10): Measurement invariance and cross-cultural validation across seven language-based samples

The Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) is a short screening instrument developed to assess Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), adopting a concise, clear, and consistent item-wording. According to initial studies conducted in 2014, the instrument showed promising psychometric characteristics. The present study tested the psychometric properties, including language and gender invariance, in a large international sample of online gamers. In this study, data were collected from 7,193 participants comprising Hungarian (n = 3,924), Iranian (n = 791), English-speaking (n = 754), French-speaking (n = 421), Norwegian (n = 195), Czech (n = 496), and Peruvian (n = 612) online gamers via gaming-related websites and gaming-related social-networking-site groups. A unidimensional factor structure provided a good fit to the data in all language-based samples. In addition, results indicated both language and gender invariance on the level of scalar invariance. Criterion and construct validity of the IGDT-10 was supported by its strong association with the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire and moderate association with weekly gaming time, psychopathological symptoms, and impulsivity. The proportions of each sample that met the cut-off score on the IGDT-10 varied between 1.61% and 4.48% in the individual samples, except for the Peruvian sample (13.44%). The IGDT-10 shows robust psychometric properties and appears suitable for conducting cross-cultural and gender comparisons across seven languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Categorizing Play Styles in Competitive Gaming

This article addresses the concept of play style, which has been insufficiently explored in research on video game players despite the diversity of empirically observable play styles in competitive gaming. The main proposition of this article is that play style is a pattern that predicts players' behavior, their perceptions and their interactions. A qualitative analysis was conducted to better understand the term “style” in gamer culture based on an extensive examination of players' texts and interviews with professional gamers and commentators. The results identify categories corresponding to seven general styles that relate to gamer terminology and play theory. The results also suggest a richness, dynamic interrelatedness and changeability of styles. Furthermore, there may be similarities among different play styles with regard to their activity components despite the different intentional patterns that direct players' behaviors.

The Role of Habits in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Usage: Predicting Excessive and Problematic Gaming Through Players' Sensitivity to Situational Cues

We examined the effect of habitual regulation of massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) playing on the problematic (addictive) usage and excessiveness of gaming (time that user spent playing weekly, per session, and in relation to his other leisure activities). We developed the approach to assess the strength of habitual regulation that was based on sensitivity to situational cues. We defined cues as real-life or in-game conditions (e.g., work to be done, activities with friends or family, need to relax, new game expansion) that usually promote gaming (proplay cues) or prevent it (contraplay cues). Using a sample of 377 MMORPG players, we analyzed relationships between variables through partial least squares path modeling. We found that proplay cues sensitivity significantly positively affected the excessiveness of gaming (playing time) as well as the occurrence of problematic usage symptoms. Conversely, contraplay cues sensitivity functioned as a protective factor from these conditions; significant negative effects were found for playing time and problematic usage. Playing time was confirmed to be a mediating variable, affected by cues sensitivity and at the same time affecting problematic usage symptoms. We obtained moderately strong coefficients of determination for both endogenous variables (R(2) = 0.28 for playing time; R(2) = 0.31 for problematic usage) suggesting that the proposed variables possess good explanatory power. Based on our results, we argue that the strength of habitual regulation within MMORPG usage has both positive and negative effects on excessive and problematic usage, which is a new and important finding within the area of Internet gaming addiction.

Flow Genres

The goal of this theoretical study is to conceptually revise the flow theory formulated originally by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Concept of flow is one of the most frequently used terms that describe an optimal experience while performing activity and this does not apply only for video game industry. In this article we discuss the varieties of flow experience with respect to video games. Further, the authors emphasize relativity of the original concept of flow, understood as a universal experience of independent nature in terms of activity or personality of the participant. Following detailed analysis of existing literature and our previous empirical study, they define the concept of flow as a genre triad that portrays experience of climax, ilinx, and ludic trance. A further revision and extension of the original concept of flow is deemed necessary in order to map the variety of user experiences while playing video games with sufficient precision.