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Virtual Reality Gaming Addiction
Amala V. Rajan, Nasser Nassiri, Vishwesh Akre, Rejitha Ravikumar, Amal
Nabeel, Maryam Buti, Fatima Salah
{arajan, nnassiri, vakre, rravikumar}@hct.ac.ae
Higher Colleges of Technology
United Arab Emirates
Abstract—As Virtual Reality games started gaining
popularity with the masses, growing addiction to these
games was quite typical. Research has shown that
technological advancements such as social media can
result in addiction [1], and VR gaming is no exception to
this. Therefore, suitable measures need to be taken to deal
with such addictions. The objective of this research is to
investigate and identify the negative impacts of Virtual
Reality gaming addiction and study ways in which this
addiction can be treated. This research has used primary
and secondary data collection methods such as digital
search and surveys. Both qualitative and quantitative data
were collected to understand VR gaming addiction, to find
out why such games are addictive, what are the impacts of
such addiction and whether any measures are taken to
solve this problem. The research clearly identified that
there is very minimal work that has been done in dealing
with VR gaming addiction and therefore has proposed
solutions to deal with VR gaming addiction.
Key Words—Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality Gaming,
Virtual Reality Addiction, Virtual Reality Gaming Addiction,
Popular VR Games, Negative Impacts of Virtual Reality
Gaming.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Virtual Reality(VR) is a computer simulated environment
that allows users to experience an environment virtually,
without being there. The experience thus created is very
close to reality. VR is most commonly used in
entertainment applications such as gaming and 3D
cinema. It is implemented by using interactive devices like
gloves headsets or helmets [2]). Most of the computer
games can be successfully transformed into VR format,
with new and better interaction. The year 2018 has seen
emergence of new games and new content. VR gaming has
come a long way after the release of its first prototypes -the
Oculus VR and Samsung Gear VR. Newer releases include
the Vive headset by HTC, Google Cardboard and Sony VR
headset. The rapid pace of technological development and
better affordable VR hardware has resulted in VR
advancement. The VR gaming industry has already won a
significant share of the market and continues to grow at a
fast rate. It is in this context that gaming addiction can
become an issue that would need to be dealt with. VR itself
is not the issue, as it is successfully used in various other
fields such as medicine, especially, in the field of robotic
surgery where it has been proven to be very successful. It is
also used in education such as taking students on virtual field
trips (McShane, n.d.). Besides this, VR has also found its
niche in the entertainment and tourism industries and in
military.
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Research Questions
This research will focus on answering the following
questions:
RQ1: What are the major impacts of VR Addiction?
RQ2: How can they be managed effectively?
Data was to be collected through a survey conducted on VR
games players who had the possibility of experiencing some
negative impacts.
B. Background of the study
The definition of addiction states that it is a strong and
harmful need to regularly have something or to do
something (Webster, 2016). Sometimes, VR gaming can
lead to addiction that may resemble drug or alcohol
addictions, thus negatively impacting the VR users
themselves as well as the others involved with them in some
way. This is because, VR creates an immersive computer-
generated environment that is so convincing that the users
would react the same way they would in real life. [3]
Popular VR Games:
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This section aims to investigate the popular games that may
lead to addiction, understand the negative effects of gaming
addiction and propose effective methods of dealing with
this. Data was gathered about the popular VR games and a
list of the very popular four games were chosen for study.
These are
1. Batman Arkham VR
2. The climb
3. Chronos
4. The Surgeon Simulator 2013
All data collected in this section is from blogs and
reviews of gamers due to lack of articles.
Batman Arkham VR: This is a virtual reality game that is
designed by Rocksteady Studios to be played on PlayStation
and is designed to give the players “The Batman
experience” with a strong dose of the dark psychology that
the Arkham games are well known for. [4]. The game is
played in first-person, meaning the player gets to be
Batman. This game contains a high level of details of all the
places in Batman Universe which allows the player to feel
that unique sense of presence in these legendary locations
through virtual reality. This will make the players play the
game several times to explore all the details for hours and
this makes the game addictive.
The Climb: This VR game from Crytek Video Game
Company, is very popular and is about climbing mountains
using headset and the Xbox controller. The Climb treats the
act of climbing as a puzzle to be solved. The game suits all
kind of gamers and especially the ones who enjoy climbing
and therefore, there is a huge likelihood of players getting
engaged in the game for hours together [5] . One benefit of
the game is that it transports players to different locations
and helps them overcome Acrophobia (fear of Heights). The
negative effect however, is that the players stand up and use
all their body to play the game and this results in body pain,
particularly, a strain on the neck [5]. It also influences the
brain where the player has trouble distinguishing between
reality and the game after playing it.
Chronos: This is one of Oculus Rift’s new VR games. The
game is about a hero trying to save his homeland from evil
characters.
This is done by solving puzzles presented. Chronos,
according to gamers, was so effective that even non-VR
games could not compare with it [6] However, the gamers
took at least 15 to 20 hours to finish the whole game.
Playing for this long leads to a craving to spend more and
more time playing the game [6], which eventually leads to
addiction.
Surgeon Simulator 2013: In this game, the player acts as a
real surgeon and saves people’s lives. The player exists as an
arm hovering above an operating table. Various movements
of the mouse help to accomplish various actions for the
surgery. s [7]. The game benefits those in the medical field
or with such intentions by giving basic lessons on surgeries,
including organ transplant. One reason for getting addicted
to this game is that the players may continue to live or think
about the situations in the game even when they have
ended the game.
III.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected for this
study. Secondary data was collected through digital search
and literature review. Besides this, survey was conducted
amongst a sample of 36 gamers, as a means of primary data
collection. The survey was aimed at collecting data directly
from the players themselves to gather their opinions in
proposing a solution to the problem of game addiction.
A. Survey analysis
Q1 and Q2 in the survey were targeted to know the age and
gender of the participants. 22 of the participants were
female and 13 were males. Most of the participants were
aged between 16 to 20 and 21 to 24 which shows that most
gamers are teenagers and young adults.
Q3: Have you played VR games?
This question was aimed to determine the popularity of VR
gaming (fig 1). Though, it was expected that not many
would have the experience of playing VR games, it was
found 26 of the participants had experienced VR games.
This indicates the enthusiasm and interest to such
technology.
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The Fifth HCT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRENDS (ITT 2018), Dubai, UAE, Nov., 28 - 29, 2018
Figure 1
Q4: How were you introduced to virtual reality gaming?
This question was aimed at determining how the
respondents were introduced to VR gaming ( fig 2). It was
found that most gamers learned about VR through
YouTube. Participants who provided other answers gave the
sources as friends’ recommendations, shows and the
Internet etc.
Figure 2
Q5: What is the VR game of your choice?
Gamers were provided with the list of most popular VR
games gathered through literature review (fig 3). Of these
games, most gamers had experienced Batman VR. Gamers
added more games played by them, to the list (fig 4).
Figure 4
Q6: What makes Virtual reality gaming interesting?
Through literature review, information was gathered on
what might make every VR game listed, addictive (fig 5).
These reasons were provided in this question to help
determine the factors that make VR gaming addictive. Most
players agreed that it is the sense of reality while playing,
that is most attractive. Other reasons were also provided by
respondents (fig 6).
Figure 3
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The Fifth HCT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRENDS (ITT 2018), Dubai, UAE, Nov., 28 - 29, 2018
Figure 5
Figure 6
Q7: What could be the negative impact of playing virtual reality
games?
All the negative impacts provided in this question were also
gathered from literature reviews. Gamers only corroborated
these viewpoints. Most participants agreed that the VR
gaming causes physical pain.
Figure 7
Q8: How long do you spend playing Virtual Reality Game?
It is known that spending long hours playing a game is one
of the signs of addiction (fig 8). Most gamers spent 2 to 4
hours playing VR. However, 4 participants spent 6 to 8 hours
playing VR which could be a sign of addiction.
Figure 8
Q7: Do you think playing VR games for hours could lead to
addiction?
This question was included to determine gamers
understanding of the issue (fig 9). Only 6 of the participants
have disagreed that long hours of gameplay will lead to
addiction. The majority agreed that it leads to addiction.
Figure 9
Q8: Suggest some solutions to solve the problem of playing
for long hours?
There aren’t any solutions to the problem of VR gaming
addiction since it is still not proven to be a problem. This
research also aims to propose a solution to this problem.
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Gathering the opinions of the gamers themselves will help
in proposing solutions to VR gaming addiction. Gamers
who filled in the survey suggested several solutions. The
solutions are as follows:
B. Ethical Considerations
The data collected through survey strictly follows the
ethical and legal requirements of the country and the law.
No personal data have been collected and the data collected
will be used to support the objectives of the research.
IV.
DISCUSSION
A. The Problem
The negative impacts of VR gaming addiction are like any
media addiction. As with any media addiction, playing VR
games for hours can cause serious mental illnesses such as
depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and in many
cases, autism spectrum traits and features, obesity, sleep
problems, increased aggression [8]. These impacts affect
both children and adults. The main impact of playing VR
for long hours is that it may damage the brain in a way that
people will not be able to distinguish between VR and
reality. Most gamers who were surveyed in this study
agreed that VR mostly causes physical pains such as neck
pain because they would have to stand and keep moving for
hours. Reviews of players on blogs have stated the same as
well. Other symptoms that are very likely for VR addiction
are
a) Avoiding other commitments to keep playing
b) Avoiding social encounters
c) Escapism
B. The Solution
After analyzing the finding of the research and the survey,
some solutions to VR gaming addiction can be:
1. Individual and family therapy
Since VR gaming addiction is like any media addiction such
as TV, a therapist can help the gamer overcome the addiction
the same way media addiction is treated. Family can also
join in helping by working together with the gamer. This is
more efficient when the gamer is a teenager or a child. By
organizing family trips or spending more family time and
showing support to the gamer, this method can be
successful.
2. Building addiction facilities
Like drugs rehabs, a good solution is to build a media
addiction rehabilitation centers that are specialized in
treating all sorts of media addiction. These facilities can
have a section specialized in VR gaming addiction
specifically, to give the proper treatments.
3. Create awareness
Players must have self-awareness and control. All players
realize that playing games for long hours can lead to serious
problems. Gamers should take the lead in treating
themselves and that can be accomplished by reading useful
books about what VR addiction is, determine if they are
addicted or not and what measurements can be taken to
overcome this problem.
V.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this research identified the most popular VR
games which may lead to addiction along with the reasons
which make them addictive, the negative impacts that
gamers will suffer from if are addicted to VR games and
proposed solutions to overcome this problem. The main
challenge was that there is no proven research to prove that
VR gaming addiction is a problem or the ways in which it
can be treated. Therefore, this research used primary data
collected from people who experienced VR gaming using
Figure 10
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The Fifth HCT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRENDS (ITT 2018), Dubai, UAE, Nov., 28 - 29, 2018
a survey. The study extends a word of caution to the VR
gamers so that, they do not get addicted to VR gaming.
Though the methods proposed as solutions have not been
tested, further experiments can be done in the future to do
this.
I. REFERENCES
[1] D. J. Kuss and M. D. Griffiths, "Online Social
Networking and Addiction—A Review of the
Psychological Literature," International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 8, no. 9,
pp. 3528-3552, 2011.
[2] N. D. P. D. A. K. e. a. Rajesh Desai P, "A Review
Paper on Oculus Rift-A Virtual Reality Headset,"
International Journal of Engineering Trends and
Technology, 2014.
[3] J. Emspak, "What Is Virtual Reality?," 22 March
2016. [Online]. Available:
http://www.livescience.com/54116-virtual-reality.html.
[4] B. Green, "Introducing Batman: Arkham VR — Be
the Batman," 13 June 2016. [Online]. Available:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/06/13/introducing-
batman-arkham-vr-be-the-batman/.
[5] S. Hayden, "Review: The Climb," 28 April 2016.
[Online]. Available: https://www.roadtovr.com/review-
climb-best-looking-vr-game-ive-ever-played-neck-
killing/.
[6] W. Fenlon, "CHRONOS REVIEW," pcgamer.com,
15 April 2016. [Online]. Available:
https://www.pcgamer.com/chronos-review/.
[7] S. Mclnnis, "Surgeon Simulator 2013," Surgeon
Simulator 2013 is hardly a simulation, but it makes
medical malpractice an absolute delight., April 23, 2013.
[8] M. . Romano, L. A. Osborne, R. . Truzoli and P. .
Reed, "Differential psychological impact of internet
exposure on Internet addicts.," PLOS ONE, vol. 8, no. 2,
p. , 2013.
[9] P. Warr, "Virtual Reality Summit: Gloves On With
The Climb," 21 Apr 2016. [Online]. Available:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/04/21/the-
climb-crytek/.
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