Leaving a never-ending game: Quitting MMORPGs and online gaming addiction

Abstract

Online game addiction has a negative image and is becoming a public concern in Taiwan. We look at this phenomenon from another perspective, through interviews with gamers who were addicted to a MMORPG but have quit playing, we believe that the multiple reasons causing gamers to leave their game can reflect some more aspects of online game addiction. We then map out how a gamer`s attachment to a game changes over time due to many factors, stressing the importance of dynamic quitting and addiction patterns to better understand the addicted gamer`s game experience over time. Lastly, we observed self consciousness in these addicted players as they self-monitored and sought help in many ways to quit a game. We hope this study will be useful for researchers who are trying to better understand online game addiction. © 2007 Authors & Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA).