Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 1

Department of Education
Region III
PAMPANGA HIGH SCHOOL
City of San Fernando (P)
______________________________________________________________________________

Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect

Chennie Clarisse Meneses

Jannelle Meneses
Antonette Africa Mercado
Charisse Mae Mesiona
Digos Eli Angeles
Russel Antonio
Joshua Angulo
James Aquino
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 2

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As we get into the 20th century, advanced technology emerges such as machineries,

transportations and surpassingly, the internet. The internet is a global network connecting

millions of people through social media (Andrews, 2013). We can do a lot of things by means of

social media like surfing the internet that helps us in our studies. It is also a way of

communicating in which we can reach out other people that are far away from us. Moreover, it

provides entertainment that people embrace. One of the examples are the arcade video games

that started in 1972 with Pong, a table tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional

graphics, and has been developed in hardware and software systems. This type of game was

upgraded to computer games that turned into online games due to the invention of the internet

(Winter, 2018). And the first online game that was invented was Doom, a 1993 first-person

shooter game by id Software (Leukard III, 1994). The improvement of quality and variety of

games has been increasing in the society and it is the most popular entertainments in modern

societies. Online games attract variety of people in different ages, especially teenagers. These

are mainstreams for high school students because they play games to pass time, beat

boredom, as escapism from life challenges and to meet new milestones. They usually spend

their time glued to computers by playing different online games and these aims for their

recreation to fill in their pleasures that are considered to be fun and diverting.

Despite the entertainment that online games are giving, it also includes issues that can

affect an individual’s personal living. There are many conflicts that might occur in different

aspects of life such as physical and social, but the researchers will focus more on the
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 3

psychological aspect. By this aspect, they may encounter problems like when a person deals

with an addiction to online games, they may struggle issues such as depression, low-self-

esteem, high stress levels, and shyness or social anxiety. If they recognize these problems that

excessive gaming is causing yet are unable to control it, they may also experience shame, guilt,

sense of powerlessness and the feeling of restlessness and/or irritability when unable to play.

These problems may worsen most especially when an individual continuously ensue the

excessive playing (Conrad, 2012).

The researchers conducted this research to collect information on how online games can

affect the psychological aspect of an individual, specifically the Grade 10 students. It also aims

to give awareness to their parents about the impact that their children may acquire from these

online games.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims to know the positive and negative effect of online games in the

psychological aspect of an individual’s personal living. Specifically, it intends to answer the

following questions:

1. Do Grade 10 students play online games?

2. What games do Grade 10 students play?

3. How many hours do Grade 10 students spend in playing online games?

4. How do online games affect the Grade 10 students psychologically?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study would bring great contribution by giving knowledge about the positive and

negative effects of online games psychologically. It intends to give information to the following:
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 4

Students

It is an essential to students because it provides learning, facts and other information

about the impact that they may obtain in playing online games. This research will let the

students know that excessive playing of games may lead into such consequences as stated

above and to gain knowledge about the positive effects that they may acquire from playing

online games.

Parents

This study is an essential to parents because it will provide knowledge that may help

them from guiding and supervising their children who play online games. It may also help them

to know if their children are addicted to online games.

Future researchers

This study would help the future researchers that are interested. This will serve as their

basis and their background about their research. Moreover, they can widen this study for their

future use.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The scope of the study is designed to have a thorough knowledge about the impacts of

online games that an individual may get hold of in psychological aspect. The present study

focuses on the effects of online gaming with the participation of the selected 33 respondents of

the IA 8 of Pampanga High School in the School Year 2018 - 2019.

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 5

CHAPTER II

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies.

RELATED LITERATURES

An article written by Dr. Brent Conrad, a Clinical Psychologist for TechAddiction, in the

year 2012 and the author of “How to Help Children Addicted to Video Games”. According to

DSM-IV (the current manual for classifying emotional, psychological and mental disorders) that

they consider video games addiction as a real disorder. As more research conducted about the

effects of excessive gaming, many believe that game addiction is classified as a compulsive

behavior that is similar to gambling addiction. There is no official diagnosis of computer game

addiction but there are some signs and behaviors that gamers might encounter such as

significant interference with school, work, relationships, avoiding commitments, turning down

social initiations, using all free time, playing late at night, loss of interest and regular gaming

“binges” of 8 hours or more nonstop. Aligned with this at 41% of people who play online games

admitted that they played online games as an escape from the real world (Hussian, 2009).

An article written by Michael T.Vinluan titled "Bane or Boon: Computer games and

Academic Performance" in the year 2016 states that in this generation that computer

technology became popular and most used everywhere. One of the countries is the Philippines

that has a huge popularity of Filipino gamers. Example of this are the computer games or online

games that affects most of the students. In this article, Vinluan said that computer gaming is one

of the most developing technology that most students are addicted to it because of virtual

entertainment. Some parents have a negative feedback in it because they think about it like a
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 6

waste of time. Many supports the negative effects of computer or online games but there are

also people that supports the positive effect especially for our brains. According to the University

of Winsconsin, computer games or online games helps our brain to release neurotransmitter

surges that can build the brain for creative thinking.

An article written by Christopher S. Peters and Alvin Malesky Jr. that the popular facet of

Internet gaming is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Some

individuals spend so much time playing these games that it creates problems in their lives. This

study focused on players of World of War craft. Factor analysis revealed one factor related to

problematic usage, which was correlated with amount of time played, and personality

characteristics of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion.

An article written by Chih-Hung Ko that internet gaming is one of the most popular online

leisure activities. These activities, particularly massively multiplayer online role-playing games,

deliver pleasure, a sense of achievement, social interaction, and an immersive experience to

online gamers. However, excessive online gaming may have negative consequences by limiting

real-life experiences. Because of its prominent negative consequences and similarity to other

addictive disorders, the loss of control over online gaming was termed ‘internet gaming disorder’

(IGD) and included in section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,

Fifth Edition (DSM-5). In this review, we focus on the literature supporting IGD as an addictive

disorder. We review epidemiologic, neurocognitive, and brain imaging studies to provide

suggestions for future studies. We also discuss the intensity and frequency criteria used to

distinguish subjects with IGD from casual online gamers. Finally, we recommend future studies

to confirm the reliability and validity of the DSM-5 IGD criteria.

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 7

RELATED STUDIES

Abbas (2017) conducted a study and it is entitled, effects of online game addiction to

the students of the Senior High School Students of Southern Christian College. The aim of the

research is to determine the effects of the online game addiction of the students to their

academics and to their health. Abbas (2017) study is similar to this study because both of them

give information to the students about how online gaming affects the life of students. However,

Abbas (2017) study also focuses on physical health and academic performance while this study

focuses on psychological behavior of a student.

Routledge (2015) conducted a study and it is the unraveling the physical, social and

psychological effects of video games. They had to find out if these games cause violent,

aggressive behavior, if these online games help us learn because these are the often types if

questions raised by popular media, policy makes, scholars and the general public. International

experts review the latest findings in the field of digital game studies and weigh on the actual

physical, social, and psychological effects of video games. Taking a broad view of the industry

from the moral panic of its early days up to recent controversies including Grand Theft Auto, the

contributors explore effects of games through a range of topics including health hazards or

benefits, education, violence, and aggression, addiction, cognitive performance and gaming

communities.

A study entitled "Effects of Addiction to Computer Games on Physical and Mental Health

of Female and Male Students of Guidance School in City of Isfahan", conducted by Eshrat

Zamani, Malileh Chashmi and Nasim Hedayati in the year 2009. This study aimed to investigate

the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health of students. It is

similar or related to our study because it tackles about the mental or psychological health,
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 8

though it has a bit difference because this study has another aspect which is the physical

aspect, while ours has only one (psychological or mental).

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter talks about the research design, sampling design, instrument of the studies,

statistical analysis and data gathering procedure.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers used a descriptive type of research in their study. This provides the

mental, emotional and behaviour of an individual. Descriptive research involves gathering data

that describe events and then organizes, tabulates, depicts, and describes the data collection

(Glass & Hopkins, 1984). This design was chosen to meet the objectives of the study, namely to

determine the positive and negative effects of online games psychologically. To meet the

assessment, the researchers used quantitative in order to come up with a descriptive type of

research.

Quantitative research is defined as a systematic investigation of phenomena by

gathering quantifiable data and performing statistical, mathematical or computational

techniques. It gathers information by sending out questionnaires and the results can be depicted

in the form of numerical (Bhat, 2018). And according to Aliaga and Gunderson (2002),

Quantitative research is an inquiry into a social problem, explain phenomena by gathering

numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods e.g. in particular

statistics.
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 9

In coming up with analysis of quantitative data, the researchers were able to gather

information by the ideas during the data collection. The researchers used this method because

of the three intentions: to construct a research questions that will accomplish the competencies.

Second, to use this method using checklist, questionnaire and Likert scale. And to come up with

an analysis if the variables will match with one another.

SAMPLING DESIGN

Simple random sampling was used for selecting the participants in this study. This

sampling design is where we select a group of subjects (a sample) for study from a larger group

(a population). Each individual is chosen entirely by chance and each member of the population

has an equal chance of being included in the sample. Every possible sample of a given size has

the same chance of selection (Easton & McColl’s, 1997).

The researchers selected Pampanga High School as the respondent school because it

has the largest population among the other schools in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga that

will enable the researcher to reach the target number of respondents. There were 223 students

from the Aguinaldo block during the School Year 2018-2019 from which the 15% or 33 students

from IA 8 were selected from the population as respondents.

The researchers conducted draw lots to select one (1) class from the Aguinaldo block.

When one section was already selected, every student that made-up the class will be included

as respondent.

INSTRUMENT OF THE STUDY

The instruments used are researcher-made questionnaire, Likert scale and checklist to
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 10

gather the needed data of the study. The questionnaire for the students consists a three (3) item

question that is answerable with the use of checklist and one (1) question that is answerable by

a rating scale. The scale consists of 8 questions that they need to rank from 4 being the highest

and 1 being the lowest.

It intended to it was intended to know the possible effects of online games psychologically and

to assess students’ behaviour when they are playing games.

The dry-run and validation on the questionnaire, checklist and rating scale for the

students was conducted by administering it to the president of IA 8.

DATA GATHERING

The following are the procedures that the researchers followed in order to gather their data.

1. The president conducted draw lots to assign each group on what room will their

respondents be.

2. After assigning the rooms, the researchers constructed questionnaires that was given to

the proctor for approval.

3. When the approval was given, the researchers made 33 copies of the questionnaire for

the respondents to answer.

4. The researchers then went to the president of IA 8 to give the questionnaires.

5. After answering, the researchers took the questionnaires and continued to conduct their

data gathering and proceeded to do their statistical analysis.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 11

Mean Scores

The researchers used the formula in order to compute the following mean

scores.

the ∑ of the answers ∈therating scale

M=
the total number of respondents

Percentage Scores

frequency
P= (100)
total number of respondents

Guide in Interpreting the Findings

To interpret the competencies of the Grade 10 Students, the following

guides were used:

Range Descriptors

3.5-4.0 Strongly Agree

2.5-3.4 Agree

1.5-2.4 Somehow Agree

1.0 – 1.4 Disagree

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 12

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

This chapter is about the presentation, analysis and interpretation of data. More

specifically, the researchers sought to answer the following questions:

1. Do Grade 10 students play online games?

2. What games do Grade 10 students play?

3. How many hours do Grade 10 students spend in playing online games?

4. How do online games affect the Grade 10 Students psychologically?

Effects of Online Games Psychologically to Grade 10 Students

Table 1. Students play online games.

Choices Percentage

1 Yes 85%

2 No 15%

Table 1 shows the responses of Grade 10 students about playing online games. Out of

33 respondents, twenty-eight (28) or 85% said that they are playing online game, while five (5)

or 15% of them do not play online games.

Table 2. Online games that students usually play.

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 13

Rank Online games Percentage

1 Mobile Legends (ML) 64%

2 League of Legends (LoL) 29%

3 Rules of Survival (RoS) 29%

4 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) 25%

5 Others 25%

6 DOTA/DOTA 2 18%

Table 2 shows the responses of Grade 10 students about what games do they usually

play. Among the 33 respondents, eighteen (18) or 64% play Mobile Legends (ML), while both

League of Legends (LoL) and Rules of Survival (RoS) were chosen by eight (8) or 29% of the

respondents. Seven (7) or 25% of the respondents play PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

(PUBG) same as the other games that were not stated in the choices, while five (5) or 18% of

the respondents play DOTA/DOTA 2.

Table 3. Hours spent in playing online games

Rank Hours Percentage

1 1 - 2 hours 36%

2 3 - 4 hours 32%

3 Less than 1 hour 21%

4 More than 5 hours 11%

Table 2 shows the responses of Grade 10 students about how many hours they spend

their time in playing. Among the 33 respondents, ten (10) or 36% spend 1 - 2 hours playing

online games, while nine (9) or 32% of the respondents spend 3 - 4 hours to play. Six (6) or
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 14

21% of the respondents spend less than one (1) hour in playing, while three (3) or 11% of the

respondents spend more than five (5) hours in playing online games.

Table 4. Effects of Online Games to Students Psychologically

Mean Score of
A. Psychological Effects Description
the students

1. Playing online games can prolong an individual’s patience. 2.32 Somehow

Agree

2. Can kill boredom. 3.07 Agree

3. Can relieve someone’s stress. 3.04 Agree

4. Can give relaxation. 2.61 Agree

5. Difficulty to focus 2.25 Somehow

Agree

6. Tend to forget the things that they should do. 2.14 Somehow

Agree

7. Being obsessed or addicted to online games. 1.82 Somehow

Agree

8. Being aggressive when playing. 1.93 Somehow

Agree

Total Average Mean 2.40 Somehow

Agree
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 15

Table 4 shows the responses of the students about the effects of online games

psychologically. The students described online games as how it affects them positively. It can

prolong their patience (2.32), can kill their boredom (3.07), can relieve their stress (3.04) and

give them relaxation (2.61).

Some of the students also described as how online games affect them negatively. It will

be difficult for them to focus (2.25), they tend to forget the things that they should do (2.14), they

are being obsessed or addicted to it (1.82) and they are being aggressive when playing (1.93).
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 16

CHAPTER V

Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendations

This chapter presents the summary of the findings, the conclusions drawn from it, and

the recommendations proposed by the researchers.

SUMMARY

Online games are attracting people by the entertainment it can give. Today, we have a

growing population of online games or players. Despite the entertainment and the helps it can

hand the players, there are also bad effects that people can get from playing excessively. The

study aims to know how online games affects students in psychological aspect knowing that

online gaming is a mainstream to students or teenagers. The type of research used is

descriptive research design. While the sampling design used in identifying respondents was

simple random sampling. The instruments utilized in data gathering are Likert scale and

checklist administered to the 33 out of 224 Aguinaldo students enrolled in Pampanga High

School, School Year 2018-2019. The Likert scale has descriptions of “strongly agree”, “agree”,

“somehow agree”, “disagree”. The checklist includes the different games that they usually play

and how long they spend in playing these games. Another instrument used is a questionnaire

for asking if they are playing online games that consists of a one-item question.
 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 17

This study was designed to assess the effects of online games psychologically. More

specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. Do Grade 10 students play online games?

2. What games do the Grade 10 students play?

3. How many hours do Grade 10 students spend in playing online games?

4. How do online games affect the Grade 10 Students psychologically?

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

1. Out of 33 respondents, twenty-eight (28) or 85% said that they are playing online

game, while five (5) or 15% of them do not play online games.

2. Eighteen (18) or 64% play Mobile Legends (ML), while both League of Legends

(LoL) and Rules of Survival (RoS) were chosen by eight (8) or 29% of the

respondents. Seven (7) or 25% of the respondents play PlayerUnknown’s

Battlegrounds (PUBG) same as the other games that were not stated in the choices,

while five (5) or 18% of the respondents play DOTA/DOTA 2.

3. Ten (10) or 36% spend 1-2 hours playing online games, while nine (9) or 32% of the

respondents spend 3-4 hours to play. Six (6) or 21% of the respondents spend less

than one (1) hour in playing, while three (3) or 11% of the respondents spend more

than five (5) hours in playing online games.

4. The effects of online games to students psychologically are the following:

a) To prolong patience (2.32) - Somehow Agree

b) Can kill boredom (3.07) - Agree

c) Can relieve stress (3.04) - Agree

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 18

d) Can give relaxation (2.61) - Agree

e) It will be difficult to focus (2.25) - Somehow Agree

f) To forget the things that they should do (2.14) - Somehow Agree

g) Being obsessed or addicted (1.82) - Somehow Agree

h) Being aggressive (1.93) - Somehow Agree

CONCLUSION

1. The researchers determined the students’ perception regarding their opinion to

online games. Most of the students play online games however, there are still some

of them who do not usually play these games.

2. The students who play online games chose different games to play which are the

Mobile Legends (ML) that has the highest percentage, followed by the League of

Legends (LoL), Rules of Survival (ROS), PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)

and the least is DOTA/DOTA 2, while some of them play other games that are not

stated in the choices.

3. The students spend most of their time playing online games. The highest rate of time

the students spend in playing is 1 – 2 hours. Others spend 3 – 4 hours and less than

an hour in playing. While the least chosen length of time is more than 5 hours.

4. The students’ perception about online games can affect them positively based on

their responses. Online games will be helpful for them in managing their patience, to

kill their boredom, relieving their stress and giving them relaxation.

5. The students’ perception about online games can affect them negatively based on

their responses. It will be difficult for them to focus while playing games and having

difficulty in remembering the things they should do. It also includes being obsessed,

addicted and aggressive while playing online games.

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 19

RECOMMENDATION

The researchers recommend the following:

1. The school should provide more physical activities to strengthen their students

physically and help them prevent using online games.

2. The Department of Education may consider strengthening seminars and

orientations for the parents to fully guide children regarding the excessive use of

online games.

3. The teachers should also monitor their students if they are managing their time

properly in playing and doing their academic tasks.

4. For the future researchers, continue the study into a wider scope to determine

more the different effects of online games in able to the students and parents to

be aware and have more knowledge about it.

 Positive and Negative Effects of Online Games in Psychological Aspect 20

REFERENCES