ESA rubbishes game addiction study

By Robert Purchese Published 28 April, 2009

It's just "not accurate", says bossman.

America's Entertainment Software Association has rubbished an Iowa State University study published in the Psychological Science magazine that claims that 8.5 per cent of children aged 8 to 18 are addicted to videogames.

The main bone of contention is the data collected from 1,178 people used for the study. This didn't come from a random selection, but rather an opt-in online survey that rewards participants with redeemable points to spend on gifts.

"As you are likely aware, such a sample is not truly representative of a national population group," ESA boss Mike Gallagher tells Psychological Science magazine's Dr. Robert Kail in a letter, reported by Gamasutra.

"Thus the results cannot be projected onto the broader population of children in this country. And the sampling error of plus or minus 3 per cent that Dr. Gentile cited in the study is also meaningless."

Gentile later conceded he had not known this, but Gallagher argues that Gentile had plenty of time to verify the source, particularly as the data was from January 2007 and hardly time-sensitive.

In conclusion, Gallagher calls for the Psychological Science magazine to "note the deficiencies" of the article and explain all to its readers.

"Failure to do so will inevitably lead your readers to believe information that is not accurate," writes Gallagher.

"I have no doubt that you value your publication's credibility and reputation. Therefore, I hope this clarification is made quickly so that future readers of your publication are informed that the claims made by Dr. Gentile are not supported by the survey he has based them on.

"It would be unfair and misleading for a respected publication to leave on the record such knowingly mistaken information," he adds.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (10) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Kill_Crazy #1 3 years ago

    He'll get another grant to do yet another study then.

  • Golgo #2 3 years ago

    Unlikely...sounds like he screwed this one up well and truly. ESA dude got him well and truly telted.

  • kangarootoo #3 3 years ago

    Quite right. That study was like a pair of fishnet stockings.

  • rodpad #4 3 years ago

    Define "addiction" then look at those people.

    Then fuck off.

  • butler` #5 3 years ago

    What kinda of journal publishes such junk in the first place?:\

  • Eraysor #6 3 years ago

    That journal must have pretty laughable standards to let that be published. How did it even get past peer review, with data collected in that way?

  • scowat #7 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 16:41:01 08-02-2012

  • MaxiSleep #8 3 years ago

    I can see why he would be upset. Not many EA games would be addictive.

  • scarabium #9 3 years ago

    A proper study of the addictive nature of a property is always going to be limited when it comes to games anyway. Certain people are more attracted to certain types of games than others. If I was part of the study and was only tested on driving games (bar the mighty F-Zero GX) I'd be bored stupid and be shown not to have an addictive nature.

    Everything is subjective anyway. A vast proportion of the population will quite happily watch hours and hours of mind-numbing TV and then go on to condemn anyone who plays an hour of GTA4 when their kids have gone to bed as being an addict. Everyone needs an escape from reality every now and then and games are the perfect partner for some.

    I'm not blinkered enough to say that there's no such thing as being "addicted to games" as there will always be cases where some people are addicted. But that will be down to their own nature. Five years hence they may have been addicted to films or books or music.

    Just because you stay up till 2am one night completing "Portal" doesn't make you an addict. If you stay up till 2am EVERY night doing the same hobby without an interest in anything else - then you clearly need a jolt of perspective.

    However, I think people who are truly addicted to be a VERY small minority. Most people are mature enough to know the difference and its time gamers stopped being treated like social anomalies.

  • Nithron #10 3 years ago

    In my experience, Psychological Science is a bit of an oxymoron.

    Emphasis on the moron...