History of Online Gaming In order to know about how online gaming came to be, we need to first know how video games used to be, and what exactly is ‘online gaming’. A video game (a computer program with a visual output and a set of outcomes and actions controlled by the user/player’s choices in realtime) in the modern day can be separated into two categories, singleplayer and multiplayer. As the names suggest, each one differs in the amount of players that can be involved in making decisions, or the input commands. How Online Was Implemented In 1950, multiplayer games such as OXO1 originated. Such games required two players to be on the same computer on the same time. A while later during the 1970s with the introduction of the time-sharing2 technology players were able to play on different computers in the same building but it required some sort of a physical connection between the two. With the introduction of the Internet in late 1980s and with technologies such as LAN3 and later on, WAN3, where computers were able to share data thousands of kilometers away from each other. Manufacturers took advantage of such technologies and implemented them seamlessly to work in video games. Meaning data such as outcomes and other players’ choices and actions could be sent and received to and from others simultaneously. It even introduced things such as real-time text, and sometimes voice chat as well, which allowed players from all around the world to communicate as they played.1 – OXO is a video game developed by A S Douglas in 1952.2- Time sharing is the concurrent use of a computer by more than one user.3- LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide area network) are two different types of networks.Kids And Online GamingIt’s a known fact that the age of which people get into online gaming -or gaming in general- comes at a very early stage in life. It’s fun, challenging, and in some ways stress-relieving. Alas, it can have negative impacts despite the aforementioned benefits. How Kids Find Out About Games In the present day, it’s highly unlikely that kids watch TV commercials or read a newspaper to find out about online games -or anything at all-. The main source of info is typically the internet. Where in almost any entertainment website you’re bound to find advertisements about different types of online games. They’re usually very well made to entice kids and teenagers and convince them into trying them out. Screen Time and Children Many of the advertisers nowadays for games and TV shows tend to aim for a much younger audience, convincing the parents that whatever is advertised is beneficial to their kids. While that could be true in terms of context, the output of which that media is being streamed on, i.e the monitors, can be very harmful at certain ages.In 1999, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) have stated that children from 0 – 2 years of age can have up to 2 hours of screen time without it being of harm.Recently, as screens have become more and more widespread, research has gotten furthermore into the subject. “There have been about 50 studies that have come out on media use by children in this age group between 1999 and now,” said Ari Brown, a pediatrician and member of the AAP committee. 1Where in these researches it was found that the television was nothing more than a “glowing box” to a 0 – 2 year old infant, and will most likely affect their language development, and possible late development of ADHD. 2Video games and online games are outputted through a screen, and through the spread of tablets and phones which nowadays support handheld online games. We see many parents providing such devices to their children at a very young age, the aforementioned about screen time harm is only the slightest of what could affect them. Dangers of Online GamingDespite the fact that many people of different ages consider online games to be a form of entertainment and a way to spend their free time, there are many dangers that they need to be aware of:Cyberbullying – The act of one player using offensive or derogatory terms against others, while keeping their identity unknown.Hacking – Hackers are people who manipulate code and programming in such ways that they could violate others’ privacy. Getting personal information such as names, addresses, and maybe even banking info.Online Predators – Players of older age which use online games to find and lure younger children for sexual exploitation or any other criminal activity.Hidden Fees – Some game developers scam the users with the ‘all-free’ game to convince players that they will enjoy the experience at no cost. Only to eventually request a fee from the player to pursue the game at a certain point of their progress. 3 ONLINE GAMING ADDICTIONS:Although there are lots of debates in which whether to call it an addiction or simply named it as “deficient self-regulation”. some scholars have struggled to provide a standard set of criteria for distinguishing addiction from high engagement. Normal People perspectives on game addiction is mainly associated with the amount of time or money spent on gaming and insufficient sleep that one may observed.While in philosophical view we look at a Brown(1991,1993), Young(1998), Griffiths & Hunt(1998) criteria or model of addiction, which all of them believe that cognitive salience, euphoria(mood modification), tolerance, conflict, relapse(reinstatement), withdrawal, and negative outcome are core criteria in defining game addiction. 1As of that, we concluded that it could be called “addiction” in this project when one of the above criteria is realized in a short period of time, which implies that the rest of the symptoms will also be apparent gradually if care is not taken.In the following paragraphs we discuss the causes of an addiction, the problems caused by addiction which include :psychological problem ,social problem and physical problems Causes of online game addiction:The are many different causes of game addiction, but the main reason is that they are designed to be that way. game designers are trying to make profits, as a result they are always looking for ways to get more people to their product. They accomplish that by making the game attractive competitive and challenging enough to keep people in to it. One of the most addictive online game is called Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG).Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games(MMORPG):As the name implies these games are played online with many number of gamers at same time and typically have no ending, it’s the most addictive sort of games, where gamers appreciate the ability to select their avatar, modifies it and update its suit their needs. Example of MMORPG are : world WarCraft, call of duty and many more. These type of games have strong negative impact compared to any other single players or offline game.2Apart from game designer’s contribution, there exist another causes of game addictions such as: lack of friends, difficulty in relationship, and problems with gamer’s physical appearance· Lack of friends: these has to do with young and pre-matured children who are in an isolated environment or a society that does not give room for children to play outside their parent houses, we usually call them “home alone”. These category of children find it difficult to have a real life friends as such they engage in online gaming where they find virtual friends and feels more accepted.· Difficulty in relationship: this is a psychosocial factors that affect mostly men of any age where they find difficulties with either their partner or parents or relatives. Where they find a substitute to his current relation through online environment by developing virtual mutual relationship with people that their ideas matches on a certain game or an avatar. These people find it difficult to establish relationship outside the virtual world.· Gamer’s physical appearance is also a point of consideration which affect people of all age and gender especially Physically disabled people that lack self-esteem or their society abuses them. These sort of people find a substitute to their real life by engaging in online game which makes them escape from negative moods, they are more likely to play online games Psychological Consequences of game addiction –Those addicted to online games may experience: depressed mood, low self-esteem, social anxiety, low frustration tolerance, Isolation from others in order to spend more time gaming and Feelings of restlessness and irritability when unable to play.3Preoccupation with thoughts of previous online activity or anticipation of the next online session The physical Effects of Online Games During the 20st century online games appeared to dominate the entertainment scene. In fact Online games turned from being a habit to be addiction. Online games are practiced through modern technological sets, such as Personal computers, laptops and mobile devices. Online games turned to be addiction due to its interesting interaction with a user interface and its amazing visual effects. Video game addiction (VGA) is described as a behavioral addiction of exaggerated use of video games (Berkeley Network 2007). Besides the psychological effects on online gaming addiction, such as social isolation, mood swings, diminished imagination, and hyper-focus on in-game achievements, to the exclusion of other events in life (Hauge and Robert 2003), online gaming addiction results in many physical effects, such as obesity, insomnia, neurological problems, muscle problems, and eyesore. Online games and obesityOnline games addiction is strongly associated with obesity as the user or the “gamer” does not exerts any physical effort, instead he sits for hours with no movement. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 12.5 million children between the ages of 2 and 19 suffer from obese due to the passive media special video games (Loop 2015). Trust for America’s Health 2007 Annual Report asserts that Over 45% of Americas 12 – 17 year olds spent more than two in front of a screen, order more than 1 in 7 children are overweight. This analysis suggests that video gaming addiction is responsible for these high rates.According to a research made at Copenhagen University asserted that playing video games will make the gamer fat. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Chaput et.al 2010). The study focused on the topic of “Video game playing has been linked to obesity in many observational studies.” However, the influence of this sedentary activity on food intake is unknown. In order to examine the acute effects of sedentary video game play on various components of energy balance. However, the study asserted that the gamer may be healthy on doing other activities, such as exercise besides video games.Online games and insomniaMoreover, gaming addiction is responsible for sleeping disorder and insomnia as many users who play their games for hours, often neglect basic needs sleeping. Michael Gradisar, made a study which asserted that long video game sessions can give insomnia. He argues that the users who played for 50 minutes had almost no sleeping disorder, yet significant disruptions were noticed after 150 minutes of game time.The study asserted the impact of online video gaming, mentioning that that those video game-playing teens are not able to get a good night’s rest as long as they played more than 60 minutes immediately before they sleep. Researchers from Flinders University in Australia noticed that that video game playing about 150 minutes before sleeping results in sleeping disorder in teenage especially males (King et al 2013). Online games and neurological problemsAdditionally, a team of researchers mentioned in “the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B” that video games addiction results more efficient visual attention abilities. Here, Dr. Gregory West, assistant professor at the Université de Montréal, Canada, clarifies:”However, we also found that gamers rely on the caudate-nucleus to a greater degree than non-gamers. Past research has shown that people who rely on caudate nucleus-dependent strategies have lower grey matter and functional brain activity in the hippocampus” (11).Consequently, online video games addiction may have reduced hippocampal integrity, which is related to an increased risk of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Online games and muscles problemsBesides neurological problems, online gaming addiction is associated with muscles problems. Long periods of online video game play also results in an increased likelihood of lower back pain. Users who played video games for more than 2 hours per a day have lower back pain; however the same could not be said for those who watched television instead. (Gunzburg ,et al 439).Additionally, a study involving musculoskeletal symptoms and computer overuse among adolescents confirmed the strong relation between musculoskeletal symptoms and computer overuse. The study asserts that daily computer use of 2 hours or more increases the risk for pain lower back (Hakala et. al 13). Online games and eyes problemsFinally, online Video game addiction has a string connection associated vision problem. Excessive viewing of the screen results in vision problems, such as eye strain, as the cornea, pupil, and iris, it is worthy to notice that using online video games causes future health problems , such as headaches, dizziness, and chances of vomiting from focusing on a screen (Gillespie 249).Nintendo warning about children allowance to use the 3D mode on Nintendo’s portable 3DS game system was the beginning of video games dangerous as it paved the way to the awareness of video games addiction.This warning came as a direct result of signs of ocular disorders; which appease on children who addict video games who showed difficulty in perceiving 3D game images can be a sign of eye problems that might otherwise go unnoticed and undiagnosed.To conclude this point, video games has played an important role in adults and children everyday life as it is considered the main source of entertainment for them. However, results in many physical effects, such as obesity, insomnia, neurological problems, muscle problems, and eyesore. Consequently, it is necessary to find alternatives for the excessive use of online games, such as doing sports, and reading.Social effects of online games Online games have negative effects physically and psychologically on those addicted to them like insomnia and tiredness. Such effects take its toll heavily on their welfare of human beings as members of society. Addicts who spend a lot of time in their teens will not be able to learn and maintain social skills that will help them in their university and work environments. Instead, they will be mostly awkward in their social interactions and then they will return to gaming as it is a safe zone for them. To give an example, a gamer who is very addicted to online games tend to sacrifice sleep time for more play time will lack needed energy to socialize and engage in relationships, and will tend to miss social events he is supposed to attend. And the more a gamer play the more they isolate themselves from the society. a study 1 showed that there are different effects between online games and offline games from a social aspect. Gamers who play online games have higher relationships and efficacy values than those who play offline games and those who play online games have better social skills than their counterparts. Although they can’t transfer their skills and values into real life scenarios. Academic effects: Addicted gamers often have low performance on an academic level. Some psychological symptoms like attention deficit syndrome will affect their performance while studying and during a test. So does lack of sleep and tiredness. Generally, time and energy that supposed to be dedicated to studying are spent playing online games. Online games addiction effects on marriage: Married addicts of online games have reported 2 that they have troubles and strain on their marriage life. They also ignore a certain responsibilities and routines and neglect to do chores which effects on their relationships. in 2005 2, A Chinese couple left behind their own baby of 4 months alone at home for an entire 5 hours because they prioritized to go to an internet cafe to play a video name called World of Warcraft. When they returned the baby was found dead due to suffocation. Online games cause aggressiveness: According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation: 3″Teens who spend a significant amount of time playing violent video games or watching violent television shows are more likely to fight with their peers, argue with their teachers and generally engage in more aggressive behaviors.” Also in 2005 2, A Chinese gamer killed another gamer by stabbing him in the chest only because he sold a sword he had won in a video game called Legend of Mir 3.
