Introduction:
The current covid pandemic lockdown has driven the college students to seek refuge in MMOGs for entertainment [1]. The average duration spent on gaming range between five to eight hours a day [2]. This is a matter of concern as extended duration spent on online games (eg. PUBG, War of Crafts, League of Legends etc.) has negative psychological impacts, such as, depression and anxiety [3], addiction, cyberbullying victimization and perpetration [4], and impaired identity formation [5], social isolation, personality deficits [6,7], perceived loneliness, aggression, hostility, low self-esteem [8] and low self-compassion [9]. These negative outcomes may amplify of hours of engagement with pre-existing psychological issues, which may in turn perpetuate dissociation from real lives.
Online/offline integration (OOI) is pivotal to strike a balance between digital and real lives, to avoid disconnect from real self, to prevent obsession with online activities and for attaining composite overall health [10,11]. OOI suggests merger of self-identity, social ties and functions over both domains through communication, transfer, consistency and prioritization of offline life [11]. Further, the practice of self-compassion has been upheld by many researchers for similar goals (namely, self-kindness, human connection and mindfulness) as OOI. However, there is a paucity of studies that explore self-compassion among MMOG players and its relationship with the markers of dissociation from real life goals and immersion in online games. The present study explores these factors in detail and posits that practicing self-compassion and reducing the number of hours of play would enhance the OOI of individuals, thus reducing the probability of gaming addiction and related psychological ailments.
Methods
Sample
A sample of 515 Indian students who played MMOGs was selected based on purposive sampling.
Measures
Basic demographics along with standardized scales described below were collected from the participants. Information regarding the minimum number of hours, type of games, family income and level of education of the participants was also collected.
Online offline integration scale: This 15-item questionnaire based on OOI hypothesis [11], measures the level of integration between an individual's online and offline life. It has three subscales, namely, self-identity integration, relationship integration and social function integration. The scoring is based on four-point Likert scale which ranges from strongly disagree to strongly agree. In the present study, internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found as 0.8. On confirmatory factor analysis, the scale yielded a moderately acceptable fit (χ2/ df = 2.12, RMSEA=0.081,CFI= 0.86, GFI=0.85).
Self-compassion scale: It is a widely used 26 item, five-point Likert questionnaire that measures the level of compassion that an individual experiences for himself [12]. It has three dichotomies, namely, self-kindness vs. self-judgment; common humanity vs. isolation; mindfulness vs. over identification [12]. In this study its Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to be .74.
Procedure
The researcher joined popular online gaming discussion forums to collect relevant data. Google forms were sent through email or WhatsApp to only Indian students who were willing to participate. Concise instructions stating the purpose and scope of the study were provided. Informed consent, after the assurance of confidentiality, was obtained preceding the questionnaire administration of OOI scale, self-compassion scale and structured questions related to online gaming use. Only the completely filled in forms were recorded. Clearance was obtained from the institutional ethical committee for the study.
Statistical analysis. Frequency distribution of outcome measures, scatter plots and Pearson's correlation 'r' for associations was examined using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 22). Gaming groups were categorized based on gaming time and ANOVA was calculated to determine significant differences between the means of OOI and self-compassion levels. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was done after centering the continuous variable and dummy coding the categorical variable to interpret the effect of gaming time. First, self-compassion was entered as predictor variable, gaming period as the moderator and OOI as dependent variables individually. Variance predicted by self-compassion and gaming period and interaction between them were observed and their effects were plotted.
Results
In this study comprising of 515 online gamers, 330 (64.1%) were males and 185 (35.9%) were females. The sample consisted of 32% gamers below 18 years and 62% above it. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of variables in the study.
Table 1: Sociodemographic details of online/offline integration and self-compassion. |
Variable |
|
|
Online/Offline Integration |
Self-Compassion |
|
|
N |
Mean |
SD |
Mean |
SD |
Gender |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Female |
185 |
37.84 |
9.077 |
84.02 |
13.017 |
|
Male |
330 |
38.09 |
7.524 |
84.64 |
13.318 |
Age |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17 |
82 |
36.11 |
8.661 |
82.98 |
12.690 |
|
18 |
114 |
39.39 |
8.958 |
84.46 |
13.655 |
|
19 |
89 |
39.25 |
7.777 |
85.74 |
13.332 |
|
20 |
110 |
36.75 |
8.037 |
85.04 |
12.999 |
|
21 |
120 |
38.20 |
6.773 |
83.80 |
13.281 |
Education |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
UG 1st year |
151 |
34.98 |
8.233 |
81.40 |
13.260 |
|
UG 2nd year |
176 |
39.43 |
7.697 |
84.58 |
12.756 |
|
UG 3rd year |
188 |
39.09 |
7.774 |
86.69 |
13.158 |
Family Income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Low |
133 |
39.50 |
9.372 |
77.53 |
12.375 |
|
Medium |
184 |
31.61 |
5.021 |
82.03 |
8.581 |
|
High |
198 |
42.93 |
5.016 |
91.26 |
14.117 |
Hours of Internet Use |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4-5 hours |
105 |
43.91 |
4.828 |
96.54 |
13.292 |
|
5-7 hours |
159 |
39.10 |
7.588 |
83.78 |
11.161 |
|
> 7 hours |
251 |
34.83 |
7.971 |
79.75 |
11.052 |
| UG=Under graduation |
No gender differences were found in any of the study variables, however, group difference based on educational level was found for OOI, F(2,512) = 15.755, p= .000 where significant difference exists between the OOI of gamers in high school and those in post-graduate programs on post hoc comparison at .05 level. A one- way Anova was conducted to compare the effects of gaming time and self-compassion on OOI. Analysis of variance showed significant effect of gaming period on OOI, F(2,512) =152.73, p<.01; of self-compassion, F(2,512)= 58.345, p< .01. Post hoc comparison using Tukey HSD test indicated that all three groups (4-5 hours, 5-7 hours, >7 hours) significantly differ in their levels of integration and self-compassion. There is a strong correlation between the subscales of self-compassion and OOI as seen in Table 2.
Table 2: Correlational analysis of dimensions of online/offline integration and self-compassion. |
Variables |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
1 |
Online Offline Integration |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
Self-Identity |
.622** |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
Relationship Integration |
.554** |
.036 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
Social Function |
.653** |
.087* |
.053 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
Common Humanity |
.115** |
.127** |
.028 |
.053 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
Self-Kindness |
.078 |
.049 |
.066 |
.031 |
.090* |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
Mindfulness |
.105* |
.106* |
.065 |
.023 |
.129** |
.259** |
1 |
|
|
|
|
8 |
Overidentification |
-.189** |
-.105* |
.093* |
-.145** |
-.299** |
-.362** |
-.319** |
1 |
|
|
|
9 |
Isolation |
-.200** |
-.118** |
-.091* |
-.150** |
-.283** |
-.350** |
-.311** |
.904** |
1 |
|
|
10 |
Self-Judgement |
-.191** |
-.107* |
-.089* |
-.149** |
-.276** |
-.343** |
-.310** |
.908** |
.901** |
1 |
|
11 |
Self-Compassion |
.337** |
.243** |
.167** |
.205** |
.250** |
.177** |
.280** |
.635** |
.652** |
.656** |
1 |
|
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). |
|
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). |
Results reveal that the three dimensions of integration, namely, self-identity, relationship and social function are positively related to mindfulness, common humanity and negatively to isolation, over identification, self-judgment and overall self-compassion. Table 3 shows the multiple regression analysis of the association of the self-compassion and gaming period and their interaction effects on OOI.
| Table 3: Multiple hierarchical analysis for variables predicting online/offline integration. |
Model |
Variables |
B |
Std. Error |
Beta |
t |
p |
R2 |
∆R2 |
F Change for R2 |
1 |
(Constant) |
38.001 |
0.336 |
|
112.840 |
0.000 |
0.113 |
0.113 |
65.608 |
Self-Compassion |
0.207 |
0.026 |
0.336 |
8.099 |
0.000 |
2 |
(Constant) |
41.952 |
0.468 |
|
89.610 |
0.000 |
0.418 |
0.304 |
133.561 |
Self-Compassion |
0.143 |
0.023 |
0.233 |
6.219 |
0.000 |
Number of hours/day |
|
|
|
|
|
5-7 hours/day |
-1.463 |
0.764 |
-0.079 |
-1.915 |
0.046 |
>7 hours/day |
-10.002 |
0.670 |
-0.592 |
-14.930 |
0.000 |
3 |
(Constant) |
42.052 |
0.485 |
|
86.688 |
0.000 |
0.432 |
0.014 |
6.446 |
Self-Compassion |
0.128 |
0.031 |
0.208 |
4.142 |
0.000 |
Number of hours/day |
|
|
|
|
|
5-7 hours/day |
-0.783 |
0.779 |
-0.042 |
-1.004 |
0.032 |
>7 hours/day |
-10.406 |
0.675 |
-0.616 |
-15.407 |
0.000 |
Self-Compassion x Number of hours/day |
|
|
|
|
|
Self-compassion* 5-7 hours/day |
0.128 |
0.053 |
0.109 |
-2.402 |
0.017 |
Self-compassion*>7 hours/day |
-0.113 |
0.061 |
-0.073 |
-1.842 |
0.056 |
Note. Constant :4-5 hours/day; a. Dependent Variable: Online Offline Integration |
|
|
|
The main effect of each independent variable is significant on OOI and a higher effect is demonstrated when both self-compassion and gaming period interact. In model 1, self-compassion accounts for 11.3% variation and is a good predictor of OOI (β = .336, t= 8.1, p< .001). Gaming period significantly predicts OOI on model 2 accounting for a variance of 41.8% in OOI, with self-compassion as positive predictor t(511)= 6.219, p< .001) and gaming period of 5-7 hours (t(511)= -1.915, p< .01) and >7 hours per day(t(511)= -14.930, p< .01) being negative predictors of OOI. In model 3, the relation between self-compassion and gaming period accounted for 43.2% variance and the interaction is significant for 5-7 hours (t(509)= -2.402, p< .01) and insignificant for >7 hours per day(t(509)= -1.842, p> .05). However, after entering the interaction term (moderating effect of gaming period), the link between self-compassion and OOI was found to be statistically significant with an increase of .014 in R2, (B= 0.128, p <.01) for 5-7 hours per day predicting positive relationship and (B=-0.113, p=.066) for >7 hours per day indicating no interaction effects. Thus, the slope incline for high end gamers was found to be slight (Figure 1). The overall model was significant with F (5,509) =77.469, p <.01, ΔF (2, 509) = 6.446, p < .001. There is a direct impact of gaming time and self-compassion on OOI. There is a positive relationship among self-compassion and OOI at low and moderate levels of gaming time and a negative association between the two variables at >7 hours of gaming time.
Examination of the interaction plot (Figure 1) showed both low gaming time and moderate gaming time has positive relationship in self-compassion, OOI however the interaction effects of self-compassion of high-end gamers has a negative relationship with OOI. The OOI of gamers was higher for those who play less than 5 hours and have elevated self-compassion than the other two groups indicating that both gaming period self-compassion enhance the balance of online and offline self.
 |
Figure 1: Interaction plot |
Discussion
Investment and expenditure on online gaming have escalated remarkably, in the past year due to COVID 19 pandemic shutdowns, making it a lucrative business [1]. The immersive experience of gaming affects the lives of players adversely [13, 14] and engaging in it for extensive hours has been associated with problems of sleeplessness, poor well-being and withdrawal symptoms akin to substance use on cessation of games [15]. The psychosocial characteristics required for maintaining a healthy online/offline balance need to be researched and explored further [11]. As empirical research in this perspective has been sparse, this study fulfils the gap by proving that decreasing the game time can enhance both self-compassion and OOI of MMOG players. This study is one of the first to establish this relationship. The enhancing effect of self-compassion in promotion of health-related behaviours has been explored [16]. In this study, self-compassion proves to be a direct factor predicting healthy merger of both real and virtual domains. Self-compassionate people tend to practice self-kindness and thus refrain from indulging in self-sabotaging behaviours, such as, addiction [12]. Moreover, self-compassionate people tend not to see failures as personal deficits [12]. However, MMOG players deficient in this domain may assign lost games as personal failures. Gamers may put more effort in order to win, thereby increasing the screen time further. A higher level of self-compassion propels a person to maintain a balance in his everyday routine to achieve real life goals as they are known to be more mindful [12].
Previous research on immersive MMOG environments detail both its positive and negative impacts [4,5,17]. Regular MMOG players tend to have issues in forming stable self-identity and also are prone to internet addiction [5]. Detrimental impacts of excessive engagement in online games, such as, increased levels of aggression, moral disengagement, hostility and dis-inhibition in online game players have been explored previously [17]. MMOG players use this platform not just for enjoyment but also to hide from facing harsh realities of life such as poverty, adverse family environment and loneliness [18,19]. The time involved in online activities is a crucial predictor of problematic usage [6,20]. In line with previous research stated above, this study reinforced the negative impact of excessive MMOG gaming period on OOI of players' lives.
In the present study, the regulating effect of gaming time on the relationship between self-compassion and OOI indicates that up to 6 hours of play, the interaction effects are positive, however, when the game time exceeds a certain limit, there exists no effect. The buffering effect of low game time and higher levels of self-compassion is evident in improving the online/offline life of players. This indicates that the disintegration of both lives advances rapidly as the number of hours increase. An interesting finding is that gaming period has a direct effect on OOI and is a much better predictor than self-compassion. This establishes the overarching importance of regulating time to maintain gamers' overall health. There is a plethora of research on the implications of excessive media use on physical, psychological and behavioural and associated factors [21, 22].
No gender differences were found in any of the variables, however, the family income status of gamers seemed to play a role in determination of their OOI. OOI as well as self-compassion of high-income group gamers were noted to be higher compared to moderate and low-income groups. This could be probed further to determine the causal relations. At face value, one can argue that coming from a high-income group, access to awareness of risks of addiction and regarding concepts of self-compassion, they are at an advantage over others. They are cushioned from the hardships of life and thus are taught to accept failures and adversities as an integral part of the game and not as a personal shortcoming. Moreover, online games are primarily played for entertainment which is not the case with low-income gamers who may be avoiding stress or aspiring to earn from gaming.
Similarly, gamers who were in their last year of graduation were found to be having higher OOI, self-compassion and engaged for lesser number of hours in gaming as compared to first year student gamers. This is in line with previous research where low self-compassion is found among low educated individuals [23]. This could be attributed to the fact that higher education would mean higher awareness regarding the adversities of gaming, greater career- orientedness and thereby more involvement in fulfilment of real-life goals. This in turn balances their online and offline lives. Other demographic factors such as geographical cultural and familial can be taken for further probe in this domain.
The sample was collected online and was purposive in nature however due to the wide and yet specific age range of youth (17-21 years) and equivalent distributions across income groups, results of this study is generalizable. Though, some limitations should be considered when interpreting. Only Indian university students willing to participate were included making this study specific and thus cannot be generalized for other populations, such as, excessive social media users, IT professionals or others who use the internet extensively for work related purposes. Our study is cross-sectional and therefore conclusions regarding causality of self-compassion on OOI cannot be drawn. Another limitation is the distribution of gender, though one can argue that there are lesser women MMOG players reported as compared to men [24].
Finally, it would be important to further examine the association of self-compassion and OOI with variables such as cyberbullying, self-determination, resilience, happiness, psychological wellbeing, personality factors such as neuroticism, introversion etc. across different cultures and in younger adolescents below 16 years. This could be helpful as that age is the identity formation and development period which if mapped can help in a healthy use pattern for them in future.
Intervention strategies that incorporate self-compassion have been observed to have enhancing implications on quality of life, happiness, physical and mental health [25, 26]. Early intervention strategies that spread awareness among gamers about gaming addiction while they are playing such as flash messages, popup windows with alarms may help in regulating the game time. Training programs for players who are considering MMOG gaming as a prospective career should be assessed for their level of self-compassion and provided necessary counselling for enhancing their self-esteem, self-compassion and overall emotional regulation.
Conclusion
Students playing MMOGS for prolonged periods
face the danger of encountering its ill-effects. Low self-compassion
levels can affect the psychological profile and balance between
online and offline lives of players. It gets further
deteriorated when the time spent in playing games exceeds a certain
limit. The solution for the problem lies in limiting gaming time,
progressing one's compassion towards self and prioritizing real life
goals.
Conflict of Interest: Authors declare No Conflict of Interest
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