VIDEO GAMES FOR POSITIVE WELL BEING

Despite claims that addiction to MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games being detrimental to a players mental health, they actually serve as a third place breaking conventional understandings of community and allow for players to experience a transformative sense of self, self-identity, and belonging within a community.Online gaming communities act as a virtual space that serves as a third place allowing players to, communicate, socialize, cooperate, and escape from reality within the confines of a structured community. Research undertaken in Stockholm at online gaming centers throughout 2006 and 2007 indicates that the foremost social motivators for online players is driven from these desires (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009, pp 557). MMO gaming communities such as World of Warcraft effectively engage players in a sense of community, leading to the formation of new relationships with people all around the world, allowing you to be connected to new people in new unexpected ways. The virtual reality of an online gaming community also provides gamers with a way to experience behavior that may not always be appropriate or possible in the real world, they allow for an immersive experience in an alternate reality without any real impending consequences (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009, pp 557).

FOUNDATION OF COMMUNICATION IN MMO GAMES
MMO games create communities and allow for a source of healthy communication between players. Communication is the foundation of community; therefore, it comes to no surprise that when it comes to online gaming communities ‘It’s all about communication’ (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009, pp 558). For many gamers, the communication aspect of an online gaming community is a huge motivational driver behind online gaming. ‘The communication that takes place when gaming online occurs seems to be of the utmost importance for many gamers’ (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009, pp 558). Gaming now a days is as much about getting in touch with people as it is playing the games themselves. It allows a wide variety of individuals from various sorts of backgrounds and cultures to communicate and collaborate over a common goal. Social interactions that take place in online gaming are irrespective of a lot of parameters that play a factor in real world interaction. Such as age, gender or ethnicity. When these qualities become irrelevant in the social interactions that take place other qualities become more important such as ‘generosity, reputation, and ability to collaborate’ (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009, pp 558). These qualities become much more important than other factors such as physical appearance, gender or age. Many players of the massive multiplayer online role-playing game known as World of Warcraft have shared countless stories of the relationships formed and the experiences they have endured when meeting new people online, and the healthy long lasting personal relationships they have come to from form throughout the course of this social interaction. The foundation of these relationships quite commonly stems from the social structure that is known as a guild. Guilds in World of Warcraft are a tight knit community of players that all collaborate and work together to achieve some sort of common goal. Communication and transparency about the events taking place in the virtual world as well as in regards to social interaction because of these events is essential for players to have as players can quite often find themselves spending countless hours with one another on a day to day basis when attempting to achieve these common goals. Massive multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft by game design are engineered so that player interaction and socialization are a necessary component of progression and by nature forces players to partake in online community interaction. Research conducted also shows that players within an online gaming community feel more secure and safe when expressing themselves. A study conducted of 912 gamers showed that online players are comfortable expressing themselves in a way that they are not or otherwise would be uncomfortable doing in the real world due to physical appearance, gender or age.

ADDICTIVE NATURE OF MMO’s AND THE REASONING BEHIND IT
The addictive nature of online gaming and MMO’s games has many health benefits. Online games are often crucified for being addictive and detrimental to a player’s health. Many arguments have been made about the addictive nature of video games over the previous decade, MMO’s (Massive Multiplayer Online) games are at the peak of this argument. Player rewards inside MMO’s are often tied to spending strenuous amounts of time every day in these virtual worlds leading to an incentive for players to play every day all day (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). This is turn can lead to the formation of negative habits in the form of addiction if playing video games begins to take priority over everyday activities. Addiction to MMO’s is quite common amongst teenagers but is also present in older gamers who have been playing these MMO tittles for most of their lives. While quite commonly seen as an unhealthy habit, the addiction if controlled can potentially serve as a mental escape from reality and can actually benefit a player’s mental health in a variety of ways. Anyone who has had any sort of gaming experience throughout their life time will very quickly be able to tell you that online gaming is a great way to relax and relieve stress levels, while still remaining sociable and interacting with other individuals online. Many different studies have attempted to scale the way in which it is made possible to determine when an online video gaming begins to become detrimental and negatively affect a player’s life. A system referred to as the NO (Negative Outcomes) Scale was developed and tested against gaming titles. For MMO games and World of Warcraft in particular the NO scale accesses how common aspects of your life are impacted by asking questions about your life and how it has changed or been impacted by your need to play video games. Some of these questions for example include ‘I sometimes lose sleep because of the time I spend playing WoW’, ‘I sometimes skip meals or delay my eating because I am busy playing WoW’ ‘I have had conflicts with my partner or parents over the time I spend on WoW’, ‘I have lost contact with some friends because I rather spend time on WoW’, ‘My school/job performance has suffered because of the time I spend on WoW’ (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). There is a large variety of personal factors that play into determining the negative outcomes that video games can have, some of which include but are not limited to self-esteem, self-worth, and the need for escapism. While there is a relationship between escapism and negative outcomes on your mental and social life regarding video game addiction, it is not all black and white. If managed appropriately addiction to MMO’s and online video gaming can be beneficial to a player’s mental health.

MEANING, ACCOMPLISHMENT AND ENGAGMENT
MMO’s provide players with a sense of meaning, accomplishment and engagement. Each of these feelings in turn leads to a sense of a better mental health. An individual who feels as if they have meaning, has accomplished something, and is actively engaged in something they enjoy will in turn feel better about themselves. Involvement in meaningful activities brings a sense of purpose and fulfillment to daily life. ‘Finding purpose has been associated with involvement in activities which contribute to something larger than self’ (Christian Ejones, Laura Escholes, Daniel Ejohnson, Mary Ekatsikitis, & Michelle C Carras, 2014 pg5). In MMO’s and World of Warcraft in particular this sense of meaning can be found when working towards something greater than one’s self in the form of guild goals. As mentioned previously guilds consist of players all working together to achieve a common goal.  These goals are often referred to as guild goals has the entirety of its members are contributing in some way to make this feat possible. Collectively working as a community provides players with a sense of meaning, often sometimes filling the void of a lack of meaning in their everyday lives. The structure of a guild and its meaning could be somewhat compared to that of a sports team all working towards a common goal, with each one of the team’s players believing that they are working towards something worthwhile. When players inevitably reach or complete the goals, they have set out to achieve as an individual or community they are rewarded with a sense of achievement and accomplishment. ‘This in turn contributes to feelings of competence and well-being’ (Christian Ejones, Laura Escholes, Daniel Ejohnson, Mary Ekatsikitis, & Michelle C Carras, 2014 pg5). Accomplishment is defined as ‘having explicit goals in life and achieving these is important to well-being and happiness’ (Christian Ejones, Laura Escholes, Daniel Ejohnson, Mary Ekatsikitis, & Michelle C Carras, 2014 pg6). In the virtual world of MMO’s through structed goal setting and collaboration this same feeling of accomplishment is possible. An individual who feels accomplished has a healthier sense of well-being and will feel happier with themselves as an individual. Any frequent gamer will tell you that a high level of engagement with video games tasks in MMO’s leads to a sense of immersion. ‘Engagement refers to an emotional involvement or commitment to some object or domain of interest and to the experiential intensity of a relationship or interaction’ (Christian Ejones, Laura Escholes, Daniel Ejohnson, Mary Ekatsikitis, & Michelle C Carras, 2014 pg4). Research shows that an individual who is engaged in a task that they enjoy exerts happiness on an increased level. This trend of engagement that leaves players of MMO”s feeling fulfilled with the tasks they are completing can be seen as the World of Warcraft community has over 9.6 Million players, having spent more than six million years in the game collectively as of 2008. Research shows that individuals who lack elements of meaning, accomplishment and engagement in their day to day lives can replicate these feelings through gaming, allowing them to still feel a sense of meaning, accomplishment, and engagement within themselves online.

CONCLUSION
MMO gaming communities have grown ever so rapidly over the previous decade and so has the controversy between the link of video game addiction and mental health. However, with this growth showing no sign of slowing down, and researching suggesting that MMO’s provide a front for improved mental health, communication, collaboration, escapism, and socialization, it is important that we not only understand how these communities affect their players but how this addiction should be managed to ensure that the positive outcomes from these third places benefit each and every individual involved within an the MMO gaming genre.   

References:
Maria Frostling-Henningsson. Ph.D., 2009, First-Person Shooter Games as a Way of Connecting to People: “Brothers in Blood”(13^st Ed.) Mary Ann Liebert Inc.
https://www-liebertpub-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2008.0345

Dmitri Williams, Nicolas Duchenaut, Li Xiong, Yuanyuan Zhang, Nick Yee, Eric Nickell, 2006, From Tree House to Barracks: The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft (1^st Ed.) Sage Publications
https://journals-sagepub-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1177/1555412006292616

Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2014). The moderating role of psychosocial well-being on the relationship between escapism and excessive online gaming. Computers in Human Behaviour, 38(C), 68-74.
https://libkey.io/libraries/1057/articles/50843560/full-text-file?utm_source=api_772

Christian Ejones, Laura Escholes, Daniel Ejohnson, Mary Ekatsikitis, & Michelle C Carras. (2014). Gaming well: Links between videogames and flourishing mental health. Frontiers in Psychology,5, 260.
https://libkey.io/libraries/1057/articles/51390733/full-text-file

Ferguson, C., Coulson, M., & Barnett, J. (2011). A meta-analysis of pathological gaming prevalence and comorbidity with mental health, academic and social problems. Journal of Psychiatric Research,45(12), 1573-1578.
https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0022395611001919

Hopia, H., Siitonen, M., & Raitio, K. (2018). Mental health service users’ and professionals’ relationship with games and gaming. Digital Health,4, 2055207618779718.
https://libkey.io/libraries/1057/articles/208666388/full-text-file?utm_source=api_772