The influence of video game structural characteristics and gaming motivation on gaming disorder among Indonesian gamers

Abstract

Gaming disorder was one of the negative consequences of the excessive use of video games. Many factors contribute to the development of gaming disorder. Two important factors that may lead to gaming disorder were motivation to play games and game structural characteristics. This study aims to investigate the influence of gaming motivation and game structural characteristics on gaming disorder among Indonesian gamers. As many as 924 gamers with a mean age of 21.38 years old (SD=1.979) participated in the survey. Gaming motivations were assessed using the Motivation for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), while game structural characteristics were assessed using the Video Game Feature Taxonomy (VGFT). The nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short Form (IGDS9-SF) was used to measure gaming disorder. Descriptive statistics showed that social motivation had the highest mean score, while for game features, punishment features had the highest mean score. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to find the correlation between gaming motivation, game structural characteristics, and gaming disorder. The result showed that social motivation and reward features significantly predicted gaming disorder. The mechanism of how these variables contribute to the development of addiction was discussed.