Keep Playing or Restart? Questions about the Evaluation of Video Game Addiction from a Systematic Review in the Context of COVID-19

Jorge Oceja, Víctor J. Villanueva-Blasco (), Andrea Vázquez-Martínez, Verónica Villanueva-Silvestre and Susana Al-Halabí
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Jorge Oceja: Faculty of Education, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Víctor J. Villanueva-Blasco: Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University, 46002 Valencia, Spain
Andrea Vázquez-Martínez: Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University, 46002 Valencia, Spain
Verónica Villanueva-Silvestre: Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University, 46002 Valencia, Spain
Susana Al-Halabí: Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, 33003 Oviedo, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: This is a systematic review of the impact of COVID-19 confinement on problematic video game use and addiction. The research questions were: (1) What instruments were used to measure problematic gaming and video game addiction in the context of COVID-19; (2) how many studies made comparisons with analogous samples measured at two timepoints (pre-confinement and confinement); and (3) what were the results of these studies in terms of a possible increase of problematic gaming and video game addiction during confinement. The review followed the PRISMA model and used Web of Science and Scopus. Following an initial identification of 99 articles, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied leaving 31 articles in response to the first two research questions and 6 articles for the third. The results show that a wide variety of instruments were used, with IGDS9-SF and IGD-20 being the most common. A high number of non-validated ad hoc instruments were used. Only six (22.58%) of the 31 studies examined compared pre-confinement measures with measures during confinement. Those studies were inconclusive about the negative impact of confinement on the variables mentioned, with some studies noting an increase in problematic behaviors (n = 4) and others not confirming that (n = 2). The conclusion is a need for more scientific evidence based on validated instruments, consolidation of the concepts related to problematic gaming, and consideration of other theories such as the active user to produce more robust, transferrable findings.

Keywords: COVID-19; gaming disorder; internet gaming disorder; video games; confinement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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