Posted by James Brightman on Thursday, April 03, 2008 @ GameDailyNew research out of the U.K. suggests that people who are essentially addicted to video games display similar traits as those individuals who have Aspergers syndrome.At the ongoing British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Dublin this week new research is being presented on the effects of computer game addiction. According to Dr. John Charlton of the University of Bolton and Ian Danforth of Whitman College, USA, gamers who appear to be addicted to playing computer/video games show some of the same personality traits as people with Aspergers syndrome (a variety of high functioning autism).
For the study, 391 computer game players (86 percent male) were questioned. The researchers looked at relationships between addiction, "high engagement" and personality. "They found that the closer the players got to addiction the more likely they were to display negative personality traits. And that as players showed more signs of addiction they were increasingly characterized by three personality traits that would normally be associated with Aspergers... These were neuroticism, and lack of extraversion and agreeableness," the report stated.
Charlton and Danforth don't believe these game "addicts" are classifiable as having Aspergers syndrome but they do "share some of the same characteristics because they find it easier to empathize with computer systems than other people."
"The thinking in the field is that there is a scale along which people, even those considered to be 'normal', can be placed upon. And that people such as engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists are nearer to the non-empathizing, systemizing, end of the spectrum, with people with Aspergers syndrome even further along again," said Charlton. "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."
Does that mean I'm twice Aspergers?
