NIMF Game Addiction Stats Not Convincing to Poll Respondents
NIMF Game Addiction Stats Not Convincing to Poll Respondents
May 19, 2009
Late last month, GamePolitics reported on a study jointly published by Dr. Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and the Family which claimed that approximately one in twelve kids show signs of being addicted to video games. Those results were determined by comparing the gaming habits of 8-18-year-olds to symptoms of gambling addiction. Video game addiction is not currently recognized as an official mental disorder.
Shortly after the study’s release, NIMF launched a poll on its website asking: “Do you think that video game addiction is a real problem?” Here’s the national breakdown of the voting as of Monday afternoon. Of 3,169 respondents:
- 74% - No
- 19% - Yes
- 7% - Not Sure
Minnesota, where NIMF is headquartered, is the only state with a majority of Yes votes at 51%. The state with the highest percentage of people who don’t think video game addiction is a real problem? Nevada, at 96%.
Go figure.
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics correspondent Andrew Eisen...
UPDATE: The poll remains open. As of posting time, the numbers have changed a bit. Vermont, with 38%, has joined Minnesota as the only state currently where the Yes votes are in the majority.
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Comments
I reject their reality and substitute the real one.
Myth Busted(Referring to the addiction study).
Ow fuck, did I just lose an eyebrow?
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Montana is scoring 100% "no"
But would probably not put a lot of faith in a few or those states; particularly not the one's with 100%, or 0% in one of those three choices... you gotta take into account how many are voting and though we can't see how many people are voting in individual states, i would wager that those with 100% or 0% for one those three choices probably have very few people voting
I wouldn't put a lot of faith in the poll. It makes for an interesting conversation piece, but when there's nothing to stop a voter from casting multiple votes, it ain't very scientific.
It's more general than that.
If it's on the internet, it's not scientific. Self selected, manipulatable polls FTL.
Don't worry, the NIMF will ultimately make up their mind for everyone else. Controlling minds and culture to fit your idea of "normal" is the whole point of these organizations. That they are trying to label games as inherently addictive shows their hand.
If you can convince lawmakers that addictiveness is an inherent trait of the medium- then that is pretty much the end of videogames as we know them. The NIMF knows this.
If it doesn't come out as they wish, it'll simply be because 'We held the poll over an electronic medium, and, as we all know, almost everyone on the Internet is a game-addicted child....'
Which doesn't quite follow if there's any truth to the notion that because respondents are visiting the NIMF's website, they would be predisposed to vote "yes."
Agreed, but then, logic, like statistics, can be like plasticine.
What I do know is that, no matter what those results state, if they don't match up to what NIMF want to hear, they will be considered invalid, regardless of whether they are or not ;) The NIMF don't want a true sounding of people's opinions, what they want is propoganda material.
I'll agree, that poll is probably highly inaccurate, but even if the poll was conducted using the best of scientific methods, they would simply keep ignoring the results until they got the ones they wanted.
One of my friends is a psych major who took research methods last year. Granted that she's obviously not an experienced psychologist at this point, she knows a bogus study when she sees it. She was alternately laughing and banging her head on her desk at that NIMF study.
As for the poll results, not that I demand all the states have a majority that reflects my views but I wonder how many of the voters from Minnesota were people from the NIMF itself.
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
I wonder how many people that voted play video games.
I mean seriously if you ask a crack addict if they have a problem 9 out of 10 times they will say no.
That is, in essence, the exact thing the NIMF will say if the results come out against them.
Of course, there's no evidence either way as to whether (a) most voters are gamers, or (b) whether gamers are the least bit like crack addicts, or even addicted, but hey, that's never stopped them from being labelled as such before.
I'm picturing Jacko packing his bags and booking flights to Minesota and Vermont...
http://www.popularculturegaming.com
4chan needs to get on this. Maybe make a smiley face on the map.
38% can't be a majority. It could be a plurality, though. ;)
Don't mind VT, that's just my mom, dad and sister voting. They never really liked video games.
(I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my keys...)
Am I the only one who notices that in their pie chart, the yellow "no" looks very similar to Pac-Man?
Another update. Vermont has swung back from 'Yes' to 'No'.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Wow, there is no link between this Poll and the NIMF poll. You cannot compare them.
You can consider something not risky even if the thing exists, and at the same time, around 15% of respondents believe that VG addiction is risky. So what we can only tell is that there is a correlation between belief (addiction is risk) and self-declaration (I think I am addict). So this comparaison should just ask how media construction can be performative.
Best,
Game in Society http://www.gameinsociety.com
I say the question is too vague and can be interpreted multiple ways
“Do you think that video game addiction is a real problem?”
Does that mean a real problem to the people who are addicted to MMOs or vidoe games in general? If that's the case than my answer is yes.
Or do they mean a widespread problem that parents and gamers should be concerned about before buying a game? If that's the case than my answer is no (although if you were to limit it to MMOs my answer would lean towards yes).
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Because internet polls are the best way to research anything...
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
anyone can be addicted to anything, topic fail.
http://knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/4/43/ElectoralCollege1984-Large.png
It just looks the same.
Wow there are a whole 101 voters from MN.
http://www.eliteownage.com/nice
Groups like this only serve someone's pet agenda. Not an ounce of scientifice thought, just a mere opinion poll. Like other said, this grom will just fudge the numbers to fit in to their agenda. Sort of like how Fox News molds journalism in to a mockery of itself.
Opinion Polls are a waste of time and money.
Seems like the NIMF are starting to find that out for themselves when something does not go their way.
Plus I would put the NIMF up there with Pedophiles, they say that they are there to protect the children, but in reality they are just there to screw everyone over.
I thought Paedophiles just wanted to screw children.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
By the way, a “majority” means more than 50%; if one option gets more votes than any other, but not more than 50%, it’s a “plurality.”
http://tinarussell.wordpress.com/