DIGITALTHE FREQUENCY OF PLAYING ONLINE GAMES IN THE STUDENT POPULATION BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
1 Faculty of Organization and Informatics, Varaždin, University of Zagreb (CROATIA)
2 Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb (CROATIA)
3 Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb (CROATIA)
2 Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb (CROATIA)
3 Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb (CROATIA)
About this paper:
Appears in: EDULEARN23 Proceedings
Publication year: 2023
Pages: 7219-7225
ISBN: 978-84-09-52151-7
ISSN: 2340-1117
doi: 10.21125/edulearn.2023.1888
Publication year: 2023
Pages: 7219-7225
ISBN: 978-84-09-52151-7
ISSN: 2340-1117
doi: 10.21125/edulearn.2023.1888
Conference name: 15th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies
Dates: 3-5 July, 2023
Location: Palma, Spain
Dates: 3-5 July, 2023
Location: Palma, Spain
Abstract:
A large amount of time in the student population goes on playing online games. Playing online games increased significantly and became more frequent during the COVID 19 pandemic. Some students spent lot of time in online gaming and developed the internet gaming disorder.The aim of the research is to compare the time of playing online games in the student population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this research the Ten-item internet gaming disorder test/IGDT-10 (Király et al., 2019) is used for assessment duration and frequencies of online gaming among students. The reliability of the IGDT-10 questionnaire was estimated with Cronbach alpha which is 0.864.
A pilot study was conducted in 2020 and 2021 at one of the Faculties at the University of Zagreb on a research sample of N=111 students (M=29.73%, F=69.37%) respondents. The main study was conducted on a sample of N=1467 respondents (M=49.3%, F=50.7%) during the spring semester 2020/2021. The final sample of respondents in the study consisted of undergraduate and graduate students at several different faculties from the University of Zagreb. Those respondents are selected by a random selection method, which presents the total population of students at this University (N=1000, of with M=48.0% and F=52.0%). Participants are between 20 and 25 years old, average age is slightly higher than 23 years (M= 23.14 years, SD= 2.72).
The results show that students who played online games more often before the pandemic, continued to play online games more often during the pandemic (r=0.486, p<0.05). Additional multiple linear regression analysis found that students who spent more time using internet before a pandemic, achieved higher results on the IGDT-10 scale during a pandemic. Those students have a higher Internet gaming disorder score (β=0.234, p<0.05).
The research results can be used for the purpose of informing students about the optimal time for online activities including gaming. Additionally, results can be used for educational purposes in order to inform students about advantages and disadvantages of online gaming. The data can be extended with the clinical interview data conducted by experts in order to provide more information related to internet gaming disorder.