The development and validation of the Problematic Online Gaming Scale (POGS): An analysis of Facebook gamers

The current research began the development and validation of a measure of online gaming addiction using Facebook members. Three hundred and eighty-three participants were recruited from Facebook and from undergraduate psychology classes to complete the following questionnaires: (a) The Problematic Online Gaming Scale (POGS), (b) the Marlowe-Crowne Form C (Reynolds, 1982), (c) the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ; Demetrovics, Szeredi, & Rozsa, 2008), (d) the Problematic Online Game Use scale (POGU; Kim & Kim, 2010), and (e) a demographic form. The questionnaires were used to assess the characteristics of Facebook online gamers. It was predicted that online gamers who suffer from a behavioral addiction would possess greater characteristics of salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, relapse and conflict. It was also predicted that there would be a greater feeling of social connection with other gamers in those who are more behaviorally addicted. The study found that Facebook gamers surveyed had the characteristics of conflict, mood modification, salience, social connection, tolerance and intrusive thoughts. It was also noted that different characteristics were more salient for different groups when examining gender, ethnicity, age, and other Facebook relevant demographics. Further implications of online gaming addiction are discussed.