Conscientiousness, Immersion, and Game Chance Type: Problematic Videogames Use Predictors Among Professional Online Board Gamers

Marcin Wojtasiński; Przemysław Tużnik; Andrzej Cudo

doi:10.18290/rpsych2022.20

Marcin Wojtasiński John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Psychology, Lublin, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7581-5659
Przemysław Tużnik John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Psychology, Lublin, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2956-5454
Andrzej Cudo John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Psychology, Lublin, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7424-8576

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rpsych2022.20

Keywords: problematic videogames use (PVG), immersion, conscientiousness, online board games, moderated mediation analysis

Abstract

Several reports on the potential relationship between immersion experienced by gamers and problematic videogames use (PVG) have recently appeared in the literature but their results often vary. This discrepancy may be due to the fact that games can be chance-dependent (CDG) or chance-independent (CIG). This may also be due to the nature of the relationship between immersion and PVG with a personality trait (conscientiousness), which is an antecedent of both variables. We decided to check whether conscientiousness and PVG relationship will be mediated by immersion and whether this relationship is dependent on the game type. The survey was addressed to board game club members who represented professional players, based on the time spent playing games as well as the ranking criterion. Ninety-four CDG and CIG players responded to the survey. The model proposed in this pilot study showed that conscientiousness explains PVG directly in CIG players, whereas in CDG players this mechanism is mediated by the immersion they experience. This discovery sheds new light on the potential motivational causes of PVG, which depend on both immersion and the chance type of game.

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