“The effects of Online Games in the Academic Performance of

Grade 11 students in Green Fields Integrated School of Laguna”

(Group 5)

I. Introduction

Online games rather what we also called computer games are very popular in

our today’s modern society, in terms of entertainment which it targets most of the adolescents.

Within the internet, we can explore many activities such as: Facebook, Twitter, browsing

Google for information, internet for communication etc. Some claimed that playing online

games is one way to release stress and fill your free time. While some said that too much game

can affect one's mind and attitude. For example, people who play games are constantly feeling

tired. When someone is more likely to spend more time in playing online game, some of them

may end up with being addicted to it. Based on established researches, it’s an interesting

discovery about the reasons behind why young people start to play online games as well as

how playing such games affects the daily lives and activities of them. The first computer games

is generally assumed to be game Spacewar, developed in 1962 at MIT (Stephen Russell a.o).

As the games starts to widen, young people, especially students, correspondingly get addicted

to the online games. Researchers are starting to make a conclusions that online games was

becoming a growing phenomenon for those you often plays it. An online game is a video played

over some form of computer network. This usually the internet or equivalent technology, but

games have always used whatever technology was current.

 Usually, an online games was used for leisure time only, but because it was

more time spending than a television, players tend to immerse in the game that they were

completely separated from their surroundings. The excitement and rivalry within the

challenges of the computer games, pushes the programmers and developers to recreate,

upgrade rather most of the games. But as the game became wider than before, it had covered a

wide range of health and other issues which also affect the human brain. Regions of the brain

associated with cravings in substance abuse also appear to be activated in gaming addicts when

they view images of computer games. Computer game has been considered as serious threat to

mental health in Asian countries with extensive broadband usage.

21st century students are the learners that live with the use of technology.

Technology, internet to be distinct is very useful tool for everyone, notably students, it helps

them gather data which support them throughout their studies. But because of the broaden

technology access – sharing files, documents, and most specially playing online games which

cause their goals and achievements breakdown. Seems like their academic performance was

affected logically. If that continues, they may suffer from a long term different major problems.

Because of this, we, researcher was prompted and had a desires to know if the selected high

school students are having achievement breakdown due to the lack of focused on their study

and what possible ways are we going to do to prevent the portentous problem. This study is

trying to show the effects of playing online games to the academic performance of the selected

grade 11 senior students of GFIS.

II. Background of the study

As the years past, many of the things today were invented by most of the

talented and smartest persons we ever known. Internet was its example, and within it we also

have the online games which widens and played by the adolescents, but together with the fun

and fulfilling moments while playing computer games was its benefits and hindrances.

About half of all adolescents are gaming for two or more hours per day,

spending more time at home and less time out on socializing. There are well-documented risks

to social development, physiology, sleep, mental health and school performance. The lack of

social skills where an adolescent doesn’t have the proper manner in socializing with others and

the different possible health problems such as: worsening of blurred eye sight and improper

way of gaining weight, there are just few examples of the bad effects of online gaming. When

an adolescent begins to focused on the game, it would have a big impact on their social

activities, especially when our subject are grade 11 students. Kuss and Griffiths (2012) stated

that internet addiction has been considered as a serious threat to mental health and the excessive

use of the internet has been linked to a variety of negative psychosocial consequences,

regarding the neuroimaging studies which shows the similarities between different types of

addictions, specifically issues with the online gaming of the young people. Too much is bad,

but it can also help students enhancing their academic skills. Playing online games isn’t that

bad for the young people, in fact it can help adolescent to increase their academic performance

in some ways. In Dr. Alberto Posso’s (2016) article, teenagers who regularly play online games

seems to improve their school results. Solving puzzles and moving onto the next level of the

game involves using some of the general knowledge and skills in math, reading, and science

which the professors, teachers rather, taught during days.

II. Statement of the Problem

This study will discuss the effects of online games on academic

performance of the senior students in the grade 11.

1. What is the profile of the respondents, in terms of:

1.1. Gender

1.2. Age

1.3. Strand

2. What are the effects of online games?

2.1. Health Problem

2.2. Increases Aggressive Behavior

2.3. Improve Academic Function

3. What affects student’s academic performance?

3.1. Poor eyesight

3.2. Peer Relationship breakdown

3.3. High Grades

4. Is there any significant relationship between the online games on the academic

performance and their personal-related variables?

References:

D.J Kuss and M.D Griffiths. 2012. The effect of online games in the academic
performance of the grade 11 students in GFIS (research paper). Internet and Gaming
Addiction: A Systematic Literature Review of Neuroimaging Studies.
https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/internet-and-gaming-addiction-systematic-
literature-review-neuroimaging-studies-2012

Posso, D. A. (2016). The effect of online games in the academic performance of the grade
11 students in GFIS (research paper). https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-
news/2016/august/online-gaming-can-boost-school-scores

Validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) in an Italian-

speaking sample
MonacisLucia, PaloValeria de, GriffithsMark D., SinatraMaria
Journal of Behavioral Addictions Dec 2016.
http://akademiai.com/author/Monacis%2C+Lucia

Social Activities, Self-Efficacy, Game Attitudes, and Game Addiction

Eui Jun Jeong and Doo Hwan Kim. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
April 2011, 14(4): 213-221. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0289

The association between online gaming, social phobia, and depression: an internet survey
Han-Ting Wei, Mu-Hong Chen, Po-Cheng Huang and Ya-Mei Bai BMC
Psychiatry201212:92
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-12-92

Problematic digital gaming behavior and its relation to the psychological, social and
physical health of Finnish adolescents and young adults. Manniko Nikko, Billeux Joel,
Kaariainen Maria (2010). http://akademiai.com/doi/full/10.1556/2006.4.2015.040.
IV. Theoretical Framework

The recent inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in Section III

(“Emerging Measures and Models”) of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) appears
to have increased the interest of researchers in the development of new standardized
psychometric tools for the assessment of various online addictions. IGD has been
characterized by a “persistent and recurrent use of the Internet to engage in games, often
with other players, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress” (APA, 2013,
p. 795). The DSM-5 asserts that further empirical evidence is needed to confirm the nine
criteria proposed for the clinical diagnosis of IGD, and to formally define IGD as a
mental disorder in future editions of the DSM. Of the nine criteria, seven criteria are
identical to those of gambling disorder and five criteria to substance use disorder (Petry et
al., 2014), and refer to preoccupation with Internet games, withdrawal symptoms,
tolerance, unsuccessful attempts to control participation in Internet games, loss of interest
in previous hobbies, continued excessive use of Internet games, deceiving family
members, use Internet games to escape, and losing a significant relationship, job or
education, or career opportunity. To be diagnosed as a disordered gamer, five (or more)
out of these criteria need to be endorsed over a period of 12 months (APA, 2013).

The nine IGD criteria directly map onto the six criteria of Griffiths’ components model of
addiction, and which have been used to conceptualize a number of technological
addictions. According to Griffiths, by “determining whether non-chemical […]
addictions are addictive in a non-metaphorical sense” other potentially addictive behavior
should be compared “against clinical criteria for other established drug-ingested
addictions” (Griffiths 2011). The six criteria comprise salience, mood modification,
tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, and relapse. Salience occurs when addictive
activities dominate a person’s thinking, feelings, and behavior; mood modification occurs
when a person uses substances or is engaged in activities to change their mood state;
tolerance refers to the need to increase (over time) the amounts of engagement in the
addictive behavior to achieve the initial mood-modifying effects.

In other theoretical studies, it stated that digital gaming is known to affect several aspects
of individuals’ psychological, social health, and physical health. Digital game addiction is
characterized by features such as low self-efficacy (Jeong & Kim, 2011), anxiety, low
self-esteem, and impulsivity traits (Billieux et al., 2015; Gentile et al., 2011). Moreover,
maladaptive cognitions, shyness and physical problems (Peng & Liu, 2010) were also
seen as predictive characteristics of gaming addiction. Gaming addiction was
accompanied by symptoms which might have developed as a consequence of other
disorders such as depression, anxiety and social phobia (Gentile et al., 2011).
Correspondingly, addictive players exhibited signs or symptoms such as social neglect,
loss of interest in other leisure activities, social and psychological isolation, escape
problems (Billieux et al., 2015; Young, 2009), aggressive behavior (Anderson, 2004;
Anderson et al., 2010), psychological stress, reduced school performance, decreased
sleep quality, suicidal ideation (Rehbein, Kleiman & Mössle, 2010), low sociability and
self-efficacy and lower satisfaction with life (Festl, Scharkow & Quandt, 2013). In
certain cases, digital game playing was allow to act as a coping strategy for deficiencies
or problems in the player’s life such as a lack of friends, relationship troubles, or
dissatisfaction with physical looks (Griffiths & Beranuy, 2009). Furthermore, prolonged
exposure to digital game was associated with physical health problems such as
musculoskeletal symptoms (Lui, Szeto & Jones, 2011).

In Finland, the effects of problematic game playing on players’ health are still largely
unexplored. Considering the increased prevalence of online gaming, this study aimed to
identify the problematic gaming behavior among Finnish adolescents and young adults,
and evaluate its connection to a variety of psychological (psychopathological symptoms,
satisfaction with life), social (preferences for online social interaction) and physical
health (general health, BMI, body discomforts, physical activity) symptoms. In this paper
we consider problematic gaming behavior in accordance with the recent framework that
sees it as “a continuum state which can range from a normal to severe condition”
(Griffiths et al., 2015).
V. Conceptual Framework

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

 Health Problems  Poor Eyesight

 Increases Agressive Behavior  Peer Relationship Breakdown

 Improve Academic Problems  High Grades

Feedbacks

According to some researchers, addictive players exhibited signs or

symptoms such as social neglect, loss of interest in other leisure activities, social
and psychological isolation (Jeong & Kim, 2011; Young, 2009), escape problems
(Billieux et al., 2015; Young, 2009), aggressive behavior (Anderson et al., 2010),
psychological stress, reduced school performance, decreased sleep quality,
suicidal ideation (Rehbein, Kleiman & Mössle, 2010), low sociability and self-
efficacy and lower satisfaction with life (Festl, Scharkow & Quandt, 2013). In
certain cases, digital game playing was allowed to act as a coping strategy for
deficiencies or problems in the player’s life such as a lack of friends, relationship
troubles, or dissatisfaction with physical looks. Furthermore, prolonged exposure
to digital game was associated with physical health problems such as
musculoskeletal symptoms and worsening of blurred eyesight (Lui, Szeto &
Jones, 2011).

Alberto Posso (2016), from the Royal Melbourne Institute of

Technology, analysed data from high school students across Australia taking the
2012 Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa) - internationally
recognised tests that are administered by the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study looked at the correlation
between academic scores and the children’s personal interests and activities
outside of school, including internet usage. Posso, who published the research in
the International Journal of Communication, said: “The analysis shows that those
students who play online video games obtain higher scores on Pisa tests, all other
things being equal. “When you play online games you’re solving puzzles to move
to the next level and that involves using some of the general knowledge and skills
in maths, reading and science that you’ve been taught during the day.” The cause
of the association between game playing and academic success is not clear from
the research. It is possible that children who are gifted at math, science and
reading are more likely to play online games. Alternatively, it could be that more
proficient students work more efficiently, and therefore have more free time,
making online gaming a marker of possible academic ability rather than
something that actively boosts performance.
VI. Significance of the study

This will discuss the benefits of the following subjects throughout the

study.

Students – This will provide us with some knowledge regarding the effects of

online games and how it can affect our academic performance. It will also give us

the realization that playing online games can destroy our mind and maybe take us

away from our better future.

Parents – They will profit from this study, since the parents will be aware of the

problems of their children and the effects of online games to their academic

performance. It will help them to speak for their children and motivate them in

their studies in order to achieve higher academic performance.

Teacher – The given datas would guide the teachers on what to do to the

students who are always absent on the classes due to hanging out in the computer

shop all day. The teachers would be able to understand on why some student

prefer to play online games rather than to study.

Researcher – This is to have a good first impression by demonstrating the

excellence of our research and the sophistication of your analyses and

interpretations. It also offers a perfect chance to establish important matters of

style and formatting.

Future Researcher – The ideas presented can be use as reference data in

conducting new researches rather in testing the validity of other related findings.

This study also serves as their cross-reference that will give them a background or

an overview through the rest of the study.

VII. Scope and Limitation

This study covers the GFIS grade 11 students, who are open to

technology and often play through online. The researcher will gather information

about the effects of online games through the academic performance of the senior

high school grade 11 students. This will further explain and discuss the reason

beyond the illiterate behavior of the teenagers.

VIII. Definition of terms

Immerse – To involve oneself deeply in a particular activity or interest.

Computer Game - Any of various games, recorded on cassette or disc for use in
a home computer, that are played by manipulating a mouse, joystick, or the keys
on the keyboard of a computer in response to the graphics on the screen.
Substance abuse - Also known as drug abuse. It is a patterned use of drug in
which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods which
harmful to others, and is a form of substance related disorder.
Psychosocial – It is relating to the interrelation of social factors and individual
thought and behavior.
Excessive – Which more than is necessary, normal or desirable immoderate, and
going beyond what is usual normal or proper.
Well-documented – Is used to describe something that is known about or known
to be true because there are many documents that describe it.
Adolescents – It’s a transitional stage of physical and psychological development

that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood.

Behavioral addiction - is a form of addiction that involves a compulsion to

engage in a rewarding non-drug-related behavior despite any negative

consequences to the person's physical, mental, social or financial well-being.

Video game addiction - is a hypothetical behavioral addiction characterized by

excessive or compulsive use of computer games or video games, which interferes

with a person's everyday life.

Health – This is the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit She is the

picture of health.; especially, freedom from physical disease or pain nursed them

back to health