Dr. Charlton clarifies study on gaming addiction and Asperger syndrome

Some people may have misinterpreted the recent findings in a recent study conducted by Dr. John Charlton and Ian Danforth. To help clear up any possible confusion, Charlton recently released a statement explaining the aim of the study, which links gamers’ addiction with some traits exhibited by those who have Asperger Syndrome. For more information, you can read our full article after the jump.

In a recent study conducted by Dr. John Charlton and Ian Danforth, it was revealed that computer game addicts may share some traits found in people with Asperger Syndrome. However, much like any scientific research based on an abstract study, a few of the finer points of the research may have been misinterpreted by some.

Charlton mentioned that the aim of the study was to identify the possible relationship between addiction and the personality characteristics found in people with Asperger Syndrome. He emphasized that the possibility merely exists based on the addiction indices they used and the personality traits that they looked up.

He further explained that gamers can be broken down into two groups which indicates their level of addiction: the highly engaged (but not necessarily addicted) gamers, and the core criteria (those who exhibit traits which identifies them as addicted to gaming). This study was conducted in relation with the Asheron’s Call players that they interviewed.

Here are some of the important points that Charlton wanted to clarify regarding his study:

• We didn’t target people with Asperger’s in our data collection (we collected data from Asheron’s Call players in general).
• We did not classify any of the participants as having Asperger’s.
• The point about Asperger’s was just that the relationships between addiction and the personality characteristics that we examined suggested that [massively multiplayer online role-playing games] MIGHT be particularly addictive to people with Asperger’s given the properties of both this type of game and the psychological characteristics of people with Asperger’s.
• It would be necessary to conduct specific studies to test whether people with Asperger’s syndrome are overrepresented in the population of MMORPG players and whether they are more likely to be classifiable as addicted than other players.
• In no way can it be said that Asperger’s can be caused by game playing (Asperger’s is thought to have a biological basis).
• We are not saying that all people who might be classifiable as addicts have Asperger’s.

The paper from Charlton and co-author Ian Danforth is still currently in the works and will be submitted for journal publication some time in the near future.