Online Gaming Issues in Offline Couple Relationships: A Primer for Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs)

The twenty-first century saw the dawn of a new genre of computer role-playing games called the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game" (MMORPG). A recent survey of 1,200 people conducted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) found that 68% of United States (U.S.) households are playing video games (ESA, 2009). In September 2009, the MMORPG.com website (which claims to be the headquarters for online multiplayer games, online role playing games, and free online games) boasts a total of 1,120,491 members. Although it is generally believed that household gamers are primarily children and adolescents, ESA (2009) found the average age of the American gamer is 35 (while the average age for the video game purchaser is 39) and had been gaming for 12 years (ESA, 2009). Online gaming also cuts across a wide variety of demographic groups. Women are the fastest growing demographic in the gaming world with 40% of them currently playing games. An estimated 25% of seniors also game, representing a nine percent increase over the last decade (ESA, 2009). Although there is no published current research on the topic, Mitchell (1985) found that video games helped families to achieve a certain level of togetherness not experienced previously. Additionally, however, there is some evidence that suggests online gaming can create difficulties for couples (especially when only one of the partners participates in gaming). For instance, Mitchell and Wells (2007) found that gaming was "more likely associated with the primary presenting" problem in couples treatment than a secondary one (Mitchell & Wells, 2007). As further anecdotal evidence, the "Warcraft Widows" online support group was developed in 2005 for those whose partners play a popular online game, "World of Warcraft" (over 10 million players; Gamasutra.com, 2008). The purpose of this group, which boasts 4000 members, is to "provide solace to all those ignored loved ones" whose partners' play the popular online game, "World of Warcraft" (DeMarco, 2006). In general, 36% of gamers are married and 22% have children (ESA, 2005; Yee, 2004, 2006). With such a large number of gamers in married or dating relationships and gaming becoming a primary presenting problem rather than secondary, it is critical couple and family therapists understand how gaming affects relationships. Although there is some evidence of a negative correlation between Internet usage and interpersonal relationships (Liu & Kuo, 2007), no research specifically investigates this question. What little literature is published is scattered among a variety of disciplines (communication, psychology, marriage and family therapy, etc.) and lacks systemic conceptualization, thus preventing marriage and family therapists (MFTs) from readily extracting relevant information into clinical practice. Because of the prevalence of online gaming in couple's lives, we were interested clarifying what is known about online gaming and interpersonal relationships as well as what is not known (specifically, how couples might experience online gaming within the context of their relationship. To accomplish this, we conducted a hermeneutic study related to online gaming and couples. The Research Process Philosophical Underpinnings As the interest in online gaming continues to grow, it is imperative that couple and family therapists understand how this activity affects the lifecycle and dynamics of a couple. We were interested in taking what is known about gaming and interpersonal dynamics, evaluating the findings of the collection of studies as a whole in order to determine how they apply to couples, and presenting the information to assist practicing therapists and family therapy scholars in understanding how the phenomenon manifests in couple dynamics. We believe that a hermeneutic research strategy would best fit our approach in that this type of research is not necessarily utilized to discuss results or effectiveness, but to explore perspectives that may influence the topic (Kinsella, 2006). …