Towards classification criteria for internet gaming disorder: Debunking differences between addiction and high engagement in a German sample of World of Warcraft players

• 93.6% play on level 85 in World of Warcraft, only 3.1% are addicted.
• We found significant differences between “engaged” and “addicted” gaming behavior.
• Addicted gamers play for more hours per week than engaged gamers.
• Tolerance or cognitive salience are of limited use for IGD classification.

Background: More evidence is needed for diagnostic criteria of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) before it can be included as a disorder, according to DSM-V. Some studies suggest differences between an addicted and highly engaged online-gaming behavior. The current pilot study investigates differences between engagement and addiction in a German sample of high-level players of World of Warcraft. Methods: 577 participants (mean age 24.38 years; 77.1% male) from German speaking areas (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) participated in our online-study with an adapted version of the “Asheron’s call” questionnaire (covering six addiction criteria including salience, euphoria, tolerance), the Internet Addiction Scale (ISS-20; covering criteria like tolerance and withdrawal symptoms), a quality-of-life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), an Immersion Tendency Questionnaire and a brief personality questionnaire. Results: 93.6% are high-level player (level 85); only 3.1% are addicted to the internet (ISS-20). Addicted gamers play 30.7 h per week compared to engaged players (20.9 h), have higher scores in the immersion questionnaire and lower scores in all quality-of-life dimensions. Conclusions: Our results suggest that criteria like cognitive salience, tolerance and euphoria are not suitable for IGD. Further research studies should address criteria to differ between high engagement and addiction for a clinically adequate measurement of IGD.