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.