"Online Gaming is bad for your marriage"

**ghosthunter** · February 22nd, 2012 05:57 PM

Online Gaming is bad for your marriage, research shows
February 21, 2012 6:01pm

Spouses who spend too much time on online gaming may risk ruining their marriage, according to a new study by researchers at Brigham Young University.

But the study also showed couples who both gamed and interacted with each other’s avatars enhanced their real-life relationship, according to Men's Health.

“When you argue about something and when that something gets in the way of you spending time together as a couple, that’s going to be a problem,” says study author Neil Lundberg, Ph.D.

In a study of 349 married couples where at least one partner played online role-playing games, three of four non-gaming spouses want their partner to pay more attention to their real-life relationship.

The most harmful aspects of gaming seemed to be the resulting arguments and disrupted bedtime habits, and the problems were worst for partners of new gamers.

However, the study also found three-fourths of two-gamer couples reported that playing together made their marriages more satisfying.

Newbie tensions

Anthony Rotolo, a professor at the Syracuse University iSchool who studies social networks, said he has friends whose long-term relationships began through playing together online.

But Rotolo said that, while sharing online experiences can bring a couple closer together, dragging a newbie into one's established online world can cause "the same type of tension as bringing your wife along to poker night."

He said that if the girl is interested in gaming but not experienced, it might be better to pick a game that’s new to you both and with a storyline she finds compelling.

Communication boundaries

The findings also suggested that couples communicate clearly about boundaries and not let their activities interfere with the rituals and routines a partner values most—like going to bed together, for instance.

“Do things that foster communication and connection, not just being in each other’s presence. Whether you are walking together in the real world or in the virtual world, you have to be able to connect with one another,” Lundberg said.

“It’s not the hours that make a difference. It’s really what it does to the relationship — whether or not it creates conflict and quarreling over the game,” Time quoted Lundberg as saying.

Gaming stats

For the study, published in the Journal of Leisure Research, researchers surveyed 349 married gamers.

In 132 couples, only one person gamed and 84 percent of the time it was the husband.

In the other 217 couples, both partners gamed, but in cases where one person played more than the other, it was again the husband 73 percent of the time.

On average, the study respondents were 33 years old and had been married seven years.

Time said previous research found that more than a third of players of multiplayer online role-playing games are married; 22 percent have kids.

Overall, researchers found that 75% of gamers’ spouses wished they would put more effort into their marriage, and when one person spent a lot more time gaming than the other, it usually led to dissatisfaction and arguing.

Like any other activity that gets in the way of couples’ intimacy and family time, gaming had the same effect, Time said.

Couples that play together

But researchers were surprised to discover that for couples in which both partners played, 76 percent reported that gaming was actually good for their marriage.

It said interacting with one another’s avatars online led to higher marital satisfaction in real life, so long as both people were happy with their mutual participation.

Also, couples who gamed on the same team were less likely to report being satisfied than those who played on separate teams — possibly in part because more advanced gamers got frustrated when their less skillful spouses couldn’t keep up.

“We didn’t realize that there was a whole group of couples who game together. In those gaming couples where the marital satisfaction was low, the same issues existed. For example, if they argued about gaming and bedtime rituals were interrupted, even though they gamed together, they still had lower marital-satisfaction scores,” said Lundberg.

Bigger problem?

Time said the researchers also suggest that gamers’ marital dissatisfaction could potentially be a bigger problem than the study found, since many gamers declined to participate in the study.

“This study really does verify that gaming has an effect on marital satisfaction,” Lundberg said. “It’s not just a random occurrence that a few couples are dealing with.” — TJD, GMA News

SOURCE: Online Gaming is bad for your marriage, research shows | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

**greatauror28** · February 22nd, 2012 06:09 PM

Now, all I have to do is show this to wifey and we'll be trolling Mists of Pandaria in no time

**BratPAQ** · August 31st, 2023 01:27 AM

My wife has been playing this online game on her smartphone since 2018. Stress reliever lang nya after a hard days work. Malakas na yung account nya.

Now someone offered to buy her account for $5000. Although hindi nya pwede ibenta dahil attached yung game account sa personal email nya. She admitted she would sell it if it's not connected to her personal email. [emoji23]

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tsikot Forums mobile app

**makelovenotwar** · August 31st, 2023 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by BratPAQ

My wife has been playing this online game on her smartphone since 2018. Stress reliever lang nya after a hard days work. Malakas na yung account nya.

Now someone offered to buy her account for $5000. Although hindi nya pwede ibenta dahil attached yung game account sa personal email nya. She admitted she would sell it if it's not connected to her personal email. [emoji23]

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tsikot Forums mobile app

Anong game ito?