Video Game Addiction Linked to Asperger's Traits

April 22, 2008 -- People who spend hours and hours playing video games exhibit the same personality traits as people with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

The new research fuels concerns that video games could further alienate an already isolated group of people and increase mental health problems like depression.

In the study, John Charlton of the University of Bolton in England and colleagues examined nearly 400 gamers, most of whom were male, and questioned them about how much they played video games. The researchers didn't specifically study people with Asperger's syndrome.

The more time a person spent playing video games, the researchers found, the more likely they were to show three specific traits usually associated with Asperger's syndrome: neuroticism and a lack of extraversion and agreeableness.

Charlton suggests that people with Asperger's may be more vulnerable to becoming addicted to playing video games because it allows them to escape into a world where they can avoid face-to-face interactions.

"Our suggestion is that people with Asperger's might be prone to addiction to MMORPGs [massive multi-player online role playing games]," said John Charlton in an email. Charlton is a researcher at the University of Bolton and a study author.