Psychological portrait of a modern young gambler

Tarasova Sof'ya Yur'evna PhD in Psychology Senior Researcher at the Psychological Institute of RAO 125009, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Mokhovaya, 9 str. 4 syutarasov@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Currently, the problem of gaming addictions (gambling addiction) it is very acute ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}. The anonymity guaranteed by the gaming space helps to create a "new self" and realize various personality tendencies, including destructive ones. For a gambler, the virtual world is safe, well-known and does not require taking any kind of responsibility. It's fun and interesting in the virtual world, communication is much easier and simpler than in the real world. Also, importantly, you can "make yourself anyone": create an "ideal" appearance, parameters, choose a character… In general, choose a new self and play by your own rules. Or you can choose a game that corresponds to the "inner world" of the player, that is, there is some kind of compensation. Therefore, for a gambler, leaving the virtual world is painful and often meaningless.

Gambling (gambling addiction, gambling addiction) is a pathological tendency to gambling. It consists in frequent repeated episodes of gambling, which dominate a person's life and lead to a decrease in social, professional and other values. Gambling addiction also includes many types of gambling, such as: card games; casino games; lotteries; betting on races; sports betting; playing slot machines, etc. Gambling has probably existed as long as a person has existed. They have their origin since ancient times. Archaeologists at excavations often find objects that were used in gambling, for example, dice. To date, almost all board games include this subject.

Further – more. Around 1765, the first roulette device appeared in France. Then the first casino appeared in 1863 in Monaco. The Ekberg sweepstake, a mechanical betting machine, appeared in 1880 in New Zealand. This type of entertainment has remained particularly popular to this day, since bookmaking is a legal "entertainment". Bookmaking has undergone significant changes on the way of its formation, now anyone can make a "bet" by downloading the application or registering on the website (there are age restrictions, but many manage to bypass them). The illusion of "easy" money that can be won in a sweepstake captures the mind, especially it is dangerous when a person still managed to win a certain amount, since it is often extremely difficult to get rid of the feeling of quick earnings.

 Slot machines, which are popularly called "one-armed bandits", were introduced to the world in 1895. They are popular to this day. At the moment slot machines, roulette, various types of card games are an integral part of any casino. The casino, legal or underground, originally existed only for the "rich" and the "elite" of society, however, with the increasing spread of slot machines, the casino became accessible to the middle class. Of course, everyone was attracted and attracted by the possibility of an easy win, and no matter how much money a person invests, every time he thinks: "that's it, now I'm going to hit a big jackpot." Slot machines have spread widely in many countries, successfully displacing other types of entertainment. For example, already in the late 70s in the UK, especially in small towns, there was a problem of low attendance of cinemas, up to the need to close them, due to the increasing popularity of slot machine halls.

It is important to note that until the 21st century it was not possible to participate in the game alone. A total revolution in this regard happened recently, there was a complete automation of the gameplay. Although initially there was no goal to create digital technology for "toys", computer technology gradually reached a completely new, progressive level. This new digital level has made it possible to create a "virtual reality" that is increasingly subjectively close to the real one.

For accurate differentiation and understanding of the issue, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of pathological and non-pathological gambling. There is the following classification of gambling ^[12]:

·         Social (problem-free) gambling. Most of the players are social gamblers who have no dependence on the game. For social gamblers, the game is entertainment that has no negative consequences. They control their gaming activity, rarely play and rarely think about the game. Social gambling usually takes place with friends or colleagues and lasts for a limited period of time. In this case, the game is more of a way for people to communicate.

· Frequent (regular) gambling is singled out by some authors as an intermediate stage between social and problem gambling. The game becomes an important part of the life of such gamblers, they can be focused on one type of game (for example, sports betting or lottery). But such players do not lose control over the frequency of the game and the cost of the game. Gambling does not affect their professional success; they have other types of entertainment besides gambling. However, as a result, a gambler who often plays can move into the next category — problem gambling.

·          Problematic gambling. For such gamblers, gambling addiction can affect their professional activities; their long-term goals and ambitions are often related to gambling; they often think of gambling as a second job or a source of income; they can spend money intended for other purposes on gambling. Usually problem gamblers can reduce or stop the game for a certain period and can do this to prove that they have no problems with gambling. Such players can borrow money for the game from others or withdraw it from a credit card. At this stage of gambling, players begin to have problems communicating with their loved ones because of the time and money spent on the game.

·         Pathological (compulsive) gambling or pathological gambling addiction. This type of gambling is recognized as a disorder in both ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases) and DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition). In the DSM-5, gaming disorder is defined as persistent and repetitive problematic gaming behavior that can cause clinically significant impairment or distress.

· Professional gambling. The gaming activity of such players is planned and systematic. Gambling is their main source of income. Some professional players have a predisposition to pathological gambling and may eventually move into the category of problematic and pathological players.

The gambling situation is of concern in the context of a pandemic, when the symptoms of anxiety and depression may increase ^{[13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19]}. Many researchers express concern about the impact of the pandemic on the gambling industry and on players. The first point of view is that most players' gaming behavior has decreased or remained unchanged ^{[20, 21, 22, 23]}. The first point of view is described in the meta-analysis by Magaly Brodeur, but it has significant limitations ^[24]. The fact is that 14 papers were analyzed in the meta-analysis, 6 of which were performed in Sweden, so it is difficult to extend the results to other countries.  In different countries, quarantine took place in different ways, with varying degrees of severity. For example, in our work, the study participants were people who played in a quarantine club in the Moscow region almost underground. There is also a second opinion. In a number of studies, the growth of passion for the game was observed in groups of players with high risks, such as: young age, male gender and low level of education ^{[25, 26]}.

The main risk is that quarantine restrictions on real gambling have led to an increase in online gambling ^[27]. The Roblox gaming platform has announced that the number of monthly active users has exceeded 150 million people, which is 35 million more than before the quarantine. In February 2020, the Andreessen Horowitz venture fund conducted research and found out that more than 115 million children and teenagers play Roblox every month, and on average each user launches 20 games per month. According to the analytical company AppsFlyer, the number of downloads of mobile games in the first seven months of 2020 increased by 45% compared to a year earlier. The growth of mobile game downloads in Russia during this period was 83.4%. Among the countries providing the largest growth in spending in mobile games, Brazil leads with an increase in downloads by 131%, followed by Indonesia with an increase of 126.5% and India with an increase of 124.5%. The most significant number of downloads were for games of the so—called hyper-casual orientation - these are games without a plot with minimal video format, aimed at a wide gaming audience. They showed an increase of 250% in the period from January to August 2020.

It is worth noting here that game genres are determined not only by the plot itself, but by the game actions that the player most often performs, as well as the design and nature of tasks and actions.  Genre classification is the most convenient and universal. The following genres are most often distinguished ^[28]:

1. "Action" (from the English action — action), a popular subspecies of which is "shooter", "stealth action", "fighting game", etc.), are games involving battle and active overcoming of certain obstacles, usually in three—dimensional space. Emphasis is placed on the exploitation of the player's physical capabilities, including eye-hand coordination, reaction speed. (Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Mortal Combat, Cuphead, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell, Dishonored, Resident Evil).

2. "Arcade" — games with a primitive scenario and gameplay that require high-speed decision-making and reaction. A computer or video game is called an "arcade game" if it is directly ported from a slot machine or is similar in concept to slot machine games. They never include platformers, role-playing games, simulators (except for the so-called "dance simulators"), strategies.

3. "Quest" ("wanderer") — games, the advancement of the plot of which is achieved by searching for objects, solving puzzles, riddles.

4. "Simulator" — games that simulate any area of reality: family life, sports team, transport management. In our opinion, this is one of the most dangerous trends, since it is practically a "substitute for life".

5. "Role—playing game" (RPG) - games with a detailed plot component in which the player is invited to assume the role of a certain character.

6. "Strategy" — games with a military or economic plot, the success of which depends on the development of a certain strategy and tactics.

7. "Traditional games" — virtual versions of real games (chess, checkers).

8.                  Multiplayer online games (MMO) are also singled out as a separate genre. MMO games are fundamentally different from single-player games: the world of online games continues its development regardless of the gaming sessions of specific players. Hundreds and thousands of users take part in its promotion at the same time, which provides ample opportunities for interaction, cooperation or confrontation with other players. It is often argued that games of this genre are the most motivationally attractive and most often cause addictive behavior.

9.                  Online and offline games.  There is a significant difference between these games, but now the creators of the game often allow you to choose the type of preferred game. Often offline games have several storylines that the player can follow, offline games have a well-developed plot, as well as an ending corresponding to the player's choices. For the most part, online games cannot "boast" of such a variety of selected plots, there is more emphasis on interaction with other players. It is very difficult for an online player to leave the game. The player is included in the interaction with other players. Becoming a member of the team, he becomes dependent on others. It seems to the player that he can "let down" other players/ team if he leaves the game now: "the game is not for stupid people; if you play in a team, then you should not substitute the whole team."

There are more and more people suffering from gambling addiction. Gaming addiction is getting younger and younger ^[29]. The world of gamers is changing: there is a separation of gamers on different grounds. On Internet resources, you can find the traditional system of classification of gamers by levels of gaming activity: casual gamer, sociable gamer, tru gamer, addicted gamer and hardcore gamer.

1. Casual gamer – fans of computer games as one of the types of entertainment that give relaxation, rest and escape from everyday worries.  As a rule, they prefer classic arcade games (Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Lemmings, Miner, Tetris) or their modern counterparts.

2. Sociable gamer – fans of online games, for whom socialization through the game and social communication in its conditions are primarily important. This type of gamers is most active in social networks, gathering nominal "friends", forming various groups. Players realize a kind of virtual communication form without interpersonal interactions. 

3. Tru gamer is the largest group of gaming device users who are ready to spend all their free time in virtual games. Tru gamer does not seek to follow all the events taking place in the gaming industry. He, as a rule, prefers some type of games or a certain game to which he can be devoted for years. The game for tgi gamer is an important hobby, but it does not have the nature of addiction.

4. Dedicated gamer – fans of virtual games. They have a predilection for gaming activities up to the avoidance of other activities (study, work, communication with real people, communication in the family, etc.). The Addicted gamer is attracted to games for which you can spend a lot of time. For example: online role-playing games such as Dota 2, World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, Lineage, global strategies of Starcraft, Warcraft, massive network shooters Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Team Fortress, etc. This type of gamers is characterized by a desire to withdraw from social activity, family, educational or work activities. Their enthusiasm borders on fanaticism. Consciousness is fixed on one object. Players are aggressive to anything that hinders the course of the game.

5. Hardcore gamer or esports players tend to play all the time. They prefer online, long games, but, unlike the "enthusiastic" ones, they are always focused on maximum results. Hardcore gamer occupy the first places in the tables of ranks of many game servers, become the pinnacles of skill for many gamers. It should be noted that gaming as a sport has gained its status in Russia, where this type of competition has gained a lot of supporters. It is also important to note that for esports players, the game can be the main source of earnings, so they have a slightly different attitude to it, rather like their favorite job. 

As such, there is no classification of gamers by age. Rather, the type of games you choose is important. To date, the gender classification is becoming quite blurred, as there are girls who, along with young people, prefer the same games and genres.

Now more about the factors of the formation of the gambler. We are guided by the concept of violence of the World Health Organization, which highlights social, psychological and biological factors ^[30]. In a similar integrative way, experts talk about the causes of suicidal behavior ^[31]. Speaking of social, they mean the growth of informational stresses, side effects of civilization. Already after the Great Patriotic War, the Second World War, they began to talk about expanding the scope of clinical psychology in connection with information stress. Social factors as a source of stress include changes in social values during the "breakdown" of established social relations. The psychological factor most often includes personal characteristics, psychological traumas and the social situation of development in general. It's no secret that the mental and personal health of a child depends very much on the family situation. Family risk factors can be: incomplete family, criminal family, immoral family, toxic parents, cruelty towards the child, ambivalence of parents towards the child, permissive parenting style, authoritarian parenting style, lack of personal boundaries, both in the child and in adults. No wonder they say that "we all come from childhood." Violations in the field of interpersonal relations can lead to various kinds of addictions in a child. It also happens that parents or the immediate environment by their example can arouse a child's interest in the game. For example, adult family members themselves spend a lot of time playing. It can be said that family difficulties are the most dangerous. 

There is an opinion that people who are "potentially prone to addiction" can be "calculated" by the pathology that is inherent in their brain. In this regard, they talk about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulsivity and disinhibition ^[32].

In addition, the passion for the game is associated with a tendency to risk or a need for thrills. Sociological studies show that gambling is most often played by two types of people. Players of the first type have very calm and even boring professions (accountant, librarian, veterinarian). The second type is engaged in high-risk professional activities (police officers, stockbrokers, surgeons). The former do this because of the lack of thrills in everyday life. In the latter, the propensity to risk is, apparently, a stable character trait. It is impossible to exclude the possibility of losing a sense of reality, the transfer of "game plots" into real life.

By a psychological portrait we mean a person in the totality of its features. These are motivational, affective and intellectual constructs. Values are an integral part of the portrait of a gambler. Values are understood as the "standard of due": "Social values, refracted through the prism of individual life activity, enter the psychological structure of the individual in the form of personal values" ^[33]. Personal values are, at least in the theoretical ideal, a source of motivation for human behavior. Each person has his own specific, even unique hierarchy of personal values.

The paper attempts to describe the psychological portrait of a modern young gambler. The emphasis is placed on the psychological features of hostility in the portrait of a gambler. We assumed that gamblers are characterized by either aggressiveness, or the expectation of aggression, an aggressive image of the world. An aggressive or hostile image of the world is set up to "catch the threat". A hostile image of the world is a repetitive affectively charged judgment about the world and oneself mainly from the position of attack and defense. Neutral facts, situations are given a threatening shade. At the same time, there are data indicating a negative correlation between a hostile image of the world and resilience in the real world ^[34]. An empirical study shows that "hostility and resilience oppose each other as traits defined by two different images of the world" ^{[35, p. 40]}. Namely: unconstructive processing of life experience leads to hostility and mental distress.

We also assumed that the gaming "experience" positively correlates with the level of aggressiveness. A graduate of the Department of Clinical Psychology of Dubna State University, Ksenia Surnina, participated in the study.

Methods and techniquesMini-Mult questionnaire.

Abbreviated version The Minnesota Multidimensional Personality List MMPI. MMRI was proposed by American psychologists in the 1940s and 1950s. The adaptation of MMRI was carried out in the USSR in the 1960s at the V.N. Bekhterev Institute by F.B. Berezin and M.P. Miroshnikov. The Mini-Cartoon questionnaire is an abbreviated version of MMRI, contains 71 questions, 11 scales, three of them are evaluative. The first three evaluation scales measure the sincerity of the subject, the degree of reliability of the test results and the amount of correction made by excessive caution. The remaining 8 scales are basic and evaluate personality traits.

Description of the scales:

1. The lie scale (L) evaluates the sincerity of the subject.

2. The confidence scale (F) identifies unreliable answers; the higher the value on this scale, the less reliable the results are. In these cases, a second examination is carried out. During the briefing, the examinee's attention is drawn to the need for more careful work with the questionnaire. If an unreliable result is obtained during the repeated examination, a decision may be made on the inexpediency of further work with the candidate for the study participants. The correction scale (K) smooths out distortions introduced by excessive caution and control of the subject during testing. High scores on this scale indicate unconscious control of behavior. The K scale is used to correct the basic scales, which depend on its magnitude. High scores on the basic scales are scores above 70. Scores below 40 are considered low. Basic scales:1. Hypochondria (Hs) – the "proximity" of the subject to the astheno-neurotic type.

Subjects with high grades are slow, passive, take everything on faith, are submissive to the authorities, slowly adapt, do not tolerate a change of situation, easily lose their balance in social conflicts.

2. Depression (D). Sensitive persons, prone to anxiety, timid, shy have high marks. In business, they are diligent, conscientious, moral and obligatory, but they are not able to make a decision on their own, there is no self-confidence, at the slightest setbacks they fall into despair.

3. Hysteria (Hy) identifies individuals prone to neurological defensive reactions of the conversion type. They use the symptoms of a somatic disease as a means of avoiding responsibility. All problems are solved by going into illness. The main feature of such people is the desire to seem bigger, more significant than they really are, the desire to attract attention to themselves at all costs, the thirst for admiration. The feelings of such people are often superficial, and the interests are shallow.

4. Psychopathies (Pd). High scores on this scale indicate social maladaptation; such people are aggressive, conflicted, and neglect social norms and values. The mood is unstable. They are touchy, excitable. There may be a temporary rise on this scale caused by some reason.

6. Paranoia (Pa). The main feature of people with high scores on this scale is a tendency to form super–valuable ideas. These people are one-sided, aggressive and vindictive. Who does not agree with them, who thinks otherwise, is either a stupid person or an enemy. They actively inculcate their views, so they have frequent conflicts with others. They always overestimate their own slightest failures.

7. Psychasthenia (Pt). Diagnoses persons with an anxious and hypochondriacal type of character, who are characterized by anxiety, fearfulness, indecision, constant doubts.

8. Schizoidness (Se). Individuals with high scores on this scale are characterized by a schizoid type of behavior. They are able to subtly feel and perceive abstract images, but everyday joys and sorrows do not cause them an emotional response. A common feature of the schizoid type is a combination of hypersensitivity with emotional coldness and aloofness.

9. Hypomania (Ma). People with high scores on this scale are characterized by high spirits, regardless of the circumstances. They are active, active, energetic and cheerful. They love working with frequent changes, are willing to contact people, but their interests are superficial and unstable, they lack endurance and perseverance.

The Bass-Perry aggression questionnaire in S.N. Enikolopov's adaptation ^[36]. The Russian version of this questionnaire consists of the following scales: 1) Physical aggression – self-report about your behavioral propensity for physical aggression (behavioral component); 2) Anger – self-report about your tendency to irritation (emotional component); 3) Hostility is a scale consisting of two subscales, Suspicion and Sensitivity to resentment (cognitive component).

Diagnostics of the need to search for sensations (M. Zuckerman).The technique is used to study the level of need for sensations of various kinds. The search for new sensations is of great importance for a person, because it stimulates emotions and imagination, can develop creative potential. The subjects are offered a number of statements combined in pairs. From each pair, it is necessary to choose one statement that a person considers the most characteristic for himself.

 "Value orientations" (M. Rokich). The system of value orientations determines the content side of the personality's orientation, its relationship to the world around it, to other people, to itself. Ideally, it forms the core of the motivation of life activity, the basis of the life concept and the "philosophy of life".

M. Rokich distinguishes two classes of values:

- terminal – beliefs that the ultimate goal of individual existence is worth striving for;

- instrumental – beliefs that a certain course of action or personality trait is preferable in any situation.

This division corresponds to the traditional division into values-goals and values-means. The respondent is presented with two lists of values (18 in each), on sheets of paper in alphabetical order. In the lists, the subject assigns a rank number to each value (the most significant value is 1, the least significant is 18). First, a set of terminal values is presented, and then a set of instrumental values.

Test of humorous phrases (TUF). Proposed by A.G. Shmelev and V.S. Babina. It is an original methodology for diagnosing the motivational sphere of personality, combining the advantages of a standardized measurement test and an individualized projective technique. According to the authors, the relevant practical task of the TUF is, first of all, diagnostics for the purpose of individual psychological counseling and correction.

The methodology is based on the method of free thematic classification of multivalued stimuli — humorous phrases. The appearance of a large class is evidence of the presence of a super-significant (dominant) motivation, the subject content of which corresponds to the subject content of this class. The stimulus material consists of 100 humorous phrases, of which 40 phrases are ambiguous. The subjects, depending on their own interpretation, see in them one or another of the 10 main topics. Main topics:

1. Aggression is self—defense.

2. Inter-sexual relations.

3.                  Addictions (in this case, drunkenness).

4. Money.

5.                  Fashion.

6. Career.

7.                  Family troubles.

8.                  Social problems.

9. Mediocrity in art and other creative work.

10. Human stupidity. 

The subject receives a list of the 10 spheres listed above. It is necessary to read consistently humorous phrases and refer them to any of these areas. The presence of an installation is judged by how many phrases the subject attributed to a particular area: the more cards attributed to this area, the stronger the installation on it. In turn , the installation may indicate several things:

- About the presence of insufficiently realized, but strong enough needs in this area in the subject.

- About the presence of strong problems in this area, causing constant worries.

The methodology is able to answer only the question concerning the presence of the installation, but it cannot fully explain it.

This study combines quantitative survey methods with qualitative semi-selective methods. We were interested in the repetition of personal tendencies that we found in questionnaires and in projective techniques. This approach allows you to double-check the results. In our work, we studied hostility. "The main problem of studying hostility is that it does not have unambiguous behavioral or any other external correlates and exists only in the system of human relations, his ideas about the outside world. The analysis of the main methodological approaches to the study of hostility has shown that none of the methods of assessing hostility, taken separately, does not allow to fully and reliably judge the quantitative and qualitative aspects of hostility. Therefore, when studying such a complex phenomenon as hostility, one should adhere to the principles of syndrome analysis" ^{[37, p. 9]}. It can be such a battery of techniques: psychological conversation, MMPI personality questionnaire, Bass-Perry questionnaire, Wagner hand test, analysis of meaningful needs, motives and personal conflicts ^[38]. We paid a lot of attention to the psychological conversation. The following projective tests were used:

Hand Test Wagner. An interpretive projective method used to interpret the meaning of the hand poses for the interviewees. This was used as a traditional pathopsychological technique for identifying significant needs, motives and personal conflicts. We were guided by the experience of using the hand test by S.N. Enikolopov ^{[39, 40]}. First, they found out what the person who owns this hand was doing. Then they offered the subject to describe in more detail the situation in which the action takes place. The following criteria were defined for evaluating and analyzing the number of responses as a percentage: active (ACT) and passive (PAS) reaction, anxiety (F), aggression (AGR), affectivity (AFF), communication (COM), demonstrativeness (EX), dependence (DEP), disability (CRIP) ^[41]. Aggressiveness or the expectation of aggression is calculated by the formula ((AGR+DIR) - (COM+DEP+AFF+F)).

Pathopsychological examination. Clinical and psychological conversation. Collection of psychological life stories of teenagers. These methods were used to study the social situations of the study participants' development and their adaptive potential. The following issues were considered in detail: online games; the amount of time spent playing; playing on paid servers; "pumping" your character; playing during quarantine; family or relationships; study-work; psychoactive substances; suicidal thoughts.   

 Data analysis methodsDescriptive statistics methods were used to analyze the data.

 Correlation analysis (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient) and analysis of intergroup differences (Mann-Whitney U-test) were performed.

A qualitative analysis of the content needs, motives and personal conflicts of the participants was carried out based on the results of the entire set of tests.

Study participants

The study involved 40 young people from 16 to 28 years old, 20 boys and 20 girls, regular visitors of gaming computer clubs in the city of Dubna, Moscow region. 26 study participants spend more than 3 hours a day in the game. All tests were conducted individually. Participation was voluntary. After psychological tests, feedback was provided to the study participants upon their request. The control group consisted of psychology students of the Dubna State University (25 girls and 15 boys).

Results and their discussion

Let's describe the study participants. The generalized results of the conversation are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Generalized results of the conversation with gamers.

It is interesting to note that out of 40 participants, 36 people rated their attitude to the game as positive, excluding only moments of loss, etc. No one showed a negative attitude. According to the gaming preferences of the study participants, they can be described as an accredited gamer. Contrary to the opinion that men are more likely to go into the gaming world, women in our study play on an equal basis with men. Game genre preferences of boys and girls are similar.

Let's describe the MMPI profiles. In general, according to the MMPI questionnaire, normatively lowered personality profiles were obtained, which may be associated with an increased sense of caution and distrust. Increases in the low profile were found on the psychasthenia scale in 26 of the examined, on the hypochondria scale in 23 of the examined, which suggests the presence of somatization of anxiety in the portrait of a gambler. Girls are more hypochondriacal than boys (p=0.06). The state of maladaptation, reflected in the profile by an increase in the 7th scale, is characterized by sleep disorders, obsessive fears, a sense of confusion, anxiety, a sense of impending trouble. With a lowered 9th scale, they indicate pronounced emotional discomfort, difficulties of adaptation of a chronic nature. Most often they are associated with neurotic development. Outwardly, the behavior of such people does not catch the eye as deviating from the norm, but internal disharmony affects the tension constantly felt by a person, a reduced mood with self-doubt, a sense of unhappiness, low self-esteem.

In the control group, more even, harmonious MMPI profiles were obtained. Personality traits are more balanced. In most cases, the leading peak falls on the 9th scale - the scale of optimism - in the profile, in which the remaining scales are in the range of the norm corridor (from 45 to 55 Tons). Such a profile reflects activity, high motivation to achieve, a high level of love of life, self-confidence, positive self-esteem, a penchant for jokes. Everyday difficulties are perceived as easily surmountable, otherwise the significance of the unattainable is easily devalued. This is a variant of the adolescent and youth norm, which manifests itself in emotional outbursts with quick withdrawal, inconstancy in attachments, ridiculousness and amorous. Such characteristics are natural for adolescence. Table 2 shows the average values and standard deviation on the MMPI scales for gamers and the control group.

Table 2. Average values on MMPI scales for gamers and the control group.

Differences were found between gamers and the control group on the schizoid scale at the trend level (p = 0.09). Such a difference between gamers and non-gamers most likely reflects maladaptivity and nonconformity, conflict and inability of players to communicate in the real world.

The maladaptivity of the players is also confirmed as follows. Correlations were found for aggressiveness indicators and basic MMPI scales. Hostility is associated with depression (r = 0.76, p < 0.01), hysteria (r = 0.76, p < 0.01), psychopathy (r = 0.63, p < 0.05) and paranoia (r = 0.65, p < 0.05). The most significant and strong relationship exists between hostility and psychasthenia (r = 0.88, p < 0.001). This is natural, since Hostility according to the Bass-Perry questionnaire includes such characteristics as paranoid tendencies, suspiciousness, suspicion. And as a cognitive component, such qualities as: experiencing injustice and infringement, dissatisfaction with desires. In the control group, no similar relationships were found in this work. This indirectly confirms that gamers are not adaptive in the real world. Gamers have a hostile image of the world. A similar result was obtained in the work of S.O. Kuznetsova: hostility of mentally ill correlates with alertness (r = 0.79, p < 0.001), which indicates a high level of hostility ^{[37, p. 13]}. And although in our work the average Bass-Perry scores of players are normal, here aggression can be expressed virtually at the moment, in shooters. For example, correspondence between players in the online game itself often has an aggressive orientation. In addition, what is undetected by survey methods can manifest itself in projective methods. According to Zuckerman's method, only a few risk-averse, thrill-seekers were found among the players. There are no differences between the players and the control group in the search for thrills. It should also be noted that in the group of gamblers there are no intersex differences on the Bass-Perry scales, while normally at a young age girls are usually more hostile, and boys have higher physical aggression.  

Interesting results were obtained using the test of humorous phrases (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Dominant and secondary motivations of players.

The players have the most important topics: human stupidity, gender relations, career and money, mediocrity in creativity. More hostile players are very sensitive to what they perceive as human stupidity (r = -0.63, p < 0.05). The human stupidity factor is highly correlated with MMPI scales. Namely: with depression (r = -0.66, p < 0.05), hysteria (r = -0.77, p < 0.01), psychopathy (r = -0.94, p < 0.001), paranoia (r = -0.65, p < 0.05), psychasthenia (r = -0.84, p < 0.01) and schizoid (r = -0.67, p < 0.05). This indicates great difficulties in real communication. Humor can be divided into positive, helping a person cope with stress and self-deprecating. Positive humor styles negatively correlate with autism, suspicion and alertness ^[42]. In our work, we can only talk about the great sensitivity of the study participants to some areas of human life. Hypochondria, depression, hysteria and psychopathy are associated with the topics of the humorous phrases test (Table 3).

Table 3. Results of correlation analysis for MMPI questionnaire scales and humorous phrases test topics.

Notation: n.s. – insignificant value; notation: * - p < 0.05; ** - p < 0.01.

Hypersensitivity of players to fashion and stupidity indicates maladaptation, difficulties in real communication. Sensitivity to the topics of fashion and stupidity can be interpreted as problems in communication, fear of appearing ridiculous, unattractive, unfashionable. Intersex differences were found. Young players are more concerned about gender relations (p = 0.04) and career (p = 0.04). Girls are more sensitive to the topics of family relations (p = 0.009) and mediocrity in creativity (p = 0.03). In the control group, no similar pattern of connections was found in this work. A weaker significance of the topics of career, gender relations and family relations was found. "It is quite a common opinion of researchers that one of the causes of aggressive behavior may be a deep fear (fear of loss of respect, loss of control, loss of identity, etc.). According to F. Riemann: "... everything that causes discontent and fear, simultaneously causes aggression and hatred" (Riemann F., 1999, p. 27)" ^{[42, p. 72]}. Stefanenko's dissertation work concludes that the fear of ridicule can be one of the markers of a person's mental instability ^{[42, p.131]}.

According to the results of a pathopsychological examination, 22 of the examined revealed autoaggressive personality tendencies, somatization of anxiety, up to thoughts of suicide. In the same surveyed, a large percentage, namely 30%, of responses to the hand test of the anxiety category was found. These are answers like: "hides", "covers", "scares". A high percentage of responses on the anxiety scale indicates uncertainty, expectation of possible aggression from the outside world. Anxious people are characterized by increased neuropsychiatric stress in a wide range of situations, the ability to find problems even when they really do not exist. 18 of these 22 study participants have answers that speak of inferiority, mutilation, mutilation: "sick hand", "broken finger", "strange hand", "old man's hand", etc. In the control group of "crippled" responses were not found. The indicators for the criterion of disability among gamblers are significantly higher than in the control group. These facts also confirm that the gambler has an aggressive image of the world. Playing experience correlates with aggression on the hand test (r = 0.51, p < 0.05) and anxiety on the hand test (r = 0.52, p < 0.05). Thus, the hypothesis was partially confirmed. Gamblers are more likely to have an aggressive image of the world than non-gamers. There is evidence that hostility is nonspecific for any mental pathology. It is rather a factor of vulnerability, a tendency, for example, to schizophrenia ^{[37, p. 21]}.

The data obtained by the method of "Value orientations" showed that among the terminal values the most significant for the surveyed are self-confidence (inner harmony, freedom from internal contradictions, doubts), freedom (independence, independence in judgments and actions), and health (physical and mental), love (spiritual and physical intimacy with a loved one) and the presence of good and loyal friends. The least significant are social recognition (respect for others, the collective, colleagues), productive life (maximum use of their forces and resources), life wisdom (maturity of judgment and common sense, achieved through life experience), the beauty of nature and art, and the happiness of others (welfare, development and improvement of other people and humanity as a whole). Table 4 shows the choices of important and least significant values for the study participants.

Table 4. Results according to the "Value orientations" methodology.

Such somewhat contradictory results speak of disharmony of personality. The importance of self-confidence in the sphere of communication, as well as health, is confirmed. The need for friends, for love, along with indifference to the well-being of other people and intolerance of shortcomings, turns into a theoretical abstraction. Such schisms are characteristic of individuals of the schizoid organization. An integral system of values has not been formed, which indicates personal immaturity, infantilism. Comparison of the average values of important and insignificant values did not reveal significant differences between the players and the control group. The results on Rokich are consistent with the results of another study of gamblers: the most specific property of the gambler's psyche is the inconsistency of his value-semantic system ^[43]. In this study, the differences between gamblers and healthy individuals are not so obvious. The value patterns of gamblers and healthy individuals are similar, except for the shift to risk ^[43]. Russian society is currently very contradictory in terms of values.

In different countries, the attitude to compliance with the laws is different. Note that this is the first time we have found ourselves in a COVID-19 situation. It can be assumed that all people, players and non-players, treated quarantine social restrictions differently. Some law-abiding comply with quarantine restrictions, others are very attracted to the virtual world of the game. Foreign authors cite a number of mini-interviews of players in their article: "I was able to quit gambling (during the COVID-19 pandemic). I would never have thought of it because I've been gambling for 40 years. I'm glad I was able to quit gambling. It's not so much online gambling as I've always been attracted to electronic slot machines. It was hard, and I had financial problems. I started borrowing money to gamble, and I'm still paying for it. I haven't played for a year"; "It was so hard during the COVID-19 pandemic because all the entertainment stopped and all the places are closed. You can't vent your bad feelings anywhere, and then you open an online casino. You lose your money and it upsets you and you feel even worse. I play to get rid of my bad feelings. Gambling has always been my escape route. He's bad, but I turned to him quite often"; "And here it's winter, and I don't like it at all, especially when it's gray and rainy. I work in the restaurant business, and it was hard for us (because of the COVID-19 pandemic). All the stress I get from work and all that: I noticed that it affects my gambling. I think a lot about gambling and play too much (online). I bet my salary" ^[27]. Our study participants immediately went to play underground as soon as there was a minimal opportunity. There is an opinion that the players are infantile. But can such young faces be called infantile? Probably, in general, in general, when compared with the generation that fought in the Great Patriotic War. In our opinion, the situation with gambling today is more complicated, broader and reflects the general trend of switching to digital in the world. Of course, the social situation of development affects. Some parents thoughtlessly allow their child to spend a lot of time with gadgets. They do not attach importance, consider themselves "modern and cool" if the child has gadgets. And some parents can't do anything about the influence of a large society. But now, in our opinion, it is appropriate to talk about the side effects of civilization as a whole. With the advent and development of new communication technologies, social platforms, the space is "collapsing". The boundaries between the real and virtual world are blurring. Shooter shot classmates in America, and teenagers all over the world saw it. Information pressure is imposed on the emotional immaturity inherent in adolescence. This applies to games too. As an aggravating factor, we add that many children of megacities today walk a little and play on the street, for example, role-playing games. Accordingly, their development is distorted from the point of view of neuropsychology. This fact confirms the importance and usefulness of the development of mental functions in real physical space. 

Among the study participants was an 18-year-old teenager who "entered" the gaming life at about 4 years old. It's early enough. Now he spends almost all his free time in the game, but at the same time he does not ignore social life, needs and requirements. May interrupt the game if necessary, for example, to prepare for exams. He has difficulties with Russian, which is his native language. In English, he speaks more logically and competently. Why? Playing from the age of 4, the child, when he laid the logical and grammatical structure of speech, "entered" another language. He spent more time in the game than in real society. Communicating a lot in non-native English, he improved his communication skills in it. The Russian language was used much less frequently, and accordingly, practice in it was minimal. After a conversation with the parents, we learned that the study participant was trying to limit the game: they took away a computer, a console. This, according to the parents, led to very strong tantrums in the son. Analyzing the results of the psychological examination of this teenager, we can say that according to the conversation and all the personal questionnaires conducted, he has normative results. Socially desirable outcomes are excluded. Thus, the consequences of early entry into the game can be different, sometimes not obvious and probably delayed.

Now let's describe a typical case of a gambler in our work. This is a typical case for those 18 study participants who have "crippled" answers according to the hand test ("sick hand", "broken finger", "strange hand", "old man's hand"). The girl N.M. 22 years old plays more than 3-4 hours a day. Game genre preferences: online multiplayer games, first-person shooters, role-playing games. Spends real money on games, outfits in the game, weapons, - to stand out in the "gaming crowd". I learned about the games in the family. According to the results of the MMRI methodology, problems with social adaptation, difficulties in social contacts, low self-esteem, self-doubt, hypochondriacal and high anxiety were found. N.M. also had a peak on the schizoid scale. The profile with the leading 7th and 8th scales in combination with the lowered 9th reveals internal tension, anxiety, nervousness, a tendency to endless, often fruitless, thinking about any problems ("mental gum"), isolation, chronically existing feeling of mental discomfort, uncertainty. However, it is known that an increase on the 8th scale in the personality profile does not yet indicate schizophrenia. In this study, according to the results of a classical pathopsychological examination (pictogram, similarity of concepts), gamers do not have pronounced thinking disorders. However, in the method of "comparison of concepts" to the stimulus "blood and kerosene" there were answers like: "hot and combustible", "if kerosene is set on fire, it will be red like blood". N.M. has similar answers. Such people develop their own system of emotional assessments, they often withdraw into themselves, which can subsequently lead to problems with communication and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Such people often go into the "virtual world", because only there they can "manage the situation" completely. According to the Wagner hand test, the girl has autoaggressive tendencies. Disharmony and maladaptivity of personality is confirmed by Rokich's methodology and psychological conversation. The presence of good and loyal friends in the Rokich method is in the last place, and in the conversation a tendency to suicidal thoughts was found due to the lack of relationships.

There is an opinion that schizoids tolerated quarantine more easily because of a peculiar need for communication. Perhaps this is a superficial view. They may suffer from not being able to communicate in real life. It is very difficult to say what is more in schizoidness: innate characterological or acquired in the process of development and upbringing. In our opinion, prevention can only be timely, in sensitive periods, retention in the world of reality: role-playing games, friendship, relationships… It is known that it helps even in the rehabilitation of endogenous schizophrenia.

Conclusions

1.                  According to the gaming preferences of the study participants, they can be described as an accredited gamer. Profile increases were found on the psychasthenia scale in 26 of the examined, on the hypochondria scale in 23 of the examined, which suggests the presence of somatization of anxiety in the portrait of a young gambler. In the control group, more even, harmonious MMPI profiles were obtained. Personality traits are more balanced; in most cases, the leading peak falls on the 9th scale - the scale of optimism. For the averaged MMPI profiles, there are differences between gamblers and the control group on schizoidness at the trend level. Most basic MMPI scales correlate highly positively with hostility as a factor of readiness for aggression.

2.                  According to the results of a pathopsychological examination, including the Wagner hand test, autoaggressive personality tendencies and somatization of anxiety were revealed in 22 of the examined. 45% of the study participants have answers in the hand test that speak of inferiority, mutilation. In the control group of "crippled" responses were not found. Playing experience correlates with aggression on the hand test and anxiety on the hand test. These facts together indicate that the gambler has an aggressive image of the world.

3.                  According to the test of humorous phrases, gamblers have the most important topics: human stupidity, gender relations, fashion, career and money. Hypochondria, depression, hysteria and psychopathy in MMPI profiles are related to the topics of the humorous phrases test. Sensitivity to the themes of fashion and human stupidity can be interpreted as problems in communication, fear of appearing ridiculous, unattractive for communication. Intersex differences were found. Young gambling addicts are more concerned about gender relations and career. Female gamers are more sensitive to the topic of family relations. The fear of being funny confirms the maladaptivity of gamblers.  

Limitations

This study was limited to a relatively small number of participants. We tried to compensate for this by combining quantitative and qualitative methods of personality analysis. As well as the presence of a control group in the study.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.