A systematic review and investigation of avatar- and self-related processes and problematic gaming

Abstract

Many games feature avatars that enable adoption of, and experimentation with, roles and identities. How avatar- and self-related processes develop and maintain gaming disorder (GD) is unclear. This review examined 18 quantitative studies of avatar- and self-related concepts and problematic gaming, including 13 survey-based and 5 neuroimaging studies. Survey-based studies consistently reported that negative self-concept, avatar identification, and large self-avatar discrepancies were associated with problematic gaming. Poor selfconcept appears to be a GD risk factor. Further research should explain how avatars relate to GD’s addictive mechanisms (e.g., cognitive distortions, reward-seeking), amid calls for GDrelated interventions to focus on avatar identification.