The effects of

online games to
student
Rafael john/jhs 3/16
Abstract
This study was conducted to assess and find out the
impact of on-line gaming on the academic
performance and social behavior of the students in
the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-
Laboratory High School. Furthermore, this study
sought answers on the significant relationship
between playing on-line games and academic
performance and to social behavior of the students.
The study revealed that boys are more of a player
compared to girls who often play games that require
three or more players like League of Legends, Clash
of Clans, Crossfire and many more to mention. It is
also stated that those who play online games are
around 14-15 years old who are believed to be in the
Grade 8 level. These students who often play games
have an average weekly allowance of 101 pesos to
500 pesos. Playing online games do not affect their
grades badly for they know how to limit themselves.
They know that they need to control themselves in
order to function well in their class that is why they
only play games during vacation and weekends with
a lot of time compared when they have classes.
Even though they play online games; they know
how to socialize well and they can perform very well
when it comes to academic performance. However,
it is inevitable not to play even for half an hour
especially when they are accustomed to it.
Therefore, it is just a matter of discipline.
1. Introduction
Internet as a source of information plays an
important role in developing one's mind and life
experiences by creating productive works in schools,
offices, and even at home. Nowadays, this can be a
person's most efficient strategic tool for enabling
himself to take charge and cope with the fast
growing technology.
The fact that people live in on informative lifestyle
where everything is updated, internet became one of
the necessities of human beings regardless of age or
sex in today's society. However, the influence of this
useful machine on youth is undeniably questionable.
As to what Rock [1] said, all these technologies are
very good at distracting people. In line with this
development, online gaming was created to give
entertainment to people.
Online gaming is one of the widely used leisure
activities by many people. For some people it is said
that playing video games has a number of reasons to
be played, for it can be a stress reliever, challenge
and competition, relaxation, enjoyment, social
interaction, and even mentally escaping from the real
world.
For most people, on-line gaming is one of the best
past time that they acquire specially for teenagers,
youngsters and students. According to Kuss &
Griffiths [2], teens who play online games are just
having fun. They do not just actually play because of
some sort of seriousness, but also because they just
want to feel relief. During school hours, students
tend to feel stressed due to loads of school works
and through playing it will relive their stress.
It is undeniably questionable that playing online
games provide them something that no one can
give. According to some researches it is
beneficial. It enables the mind of the players
to be more active, especially those puzzle-
based games. Furthermore, it helps the
player to come up with decisions in tight
situations, especially those adventure games
that keep the players to be alert, active and
strategic.
Students' learning takes place unexpectedly, but the
inappropriate usage of playing online games also
leads in some problems such as being distracted in
school. Further, it is where the attention of the child
were divided that even their health and social life is
unknowingly affected.
Several studies in psychology have found out that
increased time spent on the Internet can lead to
negative impact on a person's ability to communicate
appropriately face-to-face with friends, peers, family
members including parents [3].
Studies revealed that the human brain is easy to
destruct and one of the reasons is using technology.
The education system tends to go with the flow with
this constant change in the society in order to get
things relevant with the generations today.
The researchers felt the need to determine the impact
of online gaming to students' academic performance
and their social behavior. The purpose of this study
is to find out the implications of on-line gaming to
the academic performance and social behavior of the
students.
2. Objectives of the Study
The purpose of this study was to find out how online
games affect the students' intellectual capacity in
relation to their academic performance and social
behavior.
The purpose of this study was to find out how these
online games affect the students' intellectual
capacity in relation to their academic performance
and social behavior.
3. Materials and Methods
This study used the descriptive – correlation method
utilizing a questionnaire to get the needed data for
the study. Purposive sampling was used in this
study. The participants in this study were high
school students of Polytechnic University of the
Philippines - Laboratory High School. They were
selected through purposive sampling which the
persons chosen for the investigation are themselves
not expected to be the representatives of the
population, but rather they possess the necessary
information about the issue being investigated upon.
In addition to this, there are only 126 respondents
chosen for this study.
4. Results and Discussion
The attainment of the objectives of the study was
made possible through the utilization of the
descriptive method of research. The sampling
techniques were made through a purposive
sampling, where only those students who played on-
line games were the only respondents selected to
meet the population size of the study. With a total of
126 respondents coming from PUP-LHS, all of them
returned the survey questionnaire – the main
instrument of data gathering. Statistical treatment of
data was done through the use of percentage,
weighted mean, and Pearson r Correlation.
Based on the results of the study, the following
salient findings were drawn:
As according to the result, in terms of playing on-
line games, the overall weighted mean is 3.08 which
lies on the verbal interpretation of “Sometimes”.
And with the indicators “I play on-line games only
on week-ends” and “I repeatedly play on-line games
after losing” gathered 3.37 interpreted as “often” got
the highest mean.
While the level of assessment of the respondents on
playing online games in the aspect of number of
hours spent in playing was assessed as 3-5 hours
with the weighted mean of 2.75.
On the other hand, in the types of games played,
`League of Legends' got the highest mean which is
3.48 interpreted as “Sometimes”. Generally, 2.38 is
the computed grand mean of types of games played
and considered as “seldom” in verbal interpretation.
However, the self-assessment of the respondents in
playing On-Line Games on their Social Behavior got
an overall weighted mean of 3.2 and arrays that the
verbal interpretation of all the indicators show that
the students from Grade 7- Grade 10 assessed that
they all agree doing the listed indicators. This shows
that even after playing online games it does not
affect their social behavior and it has a positive
effect.
As per the academic performance of the respondents
the result shows that from the 126 responses, most of
the students that plays on-line games obtain a grade
ranging from 86-90 interpreted as “Good” that got
68 or 53.97%. Followed by a grade ranging from 81-
85 with a description of “satisfactory” got 49 from
the respondents or 38.89%. Next is the grade ranging
from 91-95 which means “Very Good” got the
second to least, which is 7 of the respondents or
5.56%, and lastly, the remaining number which is 2
or 1.59% is the grade ranging from 75-80.
And in terms of the frequency of playing online
games and the respondent's social behavior. The
indicators `I play on-line games before going to bed'
got a computed p-value of 0.040 and `I play on-line
games only on week-ends' obtained a p-value of
0.002 which is less than the level of significance of
0.05. This means that the null hypothesis is rejected
and it is significant in this study. And all remaining
variables resulted as “not significant”.
On the other hand, the relationship between the
number of hours in playing and the social behavior
of the respondents does not have significant
relationship since all of the p-value are greater than
the level of significance of 0.05.
While in terms of types of on-line games being
played and its relationship in the social behavior of
the students, it reveals that the null hypothesis has
been rejected with p-values of Minecraft (0.030),
Defense of the Ancient (0.019), Farmville (0.014),
Smite (0.014), and Candy Crush (0.004) are lower
than the level of significance of 0.05.
And lastly, the frequency of playing on-line games
and the academic performance of the respondents
the only indicator that has a significance is “I play
on-line games only on week-ends” that obtain a p-
value of 0.026 lower than the level of significance of
0.05 and indicates that the null hypothesis is
rejected. This reflects to the grade of the respondents
having good grades even when they play on-line
games.
In tenures of the types of on-line games being played
by respondents and their academic performance the
result of their p-value is higher than the level of
significance 0.05 therefore the null hypothesis is
accepted.
Likewise, the number of hours playing on-line
games and its relation to the academic performance
all indicators got p-value higher than the level of
significance of 0.05 remarking to not significant.
Resulted to its null hypothesis being accepted.
5. Conclusion and Recommendation
As the respondents assessed, it can be inferred that
Playing On-Line Games results to a positive effect in
the social behavior of the respondents. Even if the
respondents play online games still the personal
interaction with others are not affected. They still do
have their friends personally and are able to socialize
effectively.
The Academic Performance of the respondents is not
affected even if they play online games. Their grades
are still good enough even if they spent time for
playing. To sum up with the result, the respondents
have a good academic performance despite their
involvement in playing online games.
There is a significant relationship between the social
behavior of the respondents and playing on-line
games in terms to its frequency specifically in the
item saying: “I play on-line games before going to
bed” and “I play on-line games only on week-ends”.
Also, in the types of on-line games such as
Minecraft, Defense of the Ancient, Farmville, Smite,
and Candy Crush.
There is a significant relationship between the
academic performance of the respondents and
playing online games during weekends. Which result
to having a good grade while playing online games.
This can be interpreted as the trade-off when playing
computer games. If the student decides not to play,
then there will be no deduction in the grades. Which
is true to the researchers' study for the respondents'
academic performance is only significant to playing
online games during weekend. Weekends are the
days when the respondents have their pleasure time
for recreational activities.
Meanwhile, since most of the student respondents
are male and they are more frequently engaged in
playing on-line games, the school administrators and
teacher in collaboration of the parents might
consider to promote physical health, sportsmanship,
camaraderie and pro-social skills to the students
instead of getting engaged with online games.
Further, Parents-Teachers Association might
consider being functional in all their responsibilities.
For example, the teacher might consider to notify the
parents about the academic performance and social
behavior of the students inside the school facilities.
This association can strengthen the home and school
partnership to supervise the students' activities.