MOBILE LEGENDS AND ITS EFFECTS TO THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF THE GRADE 12 STUDENTS

A Research Proposal Presented to the Faculty

of Senior High School of Ramos National High School

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements of the Subject

Inquires, Investigation, and Immersion

Researchers:

Rainier I. Acosta

Jancen S. Pagaduan

April Ann J. Ramos

Mark Ylone C. Quia

Nicole C. Bautista

Jessica P. Ramos

Mark Joertine V. Felipe

 Chapter 1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Introduction

Playing online mobile games has significant bearing with academic performance of
students. The poor performance of the students in their academics was linked to online mobile
games such as “Mobile Legends”. The performance of the students may improve and strengthen
by serious intervention that will manage the students’ access on the internet. (Delos Santos,
J.R.N., Cornillez, E.E., et. al., 2020)

Mobile Legends is an online mobile game and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) for
iOS and Android devices developed and published by Shanghai Moonton Technology, a game
development company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a multiplayer online battle arena
(MOBA) game for iOS and Android smartphones. The game was released on July 11, 2016.
Mobile Legends pits 2 teams of 5 each other, with the main objective being to destroy the
opponent’s base. (https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/244728-mobile-legends-what-to-
know-sea-games-2019/)

It is extremely popular and in high demand across a wide range of demographics, from
teens to adults. It is one of the most popular mobile games in the Southeast Asia region and
several other parts of the globe. The game has reportedly amassed over 280 million downloads
and 78 million active players since it first launched.

Since the rise of Mobile Legends, mobile gaming has grown in popularity in the
Philippines. It is one of the country's top gaming industries, with millions of players enjoying
this multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. However, playing mobile games can also
lead to a loss of productivity. According to Benny (2018), players may not spend hours on end

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playing, but instead take a few minutes multiple times a day to check the game or perform
mobile gaming activities instead of concentrating on their current task. Despite this potential
drawback, there are also positive impacts of playing Mobile Legends. Benny notes that it can
improve mental alertness and brain function.

Mobile Legends has become a popular game among students, with some becoming so
obsessed that they are unconcerned about what is happening outside the game. This obsession
can lead to conflicts with parents who become frustrated when their child prioritizes playing the
game over other responsibilities, even while at school. While there are certainly negative effects
associated with playing Mobile Legends, it is important to know or recognize the positive
effects. As most studies focus on the negative side of mobile gaming, we saw the need to explore
both the positive and negative impacts of playing Mobile Legends, particularly on the academic
performance. The purpose of this study is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the
effects of playing Mobile Legends on students.

Statement of the Problem

In this study, the researchers aim to know the effects of playing Mobile Legends to the
Academic Performance of Grade 12 students. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the
following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Age

b. Gender

c. Strand

2. What are the daily average time spend of the respondents on playing Mobile Legends?

3. What are the possible effects of playing Mobile Legends to the academic performance of the
students?

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4. What learning style would you suggest for students who play Mobile Legends to improve their
academic performance?

Hypothesis

From the problem stated above, the hypothesis was formulated:

H0: There is no significant relationship between playing Mobile Legends and academic
performance.

Significance of the Study

This study will determine the effects of playing Mobile Legends on a student's academic
performance at Ramos National High School. The findings of this study will have a huge impact
on the following:

For School Principal: The results may provide school principal the idea on how to discipline
the students about prioritizing studies over playing mobile games.

For Teacher: The teachers would be able to understand why some students prefer to play
mobile games rather than to study.

For Parents: This study will help the parents to have enough knowledge about the effects of
playing Mobile Legends among their children's academic performance.

For Students: This study will be important to students because it will inform them about the
effects of playing Mobile Legends to their academic performance. They will be more aware and
careful while playing.

For the Future Researchers: The results of the study may serve as basis or reference for the
future studies that is relevant to the effects of Mobile Games.

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Scope and Delimitation

This study will mainly focus on the effects of Mobile Legends on the academic
performance of the students. It is limited only to the 85 players of Mobile Legends. The
respondents will be Grade 12 students from nine different sections at Ramos National High
School, S.Y. 2022-2023.

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of this study, the following terms are defined in the context of
this research.

Academic Performance. It refers to the performance of the students in school that is based
on their average grades or marks.

Effects. It refers to the impact of playing Mobile Legends on the academic performance of
the respondents.

Mobile Games. This refers to the types of games that are being played on smartphones by
students, like Mobile Legends.

Mobile Legends. It refers to the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for iOS and
Android smartphones that is often played by students.

MOBA. It refers to Multiplayer Online Battle Arena which is Mobile Legends is classified.

Students. It refers to the respondents of this study that often play mobile games such as
Mobile Legends

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 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES

This chapter highlights some related literature and studies on this topic. It contains
various sources obtained by the researcher from the internet and other electronic sources.

Related Studies

Foreign

In a study conducted by Sri Rochmayanti et al. (2021) entitled "The Impact of Mobile
Legends Games on Student Learning Motivation: The Role of Parents and Teachers," it was
concluded that Mobile Legends affect students' learning motivation. Parents and teachers
play a big role in handling students so that students are not addicted to this game and can
limit the intensity of the game so as not to interfere with the motivation of students to learn
and it will not adversely affect students in the future.

The study of Muhammad Zaki Mubarok et al. (2022) entitled "The Intensity of Playing
Mobile Legends Games with College Student Academic Procrastination" reveals that there is
a relationship between the intensity of playing Mobile Legends games and student academic
procrastination. The higher the intensity of playing this game, the higher the level of student
academic procrastination; and vice versa, if the student has a low intensity of playing Mobile
Legends, the lower the student's academic procrastination.

The study "Students' Perception of the Use of Mobile Legends Bang Bang to Assist
English Language Learning," conducted by Adam Yusron (2022), revealed that students have
a positive perception of the use of Mobile Legends Bang Bang to assist English language
learning. They perceived that playing Mobile Legend Bang Bang made them more
interactive, confident, motivated, focused and able to concentrate. Furthermore, it also

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reduced their anxiety and stress when learning English. Besides, many respondents also felt
that playing this game helped them improve their English skills and interactions with other
people.

The study of Ilimdar Yalçin (2020) entitled "Effects of Smartphone Addiction on

Loneliness Levels and Academic Achievement of the Z Generation" found a positive
relationship between Z generation high school students' smartphone addiction and the right
of monthly GB usage for smartphones, daily internet usage duration, and loneliness levels
was determined, whereas there was a negative correlation between their academic
achievements. Furthermore, smartphone addiction was found to predict loneliness and
academic achievement in Z-generation high school students at 4% and 1%, respectively.
These results show that high school students should be saved from smartphone addiction.
Thus, loneliness levels can be reduced, and academic achievement can be increased.

The study conducted by Andree Hartanto, Wei Xing Toh, and Hwajin Yang (2018)
entitled “Context counts: The different implications of weekday and weekend video gaming
for academic performance in mathematics, reading, and science” revealed that the more
adolescents played video games on weekdays, the poorer they performed on standardized
assessments of mathematics, reading, and science. In contrast, weekend video gaming was
positively associated with academic performance.

The study conducted by Faizatul Husna et al. (2021) entitled "The Effects of Mobile
Games on Elementary School Students' Achievement in Aceh" revealed that boys are more
of a player compared to girls who often play games, and those who play online games are
around 11–12 years old and have an average playing time of 3-5 hours/day. They conclude
that academic performance was found to be negatively associated with online gaming. This is
because playing games for long periods of time reduces their ability to focus on academic
tasks.

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Local

The study by Jessie Richie Naval Delos Santos and EE Cornillez (2020) entitled
"Mobile Games and Academic Performance of University Students” revealed that most of
the students played Mobile Legends and spent mostly 2 hours playing for no apparent reason
other than boredom. The number of hours spent on playing online mobile games at home and
the most played online mobile games at school were found to be significantly correlated with
a student’s academic performance. Hence, the students’ time spent on playing online mobile
games at home and the type of games that students play at school have a significant bearing
on their academic performance. As such, limiting students' usage of the internet can be done
to address the problem.

Dennis O. Dumrique and Jennifer G. Castillo (2018) conducted a study entitled “Online
Gaming: Impact on the Academic Performance and Social Behavior of the Students in
Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory High School” to assess and find out the
impact of online gaming on the academic performance and social behavior of the students at
the Polytechnic University of the Philippines—Laboratory High School. The study revealed
that boys are better players 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 and 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 does not affect their
grades badly because they know how to limit themselves.

The study of Rommel L. Verecio (2018) entitled "Online Gaming Addiction among
BSIT Students of Leyte Normal University Philippines: its Implication towards Academic
Performance" revealed that many students cannot focus on their studies and sometimes they
skip or are absent from their classes just to play online games, which leads to the conclusion

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that these are signs or indications that they are addicted. Most of the respondents are women
aged 19–20 years old, out of a total of 139 respondents.

The study conducted by Danilo B. Buctot et al. (2021) entitled "Personal Profiles,
Family Environment, Patterns of Smartphone Use, Nomophobia, and Smartphone Addiction
across Low, Average, and High Perceived Academic Performance Levels among High
School Students" shows a significant relationship between personal profiles, family
environment, patterns of smartphone use, phobia, and smartphone addiction, contributing to a
significant impact on Filipino high school students’ perceived academic performance. This
suggests that proper guidelines for smartphone use should be provided at home and in school
settings to raise awareness of the adverse effects of smartphone addiction on students’
academic performance.

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 Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter contains the methods will use in the study. This includes the research
design, research locale, sampling method, research instrument, and data gathering
procedure that will be used for accurate data analysis and interpretation.

Research Design

The study is quantitative research; it entails gathering and analyzing numerical data
to better understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gain in-depth
insights into a problem or to generate new research ideas. Its primary goal is to determine
why and how the phenomenon occurs. Our research topic necessitates extensive
knowledge of the effects of Mobile Legends on various senior high school students on
our campus.

Respondents and Sampling of the Study

The respondents in this study are grade 12 senior high school students from Ramos
National High School's academic and non-academic strands. The main reason for
choosing this locale is because of its accessibility and the limited duration of the study.
This study will use purposive sampling, where participants are selected based on pre-
selected criteria of the research question, because this requires participants who have vast
knowledge and experience about the topic to ensure the validity and reliability of the
study. A maximum of 10 students per section will be selected to answer the survey
questions, regardless of gender.

Instruments of the Study

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 The study's instrument will be questionnaires or printed survey sheets that consist of
a set structured and unstructured design to obtain data from participants, which will
include questions about profile of the respondents, academic grade, playing hours and the
effects of playing Mobile Legends. The respondents will fill out the questionnaire sheet
or printed survey sheet, which will be used as the study's data

Data Gathering Procedure

The instrument of this study will be validated by our research adviser. After the
instrument has been validated, the researchers will seek permission from the school's
principal. The researchers will then distribute the surveys to senior high school students
at a predetermined time. Respondents are not required to write their names in order to
remain anonymous. The researchers will total and analyze the data collected in the next
chapter.

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 References

Chua, K. (2019) ‘Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’: What you need to know. RAPPLER.
https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/244728-mobile-legends-what-to-know-sea-
games-2019/
Benny (2018). Positive and negative aspects of playing mobile games - Space Whales Studios.
Space Whales Studios. https://spacewhalestudios.com/positive-negative-aspects-playing-
mobile-games/

Rochmayanti, S. (2021, December). The Impact of Mobile Legends Games on Student Learning
Motivation: The Role of Parents and Teachers. In Prosiding University Research
Colloquium (pp. 1063-1070).

Mubarok, M. Z., Hanifa, A., & Wahyunengsih, W. (2022). The Intensity of Playing Mobile
Legends Games With College Student Academic Procrastination. Indonesian Journal of
Learning Studies, 2(2), 40-45.

Yusron, A. (2022). ELED UMM STUDENTS'PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF MOBILE

LEGENDS BANG BANG TO ASSIST ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING (Doctoral
dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang).

Yalçın, İ., Özkurt, B., Özmaden, M., & Yağmur, R. Effect of smartphone addiction on loneliness
levels and academic achievement of z generation.

Hartanto, A., Toh, W. X., & Yang, H. (2018). Context counts: The different implications of
weekday and weekend video gaming for academic performance in mathematics, reading,
and science. Computers & Education, 120, 51-63.

Husna, F., Jamin, H., & Juliandi, R. (2022). The Effects of Mobile Games on Elementary School
Students' Achievement in Aceh. Jurnal Basicedu, 6(1), 308-314.

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Delos Santos, J. R. N., & Cornillez, E. E. (2020). Mobile games and academic performance of
university students. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring
Engineering (IJITEE) ISSN, 2278-3075.

Dumrique, D. O., & Castillo, J. G. (2018). Online gaming: Impact on the academic performance
and social behavior of the students in Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory
High School. KnE Social Sciences, 1205-1210.

Verecio, R. L. (2018). Online gaming addiction among BSIT students of Leyte Normal
University Philippines its implication towards academic performance. Indian Journal of
Science and Technology, 1(4).

Buctot, D. B., Kim, N., & Kim, S. H. (2021). Personal profiles, family environment, patterns of
smartphone use, nomophobia, and smartphone addiction across low, average, and high
perceived academic performance levels among high school students in The
Philippines. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(10),
5219.

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