Investigating gaming disorder and individual differences in gaming motives among professional and non-professional gamers: An empirical study

The present study investigates the relationship between Gaming Disorder (GD) and how gaming motives might differ between three groups of gamers. The first group stated to be professional gamers (n = 129; 2,49%), the second group consisted of non-professional gamers, who intended to become professional gamers (n = 646; 12,45%), and the third group were non-professional gamers without this aim (n = 4,412; 85,06%). Gaming motives were assessed via the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), and GD tendencies were assessed with the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT). Results revealed that professional gamers and those intending to become one were very similar regarding their gaming motive expressions. In contrast, non-professional gamers scored significantly lower on all gaming motives, except for the recreational motive which was comparable across all groups. Several consistent gaming motive-GD associations appeared in all investigated gamer groups, with the most robust finding being that higher escapism motive expressions relate to greater GDT scores. The present study sheds light on an emerging field of research attempting to better understand professional gamers.