Assignment 9 - Where I again speak from personal experience.

Livejournal-based roleplaying (RP) games enjoy a certain degree of popularity. In particular, the multi-fandom games typically have a large player-base considering the pool of characters to choose from is practically endless, and more people means a deeper well of creativity. You pick a character from any television series, game, or movie, apply, and if accepted you proceed to interact with any number of personalities from a diverse range of media under the guise of that character. It's not unusual for a single person to play five or more characters from completely unrelated genres. Due to Livejournal's blog-like interface, roleplaying in this space is primarily text-based save for the inclusion of "icons" or avatars which can be used to represent each character's facial expression and mood. Since most games set a minimum activity requirement (five posts a week, for example, not including the responses to said posts), RPing can get more than a little time and energy-consuming, especially if the game in question is incredibly large.

Caplan (2004) defines Problematic Internet Use (PIU) as "maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving Internet use that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences." This breaks down further into the individual's perception of their Internet use; 'excessive use' is a quantitative assessment of how much of their use exceeds the normal or planned amount of time, and 'compulsive use' which is a general inability to control the amount of time spent on line coupled with guilt about their lack of control. Those involved in these roleplays often note how "obsessed" they are with the proceedings, sometimes continuously refreshing pages in the hopes of a response, and that this level of activity usually extends far beyond the amount of time they plan to devote to online endeavors. Most roleplayers in this context are students, so their grades often drop, they fail to maintain social obligations and generally get very little accomplished outside of the RP itself.

Caplan's theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being (2004) presents a set of conditions under which PIU may develop. To begin, the term psychosocial is taken from Erickson's Stages of Psychosocial Development (1950), and merely refers to an individual's psychological development occurring inside and in interaction with a particular social environment. Caplan's conditions are as follows:

1. individuals with psychosocial problems have a negative view of their own social competence (i.e. shyness, passivity, inability to "connect" with others)

2. therefore, they come to prefer online interaction over Face-to-Face communication because it's considered less threatening and more effective in terms of what aspects of themselves they wish to present (if at all).

3. If 1 and 2 are true, this leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their situation at work, school, romantically, etc.

The unique affordance of roleplay is not only is there social interaction with a minimal amount of obligations, but there is a literal, mutual deception occurring here since the point is to be someone/something else. A lack of confidence in one's own social abilities and subsequent apprehension over approaching others is immaterial in this space since the players' limitations in that area do not affect the game. Friendships develop more easily since this factor is removed and there is a mutual point of interest (this relates to McKenna's Relationship Facilitation Factors, discussed earlier in the course). The individual will gradually spend more and more time online as these interactions replace their day-to-day offline social relationships, negatively impacting their situation even more. Roleplaying then becomes even more inviting as a source of comfort. The cycle continues.

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