title: Gambling, games of skill and human ecology: a pilot study by a multidimensional analysis approach.
abstract: The present pilot study aims at analyzing the human activity of playing in the light of an indicator of human ecology (HE). We highlighted the four essential anthropological dimensions (FEAD), starting from the analysis of questionnaires administered to actual gamers. The coherence between theoretical construct and observational data is a remarkable proof-of-concept of the possibility of establishing an experimentally motivated link between a philosophical construct (coming from Huizinga's Homo ludens definition) and actual gamers' motivation pattern. The starting hypothesis is that the activity of playing becomes ecological (and thus not harmful) when it achieves the harmony between the FEAD, thus realizing HE; conversely, it becomes at risk of creating some form of addiction, when destroying FEAD balance. We analyzed the data by means of variable clustering (oblique principal components) so to experimentally verify the existence of the hypothesized dimensions. The subsequent projection of statistical units (gamers) on the orthogonal space spanned by principal components allowed us to generate a meaningful, albeit preliminary, clusterization of gamer profiles.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Filosofia dell'Agire Scientifico e Tecnologico, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valera
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ambiente e Connessa Prevenzione Primaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.affiliation: Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gizzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tartaglia
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Filosofia dell'Agire Scientifico e Tecnologico, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittoradolfo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tambone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult