Addictive behavior in relation to the Happy Farm Facebook application

In this study I investigated the influence of materialism on online game addiction. A questionnaire survey was completed by university students in Taiwan who were users of the popular Facebook application Happy Farm. Results showed that (a) the materialism of individual users who had been playing Happy Farm for less than 6 months had a positive impact on their Internet addiction, but those who had been playing Happy Farm for more than 6 months were not influenced by individual materialism; and (b) interpersonal relationships moderated the effect of users’ materialism on online game addiction. I also found that materialism had a greater positive influence on novice players of Happy Farm than on experienced players, and that interpersonal relationships moderated this influence.