The fairly long article is at http://digg.com/d1ogdB">http://digg.com/d1ogdB]http://digg.com/d1ogdB[/url] (WARNING: This is on a pro-gaming Website and there are several gaming graphics). It is, IMHO, quite balanced and well written. It discusses the various aspects of video game addiction such as "What is video game addiction? What are its boundaries, its symptoms, and its treatments? How wide is its scope?" that is stated at the start of the sub-title.
One of the problems that is mentioned is that there still has been relatively little proper research done so far on gaming addiction. In the meantime, as Richard M. Ryan (a psychologist and professor of psychology, psychiatry, and education at the University of Rochester in New York) says:
Quote:We have a lot of people, some in the media and some in the sciences, who are too ready to make very strong claims about video games, whether we are talking about aggression, addiction, or cultural estrangement, based on very little evidence. I think that is especially how the media often sells stories. Some commentators exaggerate risks, and on the other hand there are defenders of games who deny any and all problems and attack any perceived bad news.
Games are relatively new in our culture, and such vacillation between hysteria and denial I suspect often greets any new phenomenon, from hip-hop to the Internet to video games. Both sides usually have some part of the truth, but it may be a while before at least we as scientists, much less as a society, have a coherent understanding.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)