Too much video gaming ‘an illness’

PLAYING video games excessively is to be classified as a mental health condition.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is including ‘gaming disorder’ in its list of illnesses – with sufferers defined as someone for whom ‘gaming takes precedence over other life interests’.

But the organisation, which has spent a decade monitoring gaming, has not listed other conditions linked to technology, such as so-called smartphone or internet addiction, due to a lack of evidence they are ‘real disorders’.

Vladimir Poznyak, of the WHO, said health professionals needed to recognise gaming disorder ‘may have serious health consequences’.

He told New Scientist: ‘Most people who play video games don’t have a disorder, just like most people who drink alcohol don’t have a disorder either. However, in certain circumstances overuse can lead to adverse effects.’

Estimates of the proportion of computer game players who have a problem range from 0.2 per cent to one in five.