WHO officially recognizes ‘game addiction’ as a disease

The World Health Organization (WHO) has just recognized excessive gaming, also known as ‘game addiction’, as an official disease at its 25th annual conference. The conference took place this past weekend in Geneva, Switzerland.

The definition of ‘gaming addiction’ has remained largely unchanged since the WHO listed it as a mental illness last year. Game addiction is described as ‘uncontrollable gaming, constantly prioritizing gaming over other activities, to the point where it invades other interests and daily activities. And those who are affected will continue to play the game despite facing the negative things in their life by playing the game.

In other words, according to WHO, if you quit your job and get fired for staying up all night playing a newly released game, you may have a game addiction problem. To be classified as a game addict by WHO, this behavior must have existed for at least 12 months.

The new list will come into effect from 1 January 2022 and WHO countries must figure out how to treat and prevent this phenomenon.

This move has been opposed by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The ESA argued last year that categorizing gaming addiction as a disease would lead to people being misdiagnosed, as they could be affected by other conditions.

“WHO is an organization with a voice and their guidance should be based on regular, complete, transparent reviews by independent experts,” ESA said in its latest press conference. “‘Game addiction’ doesn’t have enough evidence to be included in one of the key WHO guidelines.”