by Dr. G. A. Anderson

Created on: August 11, 2007   Last Updated: April 01, 2010

A story in the news some time ago caught my attention. A young Chinese man died in a gaming room after playing an Internet game for three days straight. He had no sleep during that time. This is a prime example of gaming addiction that is extremely troubling in today's society. Certainly, this is an alarming trend among children and young adults, with no limits at either end of the age spectrum.

Being compelled to repeat a certain behavior is an addiction, and any addictive behavior is a problem. When I was writing a paper about electronic and Internet gaming recently and doing research on the subject, I was appalled to learn the extent of this trend. The statistics and case histories are growing, and this is not only disturbing but also tragic. A very high percentage of American youth play electronic or Internet games, and a large number of these youth admit to being addicted. But the addiction is not selective about age, and this phenomenon extends to older ages, as well.

Internet gaming has been cited as a cause of suicide, mental illness, anti-social tendencies, poor health, obesity, with addicts ranging from young childhood through adulthood. People from all walks of life have fallen prey to this insidious form of addiction. It starts out innocently enough, with players intrigued and drawn to a game by its sophisticated graphics and sound effects. It is the beginning of a game that hooks the player when it is fairly simple to advance and accumulate wealth or status. Many of the most popular games are based on fantasy warfare. A player may create one or more characters to compete against other on-line players and electronic characters. Adherence to a particular gender is not necessary, and there is a great deal of "gender-bending" that takes place in the creation of new game characters.

In my research, I heard and read many stories of gaming out of control. Very young children are addicted to electronic or on-line games, and get very little physical activity, either in or out of doors. Their time is taken up by their fantasy world. School work, family involvement, socialization, and health suffer as a result. They become too preoccupied with their fantasy life to care about the real world, and this can begin early in life if electronic games are made available by adults.

As children enter their teenage years, the type of games change to what is popular among peers, and the same patterns of behavior continue. By this time, a young person is losing his or

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