Addiction in any form is a chronic, but treatable, brain disorder. People who have an addiction cannot control their need for alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling and even in the face of negative health, social or legal consequences. This lack of control is the result of chemical changes in the brain and those changes, in turn, cause behavior changes.
Video game addiction is a new concept of addiction with the introduction of video games in the last 20 years or so. It is considered to be a psychological addiction, as opposed to a physical one and a person who lives with this type of addiction feels compelled to spend a lot of time playing video games alone or with friends.
The most addictive types of video games are massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) and anyone can have access to them on the web.
This type of play involves the participants taking on the identity of a character in the game which can be private or public. For private game rooms, participants are invited by the host.
A key is required to enter this room to participate. For public game rooms, anyone can enter and participate. Many people who are heavily involved in games like World of Warcraft and RuneScape are at risk of developing a video game addiction.
Over time, the addicted person’s world starts to become smaller as they isolate themselves from social links with people in the real world and spend most of their free time playing these games.
Other signs of video game addiction include the following:
Spending several hours each day playing video games
Neglecting work or family responsibilities in order to play
Using sick or vacation days to get more time to play video games
Neglecting to eat, sleep, or bathe in order to play • Feeling angry or depressed if you can’t play video games.