The war on games is gathering a new momentum everyday; there isn’t a single week which is void of such news being published over and over again. The latest bit comes from the American Medical Association’s recent debate whether to include “Internet/video game addiction” as a part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (a.k.a. DSM), the standard-setting catalog of mental illness.
A 10 page report detailing out the signs that show addiction resulting in “social dysfunction/disruption” has been issued. The DSM-IV disorder most similar to the pattern of behaviors observed with overuse of video games is pathological gambling,”(blow me down!!!).This addiction is most exhibited by MMORPG players and frequent users are seen to exhibit cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
Mohamed K. Khan, Chairman of the Council on Science and Public Health come up with a really stiff argument for the subject, “Once you begin to classify the patients, you can do better research into the disease. You can tailor therapies . . . It can affect reimbursement because insurers will recognize it as a disorder.”
Insurers???… Whhaa, getting insured for playing games! This means those beta testers will be packaging more moolah for bug testing, because they spend too much time playing all the coolest games on the planet. The panel’s recommendations will be voted on the AMA’s House of Delegates, the group’s policy-setting body, at a meeting later this month. But even if it votes in favor of recognizing video game addiction, the final decision will be up to the American Psychiatric Association, which oversees the DSM.
Here’s another interesting tidbit, politicians apparently are spending almost $90 million tax dollars to combat videogames, and they claim it is as bad as drugs and illegal weapons. I feel a ring of halo floating over my head now… Does this mean I am hallucinating or am actually trying to destroy the rings of Halo floating over my avatar’s (Master Chief) head? Let the doctors and preachers of democracy decide on that.
–Neelesh Mukherjee