Video Game Addiction: Mental Illness?

[Amadeus]

You can become addicted to Video Games. However, equalising Drugs and Video Games isn`t very valid.

If you take drugs, you actually consume them and the drugs themselves cause and support your addiction. Allthough most addictions are related to some specific social problem, this isnt neccesarilly the case with Drugs. Addiction to drugs can even start with simple things such as curiosity.

Video games, on the other hand, are harmless by themselves. They neither cause nor support your addiction. It becomes an addiction only if you try to use it as a filler for something your lacking.

MMO`s greatly differ from other genres. Allthough other games also have a way to contact other people, that contact is usually limited to bare basics. For example, you can connect to an opponent to play a game of RTS and only say hello and goodbye. MMORPG`s, on the other hand, work as centers of social contact, similarily like chatrooms, forums and the like. But this isn`t neccesarilly bad. World of Warcraft, besides producing "junkies", is also famous for causing several marriages.

So the point is this. Video games by themselves are harmless and can even prove beneficial as long as you dont use them to compensate for something. When you start doing that, then it becomes an addiction.