Video Games as Addictive as Gambling: Study Penny McLintock - ABC News
go to original November 28, 2012

Some excessive gamers are unable to stop thinking about gaming when doing other tasks. (Kevork Djansezian/AFP)

A Canberra psychology researcher has confirmed what many have long suspected - video games can be just as addictive as gambling or alcohol.

As part of her PhD at the Australian National University, Olivia Metcalf found excessive gamers were unable to stop thinking about gaming when they tried to focus on other tasks.

This "attentional bias" is a phenomenon found across heroin, alcohol and gambling addictions.

"We didn't find that pattern in people who play video games but don't experience any negative symptoms," Ms Metcalf said.

"So it's not something that occurs because you do a behaviour a lot. It's some sort of change that occurs in your attention system, in your brain, when an addiction is developing.

"So we found this core sign of addiction in these thinking systems of these people who play games excessively."

Ms Metcalf says her research is some of the first scientific evidence that video gaming can be addictive.

"We know that people are gaming excessively but we're not sure yet what type of problem that is," she said.

"There's a lot of speculation that it's an addiction and what we need is this scientific evidence and that's what my research has found.

"It's found really good objective indicators that excessive gamers are displaying signs of an addiction and that's the first step to lead us to developing treatment and therapies to help those individuals."

Ms Metcalf says only a minority of gamers suffer negative consequences from their inability to stop gaming, like problems with their sleep, diet, relationships, work and school commitments.

She says researchers are not out to restrict or ban gaming.

"We're really just focusing on helping this minority of individuals who are experiencing negative problems and to make sure that video games stay fun for them," she said.

"We want video games to stay fun and enjoyable and entertaining for everybody."

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