What is Game Addiction?

Finally had a chance to write up my position on the controversial topic of game addiction, which is up on ihobo today. Here’s a short extract:

It is futile for anyone to argue that digital games are not addictive, given that for as long as we have been making them we have praised games precisely for their addictiveness – indeed, in the 1980s some videogame magazines used “Addictiveness” as one of their scoring criteria when reviewing games. But this flippant use of “addictive” is of the same nature as when we complain that processed potato snacks are “addictive” (after all ‘Once you pop, you can’t stop!’). We need to be as clear as we can about the distinction between compulsiveness and destructive addiction if we are to understand this issue, but to do so we run up against a major issue concerning the role of medicine in modern culture.

I can’t decide if it goes too far or not far enough, but it should hopefully spark a little debate on the topic all the same. You can read the entire piece over on ihobo.com, and share your thoughts in the comments.